Editorial Links: How to Attract Them from Top Domains

You might wonder why some websites rank better than others. Let us name one key reason. Editorial links from top-quality domains. These aren’t just any regular backlinks you may see quite often – they’re the gold standard of SEO Link building.

Achieving them isn’t an easy trick, but their impact can be monumental. As much as you can’t even imagine. You’re about to know more about the other side of Link building. In this article we will share:

• What are editorial links
• The difference between this kind of links and outreach
• How to get these backlinks
• The benefits you may get

What Are Editorial Links?

Probably, let’s start with a real-life example. You write a top quality article. Out of the blue, a reputable site finds your content and thinks, “Hey, our readers will love this!” Without even informing you, they link to your content.

That, right there, is an editorial link. These are organic endorsements from one website to another, gained purely because of content quality. Unlike paid or exchanged backlinks, editorial links are genuine nods of approval, signaling that your content is worthy of recognition. In the world of SEO, they’re like receiving a thumbs-up from a respected peer.

What is Necessary to Attract Editorial Links

Sounds great, right? But how do you get these desired links? Here’s a clear roadmap:

• Stellar Content: This is non-negotiable. Your content should be original, insightful, and a cut above the rest.
• Visibility: Make sure people see your work. Share on social channels, collaborate with influencers, and stay active online. It’s just that simple: if no one can see your content – no one will mention it.
• Relationship Building: Know the big players in your industry. Engage with them. Comment on their articles, share their content, or even send a friendly email. We’d rather recommend LinkedIn for this kind of networking, because there are most of the best IT influencers.
• Some Patience: Rome wasn’t built in a day. Keep at it, and the links will come. Don’t try to push anyone. Sometimes it take really much time (days, months and even years).

Acquired Links vs. Editorial Links

Simply saying, acquired links are those you actively chase, while editorial links come to you. Think of it like this: acquired links are like asking for a favor, while editorial ones are unexpected gifts. Preview: there is a big difference between those kind of links, but each of the types has its own advantages. So let’s get into it.

Strategies for Acquired Links

Even though our focus is on editorial links, it’s good to have some acquired ones in your arsenal. Here’s a basic list (just the most interesting options to consider):

1. Guest Posting: Write valuable content for other blogs. You share your expertise, they give you a link. But nowadays, guest posting became too easy, because most of the sites which offer guest posting are easy to negotiate with. For money, certainly.
2. Ask for Mentions: If someone talks about you without a link, shoot them an email. Politely ask for one. It’s still working, but you have to build really well-known brand so other people already talk about you. Offer something in exchange and get your lovely do-follow backlink (if you have an opportunity – why shouldn’t you ask for this, right?)
3. The Improved Content Strategy: Spot a popular article in your field? Craft a better version and then reach out to those who linked the original. It’s like the golden rule of SEO. Check what you competitors do – and DO better.
4. Directory Listings: Stick to niche-specific directories. They might not be powerhouses, but they still count. It’s getting harder to find such sites, but still possible. Make sure you do a research with a proper goal.
5. Forum Activity. Some people may think: “Forums? Aren’t they dead?” Well, some of them not. Moreover, some forums have a huge audience so crowd links (that’s how people also call “forum link building”) may not only boost your SEO, but also – help to get brand awareness and referring traffic.

Is it worth it to buy backlinks?

It’s risky (according to Google). But, people do that. It’s about 95% who get links through the purchasing them. It might seem tempting and fast, and it guarantees you get the link you want. Anyway, always prioritize genuine, earned links over quick shortcuts. We have had a huge research for this, and found out that 5% of sites owners who don’t buy links – mostly work in non-commercial niches. Think about it.

Even though, it’s even possible to “ask” for editorial links. It’s kind of mix between natural editorial link and outreach link building. In both cases – the result is absolutely genuine. For example, there is a cool product related website, which has its own blog. This site doesn’t sell any backlinks – so you can’t just pay them. But we still could negotiate and succeed to place an article, with the mention of our services page (that’s the difference between classical editorial links, because classic ones usually point to the blogs pages – non commercial).

We agreed to place the content with our backlink in a natural manner, so people don’t think it’s an advertisement. It’s placed right in the first section, where the author tells about crowd marketing.

Seems nice? That’s the magic of link building and the highest level of outreach – to get links from the platforms, no one else can.

What Are the Benefits of Editorial Links?

Editorial links are not just a buzzword. They offer tangible, long-lasting advantages in the competitive online race. Long-lasting – is a really huge benefit (as the whole SEO is, that’s why you’re reading this guide). If you’re still on the fence about their value, let me break it down for you. Here are some clear-cut benefits that might make you a great impact:

Get Mentioned in High-Quality Publications

Imagine this: a reader is scrolling through their favorite news site, or niche-relevant blog and stumbles upon a link to your website. A link placed in a natural manner, not advertisement. That’s the power of being linked by a reputable publication. It’s not just an SEO score; it’s a direct channel to an audience that trusts and values the content they read. Being linked from such a platform is like getting a stamp of approval in the eyes of its audience. What may the audience do? Click? Yeah, there is a big chance.

Lower the Google’s Penalties chance

We all know Google is watching, like the big brother (which wants you rather to use PPC than SEO, ahaha). And if there’s one thing they love, it’s genuine, organic content and everything related to it. Editorial links are exactly that. When Google sees these links pointing to your site, it understands that your content is valuable and respected. No tricks, no shortcuts, just pure recognition. And with that comes a lower risk of being penalized in search rankings. Although the other backlinks types are also fine to pass with google’s approval, like outreach guest posting, for example.

Increase Brand Awareness

Here’s a simple truth: people trust brands they recognize. And how do you become recognizable? By consistently appearing in places they frequently visit – social media, blogs, news sites, webinars. Everywhere your target audience likes to visit. Every editorial link is an introduction, a handshake if you will, to a new potential customer. Over time, these introductions add up, making your brand well-known:

• Familiar to new audiences, interested to check
• Trusted by regular visitors and existing clients
• Associated with quality and reliability. Yeah, that’s about reputation

A Scalable Method for Getting Backlinks

One good link can lead to another, then another, and so on. As more trusted websites link to your content, others take note. They want in on the action, linking to your content as well. It’s a ripple effect. This not only boosts your SEO but also solidifies your place as a trusted authority in your field, as an expert. The beauty of it? This growth is organic, making it a sustainable strategy for the long run. We remember that SEO is long-run, so this strategy makes you feel comfortable in the future results, because there are big chances you will get more natural mentions because of your interesting editorial content.

How to Get Editorial Links

Getting editorial links isn’t about tricks or secret hacks. As we claimed before – It’s about strategy, quality, and a bit of old-style networking. So, how do you catch the eye of some authoritative domains and get them to link to you? Let’s get right into it.

Find Out Where Your Competitors Have Backlinks

One of the simplest ways to start is by keeping an eye on your competition. Competitor analyze is a must-have for every SEO-related work (not even SEO). If they’re getting solid links, why can’t you? It may be hard for beginners, but each time you try to do that – you improve your researching skills, so the next time you will handle much better. By the way, 90% of the top-domains we find for the link building campaigns – we get from our competitors analyze, both for the clients and our own projects.

• Use tools like Ahrefs, Serpstat or SEMrush to peek into their backlink profile. I’d personally go with Ahrefs, as it has the biggest arsenal of internal tools for checking the backlink profiles.
• Identify the top-tier sites linking back to them. Make you sure you apply all the necessary filters for it. If we target for editorial blogs, I’d recommend to set the lowest DR > 40, organic traffic of the domain > 3000 monthly. That may be enough for the start. When you try to do this at least several times – you may add some of your own metrics.
• Look at the content that caught these sites’ attention. Can you do something similar, but even better? It’s essential to make the content really outstanding. If you can write – do that. Can’t? – Hire some specialist to write for you. But make sure they are experts in the niche you’re targeting for.

This isn’t about imitation. Instead, it’s about understanding what works and tailoring it to fit your unique voice and brand.

Create Truly Authoritative Editorial Content

At the end of the day, quality content is your ticket to editorial links. Here’s how to nail it:

• Depth Over Breadth: Don’t just scratch the surface. Dive deep into topics and offer unique insights. People want to see something new. Not just the general info, everyone can get in any place. Try to bring something really worthy for readers – the deep topical areas.
• Data is Your Friend: Readers love stats and figures. It adds authenticity to your content. Add more stats. Give more numbers (just like I did in the previous paragraph within the minimal DR & traffic for editorial blogs).
• Be Relatable: Yes, you’re an expert, but remember to connect with your audience. Share anecdotes, ask questions, and make them part of your journey. That’s a big advice which is not followed by many people – their mistake. When you talk to your audience – you increase your trust among the people. Even a single message to a single person can make the big difference regarding your service.
• Stay Updated: The digital world moves fast. Regularly update your content to keep it fresh. For this you may use different trending sources like Telegram channels, niche forums, top blogs, news.
• Mix It Up: Text is great, but visuals can simplify complex points. Use charts, graphs, and images to add flair. People also like to see visuals. At least images are essential.

Set Achievable Goals

Remember, your goal is to create content so good that others can’t help but link to it. To make it clear, let’s go with another example – the truly editorial one. We’ll not tell about BBC, NewYourTimes and other well-known sites, so people don’t get a fake hope to get easy links from there. No. BBC will not link to you until you’re at least as popular as their stuff know about you.

Your goal should be achievable at least. Here is an article https://kruschecompany.com/when-does-it-outsourcing-work/ about IT outsourcing. It’s placed on the authoritative website, with a huge traffic. All the audience of this site are IT specialist, what makes this kind of article even more better. The site has 500K total traffic, according to SimilarWeb.

Even though overall traffic is huge, let’s get into organic traffic, which is more valuable for us to check, as we aim for SEO goals first of all. Monthly organic traffic of this site is 16,7K visitors, which is purely fine for IT-service website. The DR of 63 makes it 100% trustworthy for being mentioned from it.

Great article. Interesting content. When you read – you like the process. It engages. In the end of the article we can find this block (below) with a backlink in anchor-text “sales process”, aiming to another site, to another blog post – https://blog.close.com/how-to-build-a-sales-process-that-gets-results/. That’s, my friend, an editorial link.

And, to make it clear about the benefits (as we told before) – let’s see one more picture. The organic traffic of a single page of the Close.com website (mentioned above), which got an editorial link. It has 100+ monthly visitors just for this article. In IT-niche. That’s amazing. And the editorial link made its impact for this. You can freely open Ahrefs, and check other Referring pages of this blog post, to see – how many other editorial links it has.

Hire an Outreach Professional in Your Niche

Sometimes, even standout content needs a little push. This is where a promotion professional can be invaluable. Outreach is the best option to promote this kind of content. And it gives amazing results if you can hire the right person with a proven experience in this filed. What should they do?

• Connections Matter: They have the contacts you need. They know the editors, the influencers, and the decision-makers. Their networking skills is your digital weapon.
• Crafting the Pitch: It’s not just about sending an email. It’s about framing your content in a way that it becomes irresistible. The simple text may be one of the crucial elements of your strategy. Influencing on the target audience in the right way – is the key.
• Feedback Loop: A good PR pro will also guide you on content strategy, offering insights on what gets attention. If you’re reading this – you’re probably about to start your journey as an editorial link seeker. But, working with a skillful person may help you to get an additional point of view on the whole strategy. Get the maximum of benefits while you can!

Consider it an investment. With the right PR backlink outreach, your content gets the spotlight it truly deserves. You can even make a dashboard with the spendings to understand the ROI, ROMI etc. Why not?

Become the Best in Your Niche

It’s all about being the best. Want to be the go-to name in your field? It’s more than just having a great product or service. It’s about setting yourself apart, being the best. So, how do you rise above the competition and truly shine?

Provide Real Value with your Content

Yeah, yeah, once again, cause it’s TOP-1 factor. Content, when done right, can be your most powerful tool.

• Be Original: Readers can spot recycled content a mile away. Bring fresh takes or new angles to familiar topics. Don’t copy the content from other sources.
• Interactivity Helps: Think quizzes, polls, or interactive infographics. Maybe a test or some kind of game can be interesting. Engage your readers, don’t just talk at them.
• Real Stories, Real Impact: Share stories or experiences. Theory is fine, but stories stick. When you share your real life stories, business case studies – it engages the reader as much as possible. We all love practical cases. And we often publish our own case studies to show the audience – we’re the top-notch specialists. No one will tell about your results better than you.

Crafting top-level valuable content consistently positions you as a trusted voice.

Consult with Experts to Gain Insider Information

There’s always someone who knows something you don’t. And there’s power in that knowledge:

• Chat with industry leaders. Their experiences can offer you shortcuts to success.
• Attend workshops or webinars. They’re more than just networking events; they’re learning opportunities.
• Collaborate. Guest posts or joint ventures can be a two-way street for knowledge exchange.

Leveraging expert insights can give your content that extra punch, making it not just informative, but invaluable.

Do What Your Competitors Do – But Better

Keeping an eye on the competition isn’t about copying. It’s about understanding, then outdoing:

• Study their top content. What’s their secret element? Can you add a bit more flavor to yours?
• Spot gaps in their content. Fill those gaps on your platform.
• See where they get their backlinks. Can you get similar ones, or even better ones?

Your goal is simple: whatever they do, you aim to do it better, making you the first choice for readers and clients alike.

Dive into Every Topic and Sub-Topic in Detail

You know that feeling when you’re reading something and you’re left with more questions than answers? It’s a letdown. So when you’re writing, go deep. Tear apart the topic, explore its layers, and address even those tiny details most might overlook. It’s like cooking a hearty meal; every ingredient, no matter how small, adds flavor.

Participate in Discussion Forums

Discussion forums are like those old town squares where folks gathered to chat, debate, and share news. We already told, that niche relevant forums are alive, and they’re quite active to work with. Here’s how to make the most of them:

• Engage Authentically: Answer questions with care. Share your experiences and insights without a hidden agenda.
• Listen Actively: It’s not just about talking. Listen. What are people curious about? What challenges are they facing?
• Build Genuine Relationships: Over time, people will start recognizing you. That trust can lead to valuable connections and, yes, links.
• Avoid Blatant Self-Promotion: A subtle mention here and there is fine, but don’t overdo it. It’s a community, not an advertising board.

By being a valuable member of these communities, you not only get backlinks but also foster genuine relationships.

Remember that people like Infographics?

Yes, they really do. A picture can speak a thousand words, and an infographic? Maybe even more. Here’s the game plan:

• Start with Solid Research: All the flashy designs won’t save misleading or outdated data.
• Keep it Clean and Clear: Cluttered infographics confuse. Stick to a clean design and a clear message.
• Spread the Word: Share it on your platforms, and consider reaching out to bloggers or websites that might find it useful.

An effective infographic is like a magnet. It attracts eyes, shares, and, you guessed it, links.

Editorial Links Are Crucial to SEO Success

Finally, let’s be clear: editorial links are game-changers for the marketing. They’re not just fancy decorations on your SEO mantlepiece. They’re trust signals, shouting to the world that your content is valuable.

• brand awareness
• expertness and trust
• authority shareness
• link building key-point

It helps to solve so many tasks, so it totally worth trying. In the fast-raising digital world, they’re your guiding stars, leading readers straight to your content. So, give them the attention they rightfully deserve.