How to Build Backlinks Without Paying for Them

Summary

In this informative video, Neil Patel emphasizes the importance of acquiring backlinks for Google ranking without resorting to paid methods, which violate Google's policy and risk site bans. He introduces his free tool, Backlinks, to identify competitors' popular pages and suggests creating superior content by expanding on their topics. Patel advises crafting detailed, in-depth articles with multimedia elements and then personally emailing those who link to competitors, explaining why the new content is more valuable. This manual yet effective approach can help outpace competition and increase traffic.

Takeaways

• 🚫 Avoid Paying for Backlinks: Paying for backlinks is against Google's policy and can lead to your site being banned.
• 🔍 Use Free Tools for Link Building: Utilize free tools like Neil Patel's 'Backlinks' to find out who is linking to your competitors.
• 🔑 Identify Popular Competitor Pages: Look for the most popular pages among your competitors that have backlinks.
• 🔎 Analyze Competitor's Backlink Count: Use the Backlink report to see the number of backlinks for specific competitor URLs.
• 📈 Find Top Competitor Pages: Use the 'top pages' feature to identify the most successful content written by your competitors.
• 📝 Create Superior Content: Write a more comprehensive version of an article similar to what your competitors have, making it significantly longer and more detailed.
• 🎨 Enhance Content with Multimedia: Include images, GIFs, videos, and custom graphics to make your content more engaging and informative.
• 💌 Reach Out with Personalized Emails: Contact those who link to your competitors with a personalized email explaining why your article is better.
• 🔑 Provide Value in Your Outreach: Offer additional value in your emails, such as tips or insights, before suggesting they might want to link to your content.
• 🏆 Outpace Competition with Effort: Be willing to put in the manual labor to build quality backlinks, which can help you rank higher and capture more traffic.
• 🛑 Avoid Shortcuts and Gray Hat Tactics: Focus on long-term, sustainable strategies for link building rather than resorting to quick fixes or unethical practices.

Q & A

Why should one not pay for backlinks according to the video?

Paying for backlinks is against Google's policy and can result in your site being banned, making it a risky short-term strategy that is generally discouraged.

Who is the presenter in the video and what is he offering to teach?

The presenter is Neil Patel, and he is offering to teach viewers how to build backlinks without having to pay for them.

What is the first step Neil Patel suggests for building backlinks?

The first step is to use a free link building tool called Backlinks, which he created, and search for the competitor's URL to find who links to them and identify their most popular pages.

How does the Backlinks tool help in finding potential backlink opportunities?

The Backlinks tool shows all the people that link to your competitors and helps identify the most popular pages that have the highest backlink count.

What is the second step Neil Patel recommends for creating backlinks?

The second step is to write a better version of an article that your competitors have written, which is related to your industry, making it more in-depth and comprehensive.

How detailed should the new article be compared to the competitor's article?

The new article should be significantly more detailed, for example, if the competitor's article is 1,000 words, Neil Patel suggests making yours 5,000 words.

What kind of content does Neil Patel suggest including in the article to make it better?

He suggests including in-depth information, such as detailed steps, considerations, and possibly multimedia elements like GIFs, images, and videos to enhance the content quality.

What is the final step in Neil Patel's backlink building strategy?

The final step is to email everyone who is linking to your competition, explaining why your article is better and politely asking them to consider linking to your content as well.

What is the importance of customizing emails when reaching out for backlinks?

Customizing emails makes the outreach more personal and effective, as it shows that you have taken the time to understand the recipient's content and how your article can add value to their audience.

What is the long-term benefit of building backlinks manually as suggested by Neil Patel?

Building backlinks manually helps avoid shady tactics and ensures that the links are earned naturally, leading to a more sustainable and higher ranking on search engines over time.

How does Neil Patel's agency, Neil Patel Digital, assist with link building?

Neil Patel Digital is an ad agency that can provide help with link building, presumably offering professional services to assist with the strategies outlined in the video.

Outlines

00:00

🚫 Avoiding Paid Backlinks for SEO

The first paragraph emphasizes the importance of backlinks for ranking on Google and warns against the common mistake of paying for them, as it violates Google's policy and can lead to site bans. The speaker, Neil Patel, introduces himself and promises to share a method for building backlinks without payment. He encourages viewers to subscribe and turn on notifications for live updates. The main strategy involves using a free tool called Backlinks, which can be found at neilpatel.com/backlinks, to analyze competitors' popular linked pages and backlink counts. The tool helps identify opportunities for link building by showing who links to competitors and what content attracts backlinks. The goal is to create high-quality, comprehensive content that can outperform competitors' articles by providing more in-depth information and resources.

05:01

📚 Creating Superior Content and Outreach for Backlinks

The second paragraph focuses on the process of creating superior content to outrank competitors and attract backlinks organically. It suggests writing an in-depth, detailed version of an article that competitors have already published, using the example of a pizza-making guide to illustrate the level of detail required. The content should be engaging and thorough, potentially including multimedia elements like GIFs and custom graphics. The final step involves reaching out to those who link to competitors, with a personalized email that highlights the value and superiority of the newly created content. This approach requires manual effort and time investment but is presented as a more effective and long-term strategy compared to quick fixes or 'gray hat' tactics. The speaker also promotes his digital ad agency for further assistance and encourages viewers to engage with the video by liking, sharing, and commenting.

Keywords

💡Backlinks

Backlinks, also known as inbound or incoming links, are links from one website to another. They are a crucial aspect of search engine optimization (SEO) because they can significantly influence a website's ranking on search engines like Google. In the video's context, backlinks are the primary focus as they discuss how to acquire them organically to improve search rankings without violating Google's policies.

💡Google's policy

Google's policy refers to the guidelines and rules set by Google for websites to follow in order to be indexed and ranked properly on Google search. The script mentions that paying for backlinks is against Google's policy and can lead to a website being banned, emphasizing the importance of adhering to these rules to maintain good standing with the search engine.

💡Neil Patel

Neil Patel is a well-known digital marketing expert, entrepreneur, and speaker who shares his expertise in online marketing through various platforms. In the script, he is the presenter offering advice on building backlinks without paying for them, highlighting his authority on the subject and the value of his insights.

💡Link building tool

A link building tool is a software or platform designed to assist in the process of acquiring backlinks. In the video, Neil Patel mentions his own free tool found at neilpatel.com/backlinks, which helps users identify backlinks to their competitors and find opportunities to acquire similar links.

💡Competitor URL

A competitor URL refers to the web address of a website that is in direct competition with another in terms of market presence or search engine rankings. The script instructs viewers to input their competitor's URL into the Backlinks tool to analyze and understand the backlink profile of competitors, which can inform their own link-building strategy.

💡Top pages

Top pages are the most popular or highest-performing web pages on a website, often in terms of traffic or engagement. The video suggests looking at the top pages that competitors are writing on to identify content that is attracting backlinks and to find opportunities to create even more compelling content.

💡Content quality

Content quality refers to the intrinsic value and usefulness of the information presented on a webpage. In the context of the video, creating high-quality content is emphasized as a key strategy for earning backlinks naturally. The script suggests writing in-depth articles that surpass the quality of competitors' content to attract organic backlinks.

💡Custom emails

Custom emails are personalized messages tailored to the recipient, as opposed to generic or mass emails. The script advises using custom emails when reaching out to websites that link to competitors, explaining why your content is superior and requesting a backlink, which is a more effective approach than generic outreach.

💡SEO (Search Engine Optimization)

SEO is the process of improving the visibility of a website on organic (non-paid) search engine results pages. The entire video is centered around SEO, specifically discussing strategies for earning backlinks, which is a major factor in improving a site's SEO and search engine rankings.

💡Neil Patel Digital

Neil Patel Digital is an online marketing agency founded by Neil Patel, offering services such as SEO, content marketing, and paid media. In the script, it is mentioned as a resource for those who may need professional help with their link-building efforts, indicating an additional service provided by the expert presenting the video.

Highlights

The importance of backlinks for Google ranking and the risks of paying for them.

Introduction to Neil Patel's free link building tool, Backlinks, available at neilpatel.com/backlinks.

Using Backlinks to find and analyze competitors' most popular pages and backlink counts.

The strategy of identifying top pages competitors are writing on and analyzing backlinks to those articles.

Writing a better version of a competitor's article by significantly expanding its depth and quality.

The concept of creating in-depth content with comprehensive details and examples.

The suggestion to include multimedia elements like GIFs and images to enhance content.

The emphasis on creating high-quality content that provides better instructions and value.

The recommendation to add custom graphics designed by a professional to improve content.

The final step of emailing those who link to your competition and explaining why your article is superior.

The importance of sending custom emails to effectively communicate the value of your content.

The long-term benefits of building links manually through quality content over shady tactics.

How manual labor in link building can help outpace competition and increase traffic.

An offer of help with link building through Neil Patel Digital for those who need assistance.

Encouragement for viewers to ask questions, comment, like, and share the video.

Transcripts

- Look, if you want to rank on Google you need backlinks.

We all know this, it's hard, and that's why

a lot of people pay for them,

but you shouldn't pay for them.

Paying for them is against Google's policy,

it's a great way to get your site banned,

it's short term, it's one of the silliest things you can do.

So, if you don't pay for them how can you get them?

Hi everyone, I'm Neil Patel and today

I'm going to share with you how you can build backlinks

without paying for them.

(upbeat music)

Before we get started, make sure

you subscribe to this channel,

and if you're on YouTube click the alert notification

that way when I go live you'll get notified.

So question, how do you build backlinks?

Well, I'm guessing most of you don't build them at all,

and I'm curious altogether, because there is

a really simple way to do this.

It does require hard work, I'm not going to tell you that

you're just going to get these links in,

wave a magic wand and do nothing,

but if you're willing to do the work

it's not hard to get these backlinks.

And here's how you do it.

Step one, I want you to head over to Backlinks,

it's a free link building tool that I created for you.

Go to neilpatel.com/backlinks,

in the search bar put in your competitor URL,

it'll show you all the people that link to your competitors.

Within there I want you to search for

the pages that they have that are the most popular.

It'll show you that, you can see all the links,

all the links that people are pointing to

other than their home page.

And through the Backlink's report you can also see that,

you can see the backlink count for the whole domain,

a specific URL, and when you find the right articles

that a competition's going after,

you want to look at the backlink count for that URL.

Now, if you're struggling to find really good pages,

another easy thing you can do is

when you're already in the Backlink's report,

in the side bar click on top pages,

it'll show you the top pages that your

competitors are writing on, look at the ones

that are most similar to you and you can also

click the backlinks button there,

it'll show you every single person

that's linking to that article.

Second step, whatever that article is

that your competitors wrote that's

similar or related to your industry,

I want you to write a better version of that article.

You know, if it's 1,000 words

I want you to make it 5,000 words.

Yes, I know that sounds crazy,

requires a lot of work, but go in depth.

And I'm not talking about just shoving in key words

and making it long for the sake of it.

I'm talking about great amazing content.

If I told you to write a article on how to make pizzas,

you would just write a article

and you probably would discuss

here's how you make dough, you put it in the oven,

here's a temperature, you put toppings,

bada boom bada bing you're done, you got pizza.

Well, when I'm saying write amazing content,

I want you to do things like talk about,

if you're going to write on how to make pizza,

break down everything to, how do you pick the vegetables.

Organic versus ones with pesticides.

Do you need to drain out the water

from the vegetables when you're cutting them up?

What's the right length to cut your cucumbers?

All the way to, how the water quality

changes the taste of your dough.

Do you use bottled water?

Do you use tap water?

All those things matter from, hey you put the dough,

you make it first, you put it in the oven

that is preheated to a certain temperature,

once it's cooked you break it out,

you put marinara sauce that you handmade

and this is how you do it step by step

and even picked the tomatoes from the local market.

And then how do you put your toppings?

How do you cut it?

What kind of fork and knife do you use to cut a pizza?

You use that circular roller thing?

I don't know how to cook because I'm not a cook,

but you get the point.

If that's how you make a pizza I just want super in depth,

and I would try to go even more in depth than that.

And when go that in depth, you'll also find

that hey, your article is so thorough

that when someone reads it they're going to get

better instructions on how to build that pizza.

I would also include GIFs, animated with images

showing like the process of making the dough

and spreading it out and tossing it in the air

and then catching it and then my wife

getting mad at me for making a mess in the kitchen.

Again, I don't cook but I would be a

fun experiment, why not try it out?

So, you would do all these things,

and making it super detailed is

how you create better content than other people.

Whether it's images, videos that you

also want to add to your articles.

Whether it's having a custom designer

go in there and create graphics for you, all that adds up.

You want your content to be better.

This is the most important part in this step.

It's not using my Backlinks tool, you can use

anyone else's tool if you want, mine's just free.

It's nothing else.

This step, the second one, is the most important.

Now, the last step you need to take,

you need to email out everyone linking to your competition

and break down why your article's better.

But the real key is to do custom emails.

So for example, if someone links to my article

on how to get content, or if someone links

to a competitors article on how to get ranked on

Google faster, or how to get new content index faster,

you know, I may end up emailing them

telling them hey look, that content's talking about how

you go and you submit your article to search console,

and I would break down and be like,

hey I know you use to link to us but that doesn't guarantee

that your article gets indexed,

Google still picks what you want.

Here's three other things that I break down

that helps people get a index.

And these three things are really easy,

they can do that in two minutes.

This other thing takes seven minutes

but combined they're going to get a much better success ratio.

And when you create that detailed email

and then you're like look, if you want them to,

if you want to provide more value to your users

feel free to check out the article.

If you enjoy it, I would really appreciate it

if you also linked to it.

That kind of stuff is more effective,

takes more time, but it works.

That's how you build links without paying for it.

Most of it is manual labor on your end,

and that's why a lot of people don't have links.

It's because they don't want to take the time

to build all those links, it's just so time consuming.

With you, if you're willing to do that,

you'll outpace your competition,

rank higher, and gobble up their traffic.

It's a better approach, it's a long term approach,

don't get caught in shady gray hat tactics.

If you need help with your link building

check out my ad agency, Neil Patel Digital.

If you have any questions, comments,

leave it below and I'll answer it.

And if you enjoyed the video like it,

share it, tell other people about it.

Thank you for watching.