The importance of link magnets for search engine ranking
Doesn’t that sound too good to be true? Just put a link magnet on the website, attract backlinks and then automatically move up the search engine rankings? As an SEO agency, we can hardly imagine anything more beautiful. But it’s not that simple. Still, it works.
Importance of backlinks for the search engine ranking
In the past, search engine optimization was easy. Some onpage optimization. Some backlinks. And it went. But already the thing with the onpage optimization has become much more complex. Not to mention offpage.
One thing is clear: without backlinks, nothing works in the search engine ranking. If you want to see your website rank high, you have to make an effort to get a good number of good backlinks. Google’s long-standing logic that websites must be good when others link to them has lost none of its meaning in its basic statement.
For years you could collect backlinks, from whoever and wherever. Google thought it was good. Backlinks are the basis for Google's Pagerank assessment, which for a long time was crucial for ranking in the search engine. This changed fundamentally with the Penguin update in 2012. Google noticed that the quality of the pages displayed had suffered due to the artificial collection of backlinks. From now on, the search engine tried to differentiate between good and bad backlinks.
For the website operator or the SEO agency many questions follow from this:
Which links are actually good? Or useless? Or even toxic? Should we buy links (the answer is no)? Is it worth registering in directories and posting news in press portals? What do our competitors do? And how do we get to really valuable, sustainable backlinks (the Gretchen question)?
Which websites have high authority?
The answer is given by the following list: The Moz Top 500 Websites
Unsurprisingly, Google, YouTube and Apple are in first place. On some of the highly ranked websites, you can post content yourself to provide links, such as Youtube, Blogger and WordPress. In addition to various sites from the Google empire, social media portals, Wikipedia, universities, the UN and sites for creating your own websites, editorial websites stand out as another type.
At positions 39 and 40 are the BBC and CNN. Forty-five is followed by the New York Times. As the first German website Spiegel. de is on place 233 and on 496 just so with Zeit. de. This type of website has a great temptation for website operators: Here content is created that makes it possible to link to other websites. And this content stays online for practically always. With extremely high authority that can be transferred to your own website.
How do I get a link on an editorial page?
The supposedly easiest way is to send a press release. This may work for DAX corporations and startup unicorns. For everyone else, the likelihood that you will get a journalist's attention with a press release, whether sent directly or through a distribution service, is extremely small.
So how can you do it?
You need a top interesting article that the journalist 1. never seen before and the 2. lies precisely in his field of interest. You should send this directly to him with a short, concise and friendly cover letter. If things go well, you have it.
Journalists depend on permanently finding content for new interesting articles. When they find something interesting, they adopt it and quote them. With a link. Bingo. Or as Oliver Kahn once so beautifully put it, "There's the thing. "
How do link magnets work for search engine ranking?
Now, the fascinating thing is that linking entails further linking. Every journalist prefers to have a good story first. But if not first, then at least as quickly as possible behind. That's why journalists like to see what competitors are publishing. And if there's something good in it, why not write about it?
And now your Link Magnet is back on the move. If Magazine A used your infographic, it will ideally be used by Magazine B, even though you have never communicated with that magazine. The same goes for your study. Or a very special photo, an animation or whatever.
Social Media can act as an additional avalanche for your link magnets. Influencers can also publish more than just paid posts. They also depend on exciting news. The possibility of dissemination, also to other journalists, is thus pushed.
Links in renowned media attract other links magnetically. Your Link Magnet works.
And as soon as the links are published, the authority of your website increases and your keywords automatically move up in the search engine ranking.
What can a link magnet be?
Link magnets work best when they are new and emotional. New may be that you have developed an innovation. Or have described or visualized a context in a special way for the first time. A new study. An expert interview with someone who usually makes himself scarce. A new infographic. There are endless possibilities. Be creative!
What is the best way to push the search engine ranking?
- Analysis Content
Analyze possible content in the context of your company. It should already suit you in terms of content. Put yourself together as a team. Think about it: What’s new? What’s exciting? What topics are the emotions high in your industry? - Analysis target audience
Your target group for your link magnets are editorial offices and journalists. Do some research. Who has written on this subject? In what context? twitter and Google News are good sources. Collect the addresses. - Creating the content
Content creation can mean writing text, creating graphics, conducting a survey, or interviewing an expert. Whatever it is, do it carefully. Make sure no mistakes creep in. And it’s best to include a WOW effect. - Pitching to journalists.
Write a message to the found journalist. This can be a direct email or a direct message on twitter or another social portal. Get to the point right now. Concise. And friendly. - Demands without annoying
After a few days, you can do it again. It may be that your valuable message has disappeared into everyday life. - Monitoring results
And then it’s time to wait. Observe. And once something has been published, share it diligently to do something for further dissemination yourself.
Summary
Backlinks are important for search engine ranking. Especially high-authority websites. Link magnets are an excellent and sustainable way to get links from editorial websites. Your contributions with novelty value and emotionality are eligible for this. We wish you every success!
