4 SEO off page Strategies that still work in 2018 - How to beat Google Rank Brain

Question for Today "Can someone tell me what is the best SEO offpage strategy for 2018 , which are not considered as spam for Google"

My Views:

Since the inception of Google, one of the major factors in the Algorithms is the number and the Quality of Backlinks.

It is no secret how important it is to have a good backlink profile for good rankings.

Nothing much has changed today other than the part where Google became more intelligent.

With the advent of Artificial Intelligence integrated into Google’s Algorithms, Google has become way more effective in showing us better results.

Google calls it the “RainBrain”. RankBrain is a machine learning (AI) algorithm that Google uses to sort the search results.

RankBrain basically can change the algorithm on its own.

Depending on the search query, RankBrain will change the importance by decreasing or increasing the value of backlinks, freshness of content, domain authority etc.

Then, it looks at how Google searchers interact with the new search results. If users like the new algorithm better, it stays. If not, RankBrain rolls back the old algorithm.

Since the development of Rank Brain and implementation of AI, there is nothing sort of Spam for Google and Spam for users.

Both are same.

Google can almost understand with certainty if a backlink is a spam link or not.

Consider this: A link is coming from a shady website, but the article or the place where the link is pointing is providing a lot of value to the users, people are loving the content. They are going crazy about it and sharing it all over Social Media. I say It will be considered by Google, no matter how bad the path is.  

If it's used by people, if visitors are using the path, Google considers it. 

Same goes for a good link. 

You need to understand that links are to be created in a way that it provides some value to someone. 

Just as we do split testing of landing pages, Google is now able to do split testing of layers of Algorithms using RankBrain to decide which result is more useful to a user.

It would change the SERPs just to check which one has a better click through and less bounce rate before it considers the position of the sites for a keyword or a string. 

However, we still know that Google gives the maximum preference to banklinks even today. Keeping this in mind, we need to make sure that the links we build are built naturally. 

A well written article or a well-produced video or a creative is the 1st phase to scaling the backlinking process. 

Once we have a good piece of content or a creative, you can come up with a lot of out of the box ideas that can help you get a good quality backlink. 

Few of the techniques that I can think of.... 

1) Influencer Marketing

Mention influencers in your post – It has been a trend since last few years now.

You might have come up with an article similar to this “What top industry expert has to say about product X”

I know you sure have seen atleast one today.

Infact I saw 3 of them in the last few hours.

Those who write these articles do so for a very specific reason. They’re interesting and they get links like no other.

When you mention a popular influencer in your post, you get more links.

Why? Because the influencer that you mentioned will most likely share it (if it’s good). And that will result in more links.

Set up interviews and podcasts to get people engage with the content. Send them the notification once the content is online and you will be amazed with the kind of results you get. 

It’s a cycle of link building that works almost every time.

When you mention someone in your article, you let them know they’re a popular, insightful influencer.

And that’s powerful.

2) Guest Blogging –

Guest Blogging is one of my favorite ways to gather links. But since people started misusing it, some of them have already given up on it.

But I say Guest Blogging is still Alive and still one of the best ways to get amazing links back to your blog or website.

I think of guest blogging as nearly free promotion!

You write a great article for a publication. In exchange for that work you’ve delivered, you get valuable links.

So the key here is to only guest post on high-quality, high-profile sites.

Don’t waste your time guest blogging on sites with no authority.

You’re better off posting on your own blog.

Start by finding pre-curated lists of blogs. Lot of guys out there have already curated multiple lists of blogs that we can use to outreach. Create a database, check the credibility of the blogs before you read 'em and then they are all yours. 

“Guest blogging is a give-and-take endeavor. There’s no easier way than using the guest-blogging technique to get links.” Neil Patel

3) Broken Link Building -

Broken Link Building is the technique where we look for broken links and try to fill them with an article, blog, Image or any content and gain a free link back to our website.

Prospecting for broken links is a very old technique which still works

The idea is almost easy as a pie ... You browse a popular industry blog or influencer blog, and you scan the page for any possible broken links.

If you come across one, you can send an email to that blogger to let them know their post has a broken link. Pitch for a link opportunity.

Most of the times you get the link, if you do it right. 

Don’t be fake; just be simple, real and honest in your approach.

Do not try to play the system or use people. Simply offer your help with your link as an easy fix for their problems.

4) Using Infographics for Link Building

“Use infographics for link bait” Infographics are shared the maximum number of times on the internet.

And its still almost the same. There are entire websites dedicated solely to publishing and promoting infographic content.

People don’t want to read a 5000-word article or a blog to find the things that they are looking for. Visual content is the easiest to read and understand.

They perform the best

There is no question on why people love infographics and share them so much!

They want to scan your infographic and get that information in just a few seconds or minutes.

People don’t like to wait.

Infographics are one of the most-shared pieces of content on the Internet.

Get a good one created and use it across your properties and promote them to get shares and links back.

If done correctly, you can get few good links from people you never knew existed :D !! 

When in doubt, add an infographic to help your content get more shares and links.

There are many more natural ways of getting links to your website without spamming the net. I shall be writing a more detailed Article on this topic soon.

But till then, let me know what other offpage strategies have still been working for you.