You’re likely aware that link building can enhance your site’s authority, but managing outreach, content creation, and relationship-building can often feel like an endless task.
So, how can you scale your link building efforts without dedicating every minute of your time to it? Here are 10 time-saving link building hacks that can streamline the process while still delivering powerful results.
1. Leverage broken link building
Broken link building is a simple but highly effective hack. Many websites out there have broken links, which can negatively affect user experience and SEO. By finding these dead links and offering your own content as a replacement, you can secure backlinks relatively quickly.
Tools like Ahrefs allow you to find these broken links fast. Once identified, all you need to do is reach out to the webmaster and suggest your relevant content to replace the broken link. It’s a win-win for both you and the site owner – you get the backlink, and they get a functioning link on their page.
Related read: How To Find Broken Links In Ahrefs
2. Use resource page link building
Resource pages are gold mines for easy link building. These pages are essentially lists of helpful links related to a specific niche. If you have high-quality content that’s relevant to the topic, you can pitch your content to be added. Resource pages are often actively looking for fresh, relevant content to enhance their offerings, so your chances of getting a link are higher.
Look for resource pages in your industry, scan through their listed links, and reach out with your content suggestion. By focusing on sites that frequently update their resources, you’ll improve your success rate and save time.
3. Automate with link building tools
One of the best ways to save time on link building is to automate the process where possible. Tools like Ahrefs or SEMrush can help you identify backlink opportunities, manage your outreach, and even track the performance of your campaigns.
With automation, you can quickly find relevant sites to target, analyse your competitors’ backlinks, and send personalised outreach emails at scale.
Although you still need to oversee the process, automating the manual and repetitive tasks will significantly cut down the hours spent on link building.
Related read: Our Favourite Link Building Tools
4. Repurpose existing content
Creating new content from scratch for every link building campaign can be exhausting. Instead, take advantage of the content you’ve already created by repurposing it.
For example, if you’ve written a well-researched article, turn it into an infographic, video, or slide presentation and pitch it to sites looking for fresh multimedia content.
Repurposing existing content not only saves time but also widens your reach across different formats, making it easier to attract a diverse set of backlinks.
5. Use HARO for high-authority links
Help a Reporter Out (HARO) is a platform where journalists and bloggers request expert sources for their articles. By responding to these queries, you can easily earn high-quality backlinks from reputable websites.
Sign up for HARO and respond to relevant queries in your industry. You’ll often find that journalists are more than happy to give you a backlink in exchange for your expert input. Since you’re leveraging existing content or knowledge, this approach doesn’t require much time but can yield excellent results.
6. Create link-worthy data and research
Original data and research are highly attractive to content creators and journalists. When you publish unique studies, surveys, or statistics, you’ll naturally earn backlinks from people who want to cite your data.
If conducting research sounds time-consuming, start small. For example, you can publish a short survey or compile existing data into an easy-to-read infographic or report. Once published, let relevant sites know about your findings to increase your chances of getting linked.
7. Target competitor backlinks
Instead of starting from scratch, why not target the backlinks your competitors have already earned? By using tools like Ahrefs or Moz, you can analyse the backlink profiles of your competitors and find link opportunities that are easy to replicate.
Focus on backlinks that come from resource pages, blogs, and directories relevant to your industry. Since these sites have already linked to content similar to yours, they’re likely to consider linking to you as well. It’s a quick way to piggyback on your competitors’ successes without wasting time on untested prospects.
8. Build relationships for ongoing links
One of the most time-efficient strategies in link building is developing strong relationships with webmasters, bloggers, and influencers in your niche. When you nurture these relationships, you open the door to future collaboration and link-building opportunities.
By establishing rapport through social media, email, or networking events, you’ll have a direct line to site owners who may consider linking to your content without the need for extensive outreach campaigns. Over time, this relationship-building will pay off with quicker and easier links.
9. Guest post strategically
Guest posting remains one of the most effective link building strategies, but it can also be time-consuming. To save time, focus on high-authority websites in your niche that will provide the most significant value for your efforts. Avoid lower-quality sites, as the time investment won’t deliver strong results.
When guest posting, repurpose existing content to create posts quickly. Aim to target websites with an engaged audience to ensure that your guest post not only earns you a backlink but also drives traffic to your site.
10. Create ‘linkable assets’
A ‘linkable asset’ is content so valuable, informative, or entertaining that people want to link to it naturally. This could be an ultimate guide, a detailed how-to article, or an infographic packed with valuable information.
The key is to create something evergreen that will continue to attract links over time, reducing the need for constant outreach.
Invest time in creating these linkable assets upfront. Once they’re live, promote them through social media, email campaigns, and outreach. With minimal ongoing effort, these assets can generate consistent backlinks, saving you time in the long run.
Summing it up
Link building doesn’t have to be a never-ending grind. By incorporating these 10 time-saving hacks into your SEO strategy, you can streamline the process, build quality links efficiently, and maintain your focus on other areas of your business.
From leveraging tools and automation to repurposing content and building relationships, these strategies are designed to get you the results you need without overwhelming your schedule.
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