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Over the years, link building strategies have evolved and matured.

Long gone are the days of link farms and link exchanges.

Today, link building is about earning links through outreach and high-quality content and less about spammy techniques that try to trick search engines.

Still, link building (or link earning, if you prefer) remains an effective strategy for increasing organic reach and getting discovered.

However, it can also be leveraged to drive traffic as well.

Yet, many brands and marketers still struggle to implement a successful link building strategy.

A decade ago, link building was easy. You tossed a few bucks at a link farming company or set up dozens of your own sites and interlinked them. A few hundred dollars or a few hours of work and your site was rolling in top ranks.

Those were the days, right?

Wrong.

The problem was that link building was too easy.

If link building were still easy, then everyone would be doing it. (And everyone used to.)

Link building today is hard.

But with the right tools and knowledge, you can be one of the few utilizing it to its full potential.

Below youll find 50 different types of links you should be earning for your business or clients, as well as strategies for acquiring them.

Keep in mind, there is no easy way to build links and not every link type will make sense for every type of business. But I am certain you will find at least a few new link strategies to implement.

Since this is a long list, I am unable to go into great detail for each type of link, so whenever possible I have offered additional resources where you can learn more about the specific strategy.

The strategies below are a mix of options for driving ranking and driving traffic.

In general, social, forum-style, and certain PR links dont have direct impact on organic rankings but are great for driving referral traffic.

While .edu links are not inherently more powerful, .edu sites do tend to have high domain authority, making these links valuable.

To earn .edu links, you can allow guest posts from students (ideally those studying your industry) and encourage them to share the post with teachers/classmates.

Consider offering students a discount or ask about an alumni directory at your alma mater.

Much like .edu, .gov sites tend toward high domain authority.

To earn .gov links, focus on how you can help veterans of the armed services.

Offer discounts, training, or scholarships and reach out to your local VA or SBA and notify them of your program.

These carry the same benefits as .gov and .edu links, but are easier to get.

Try sponsoring a charity program, offer your services/products pro bono, or volunteer.

Editorial links happen naturally when you publish high-quality, engaging content.

Build a diverse content marketing plan for the best chance of earning these.

The best way to get links from the press (e.g., newspapers, magazines, radio, TV) is by creating a resource or study that journalists will cite.

You can also use HARO to answer reporters questions, but it can be time-consuming to sort through the twice-daily emails.

This is a good in-depth post about media link building.

Internal links are some of the easiest to build.

If you use WordPress, I recommend a related post plugin to find more internal linking opportunities on your own site.

Complementary businesses have a similar target audience but dont directly compete with you.

To earn links try offering to exchange guest posts, write a review of their product/service, or co-build a marketing campaign.

If you can get competitors to link to you, you know you are doing something right.

Consider creating a job board or do some in-depth, original research thats so valuable they cant help but link to it.

The value of these links lies in the audience, which are people who are highly involved in your industry.

Search for top niche forums in your industry and start engaging.

Offer value first, then share links when it makes sense.

If you dont already have your site added to all your social profiles, go do that now.

A simple step, but it sometimes gets overlooked, particularly because there are just so many social platforms.

Check:

And any others where you maintain a presence.

You want to post new content to your social channels.

But also use a tool like Buffer or Hootsuite to schedule content multiple times to keep driving traffic.

This is separate from other social media links because it requires a very careful approach.

Reddit users particularly dislike being sold to, but it can be done if handled carefully.

Brent Csutoras has written extensively about marketing on Reddit.

Another simple, but overlooked link.

If you havent already, create a company page and add a link to your site.

No, dont go out and get dozens of crappy directory links.

But DO look for legit industry directories.

This is a good source for finding niche directories.

Cant find one for your industry or niche? Create your own.

Think Yelp, Bing, etc.

This is particularly important for local brick-and-mortar stores, but can help online brands, too.

Check out this post for a list of local directories.

If you have the dev skills (or someone on your team does), create a WordPress theme or plugin that others in your industry would find useful.

Alternatively, commission one and white label it.

Write an ebook, then add a link.

Simple stuff, right?

Writing a book can be time-consuming, so consider hiring an editor to help you turn a series of blog posts into a book.

A similar strategy for getting traditional media links, but focus more on your local area.

This is a good resource to get started.

Yep, good old guest blogging.

Find an industry news blog or complementary business blog and pitch a solid, well-written post.

Manual outreach is a numbers game, but it does work.

Look for broken links to pitch resources for, reach out to webmasters when it makes sense, and above all make sure you are offering value.

This video on Moz is a great resource for manual link building.

Dont forget to claim your listing and add your website link.

In many cases, people will see this information before they see your site.

See your brand listed or talked about somewhere? Ask for a link.

Set a Google Alert for brand mentions and reach out when you find someone is talking about your brand.

Branded anchor tags are good, but so are key term anchor tags.

You can literally see real-time sales and conversion data for any website, and which campaigns drove that traffic. Start your free trial today.

Use key term anchor tags internally, and ask for them when you are comfortable doing so.

Is there a topic or process you spent a ton of time researching or perfecting?

Publish a resource or how-to guide for others in the same position.

Think about it if you were looking for a resource theres a good chance other people are searching for a guide, too.

Compile a list of resources or ideas people in your industry would find useful.

For example, a list of 50 links youd want to earn or places to find free stock photography.

Offer value and you will earn links.

You can create these based on your own research or curate stats from other sites.

Create in-house using a tool like Canva (they have a specific infographic creator) or outsource.

I mention performing and publishing your own research a few times in this post.

That is because unique research is fantastic at attracting links including from infographics.

Make sure you send out your research results and state it can be used in infographics.

Go on sites like Quora and offer useful answers to questions.

The key here is offering value, not just searching for places to drop your link.

If you have a newsletter list, use it.

Also, consider sponsoring a newsletter for a complementary business.

Anytime your logo shows up online, ask for it to be a clickable graphic with a link to your site.

YouTube is often touted as the second largest search engine, so make sure to upload any video you record there with an embedded, clickable link.

Dont overthink video.

You can go live on Facebook using a smartphone and good lighting, then upload the video to YouTube.

Did you give a speech, teach a class, or present a webinar?

More here:
50 Types of Links You Want & How to Build Them - Search Engine Journal