If you are struggling to rank higher and increase your website’s traffic, you should give tiered link building a try.
What is tiered link building?
This strategy might sound complex, but when you get to it, it is really simple.
Instead of creating websites that link back to you (low authority websites) for the sole purpose of building backlinks, you use guest posts on authoritative websites to link back to another guest post written by you in the same niche.
Have I lost you?
“But where does my website link appear in all this story?”
We will get there.
In the first tier, you will mention your website. However, the second tier will only strengthen the first one to make the backlink to your website stronger.
Instead of building two backlinks, you build just one—a quite powerful one, at that.
There are many things to be said about tiered link building, so let’s get to it!
What isn’t tiered link building
You are probably thinking to yourself, “I don’t need to wreck my nerves trying to find authoritative websites and then get rejected because my content is not good enough. I could just use the old trick: buy expired domains and then create content on those websites that will strengthen each other, and then point the first tier to my website.”
You are right. You could do that. But that is a black hat technique that will get you penalized.
Creating websites that you use as tiers is not white hat tiered link building, and it most likely buries your website on page 10.
If you want to rank higher, you will have to be able to produce high-quality content that is accepted by authoritative websites in your niche.
That is the secret to tiered link building.
How to get started
If you want to make tiered link building work, you should know a few things before you get started.
High-quality content is a must
Not everyone is a writer. Maybe you are, but your resources are better used elsewhere in your company.
If you do not pitch content that is worth posting by big players in your niche, you do not stand a chance.
Google is sick of guest posting being used as an easy way to backlink
According to Matt Cutts, “guest blogging is done, it has become too spammy”.
What Matt Cutts wants to get across is that far too many people pay to get accepted to publish on a certain website. This usually leads to content for the sake of backlinks, and not for the sake of providing solutions to readers.
This type of content is usually diluted and filled with fluff.
When you publish on another website, make sure your content does not look like you wrote it just for the sake of filling an empty page.
Google’s algorithms are now capable of seeing through spammy posts.
The SEO toolbox
Before you start searching for authoritative websites, you should check a few details such as domain authority, traffic, where they get their backlinks, keywords they are ranking for, etc.
Some websites are decaying. Make sure you do not post on a website that will be in ruined 9 months from now.
How to find websites who are interested in your content
An easy way to find your first tier is to look at Google trends in your niche. You could also perform a keyword search and pick between the first websites ranking for that keyword.
The first tier must be the most powerful. The second should have a domain authority ranked at least 30.
Keep in mind that in tiered link building the second website strengthens the first, and only the first has a link back to your website.
There are several ways to approach tiered link building. You can search for broken links in those websites and promise to replace them with working links to your content.
You can create an infographic that goes well with their content and then add a description to it which contains your link on your first tier.
There are several approaches to guest posting. But no matter what you do, provide value. It makes the website owner you are pitching to happy, it makes Google happy, and it probably makes you smile too.
How to write the perfect pitch
If you want to make your tiered link building strategy work, you need to convince the website owners you can write high-quality content.
The first step you should take is making sure you get your emails opened. Keep in mind that you are dealing with influencers, especially for the first tier.
They probably do not open every email they receive every day. Their inboxes must be flooded. This is why standing out is a crucial step.
There is a trick many email marketers use to increase the opening rate of their email.
To make your email sound more human, not just another autoresponder in the subject line, write “no subject”.
These types of emails make the receiver curious about what is inside. Plus, many people write emails like this to their friends when they are in a hurry.
It also makes the receiver wonder if they know the sender or not.
After you caught the attention of the receiver, start writing the pitch. This should gravitate around the benefits his website will receive if he posts your content.
Do not try to brag or sound like a salesman. Instead, just show a proven record of how many shares, likes, and traffic your content has received.
Be short and to the point to improve the odds of your email being read from start to finish.
Wrapping up
Tiered link building is all about guest posting on authoritative websites.
You choose your first tier and the other websites point at it, while only the first tier points at you.
This is a white hat technique that can put you on the first page of Google when done properly.
If you want to find out more about tiered link building, do not hesitate to take a look at our blog.
We also provide a free link building consultation for companies and individuals interested in ranking higher.
