How to get links – complete SEO guide for WordPress websites

SEO, or search engine optimization, is an intricate process, consisting of a multitude of activities. One of them is acquiring valuable links. Some people avoid this method, fearing the spam effect. But linking done wisely can support marketing activities, increase sales and brand recognition that benefit both customers/readers and the website owner. In today’s article, we’ll present how to get links, easy to implement for everyone who has a WordPress website.

How to get links for SEO -table of contents:

1. Linking – why is it worth it?
2. SEO dofollow and nofollow links – which ones are worth getting?
3. How to get links for WordPress pages
4. Create your RSS feed
5. Piggyback SEO, or promoting yourself on the backs of famous sites
6. Create a PDF with a link to your site
7. Private blog networks
8. Deep linking, or linking to important subpages
9. Buying an article on PR websites

Linking – why is it worth it?

Of course, it is possible to build visibility without link building – for example, by creating valuable articles, improving the speed and design of the site, or buying paid advertising campaigns, but then the process can take longer and require more effort. SEO practitioners usually combine all these activities.

Linking makes it easier to navigate the web by signaling to its users where the content they may be interested in is located. It is therefore an important element of Internet navigation and should be viewed in this way.

SEO dofollow and nofollow links – which ones are worth getting?

Links on the web have different attributes that describe their properties. One of the divisions is the one between dofollow and nofollow links. The former give up some of their power from the linked site, the latter theoretically does not.

For example, when planning a guest post or sponsored article on a website, it’s worth checking what attribute the link will have. This does not mean, however, that we have to target only dofollow links. Getting only one type of link, especially in a short time interval, looks suspicious to search engines. Therefore, try to diversify your link profile so that it resembles a natural process in which web users recommend on their sites what they find valuable and interesting.

How to get links for WordPress pages?

1. Create your RSS feed

RSS is a content distribution channel that is used to collect updates from various sites and blogs. They allow users, through an RSS reader or aggregator, to keep up to date with the latest publications from all the sites that interest them. This method of providing information peaked in popularity at the time when blogs were created en masse, but there are still quite a few people who use it.

If you have a site on WordPress, you can find your RSS feed by adding the word feed after a slash to the end of the URL. That is, for example, www.yourwebpage.com/feed. Usually, the option to create an RSS feed is enabled by default in WordPress and it’s a good idea to stay with this setting.

The most popular sites – content aggregators are usually considered valuable by Google, so SEO links to our new articles appearing there speed up their indexing and support SEO activities. There is also no point in worrying about content duplication – Google knows what the source of the content is.

An additional benefit of using an RSS feed is also the possibility to increase traffic to your site because there are many engaged users gathered around aggregators, where you can search for pages from a given subject category. It is worth giving them a chance to find your feed.

2. Piggyback SEO, or promoting yourself on the backs of famous sites

The method called piggybacking means gaining links and traffic to your website with a help of other, valuable and popular websites. It involves creating user accounts on the most popular websites on the web, such as YouTube, WordPress, or Blogspot, and including a link to your website in their description (or name, if allowed), preferably hidden under a keyword for which you want to become visible on the web.

Of course, in addition to creating a user profile, you also need to ensure that the new account brings some value to the service it is on, such as creating content, being active, subscribing to other channels and interacting with other users.

Sites, where it is worth acquiring SEO links in this way, include (in addition to those listed above):

• Vimeo,
• Pinterest,
• Scribd,
• Tumblr,
• About.me,
• Quora,
• Reddit.

They must have what is called authority. The world’s most popular sites that consistently rank at the top of Google search results can be checked at alexa.com/topsites.

3. Create a PDF with a link to your site

Another underrated source of links is material provided in pdf format – e-books, articles or manuals. There are many sites on the web where you can publish such material and it is worth doing so, checking beforehand that the site has the right authority.

Having a finished article or e-book in doc format, let’s turn it into a pdf, making sure that the link in it is active. Then publish it on the page of your choice. Such actions can be repeated. However, as mentioned in the previous paragraph, make sure that the accounts from which you are adding the pdfs are not newly created and have some previous activity on the site.

Sample pages for posting pdfs:

• Issuu,
• Slideshare.net,
• Zippyshare,
• Scribd,
• Free-Ebook.net.
4. Private blog networks

This is a method that somewhat resembles the piggyback method, but goes a step further. It involves creating and maintaining blogs on one or more free blogging services (e.g. WordPress.org, Blogger, Tumblr).

These blogs must be thematically related to the page we want to link to and focus on the keyword of our choice.

Suppose we have a site that offers confectionery decorations. So we can create a blog of a confectionery enthusiast who brags about her cakes and methods of decorating them. In the articles of this blog, it is advisable to include phrases like ‘how to decorate a cake’, ‘cupcake decorating’ etc. Once the new blog gains some visibility in Google for these keywords, we can link it to our main page, or – for the advanced version – set up a 301 redirect to it (if you don’t know how to do this, ask the person who created your site).

A more advanced version of this method is to search for thematically related expired domains that are up for sale. However, you need to be able to recognize if such a domain has good authority and was not subject to Google penalties. If not, creating a blog on it or redirecting it right away can add some of that domain’s former power to our site.

5. Deep linking, or linking to important subpages

One strategy to increase a site’s visibility is to acquire SEO links not only to the homepage – but also to its most important subpages.

So if, following the previous example, we have a page about cake decorations and subpages: wedding cake decorations, communion decorations, cake markers, we order articles, create pdfs or blogs focused on the subpage titles and link to them from there.

This action also allows you to diversify your link profile – many site owners forget about this, linking only to their title subpage. This way we can gain an advantage over them.

6. Buying an article on PR websites

The most expensive method presented here is to order an article from one of the press release sites or send it to an online PR agency. Such sites usually have high visibility in Google and placing an article with an SEO link on them helps you to quickly get to the top of search results for a selected keyword.

The downside of such a solution, however, is the price – in the most reputable services it reaches a thousand dollars per publication.

Whichever linking method you choose, remember to keep your links diverse and spread them out over time. Google rewards the systematic… and the patient.

If you want to learn more about SEO, read our other article: SEO Landing Page – how to build it?

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