Big data has played a critical role in SEO. Last September, Anna Crowe of Search Engine Journal talked about the utilization of big data for crafting content for SEO.
You can find a number of ways that big data can aid with SEO. One of the most overlooked benefits is with building backlinks.
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Big Data is Invaluable for Building Links
When working on external website optimization, you can use paid and free links. Most people use only paid ones or directly negotiate with the owners of reputable sites. However, few people believe that you can place a link to a site for free. If the backlink is of high quality, search engines will like it. Such links are as natural as possible, and therefore will affect the position of the site.
Where to place links for free? There are many sites offering this service, however, you should begin with analyzing your competitors.
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This is where data analytics comes into play. There are a lot of great tools that use Hadoop data mining technology to find information on different websites. These data analytics tools can help you find new linkbuilding opportunities to grow your SERPs. These are some of the most important ways big data is helping with SEO.
Reasons to Analyze Competitors’ Sites with Data Analytics Tools
The easiest and most effective way to find sites for placing free backlinks is to analyze the competitors. Tools like Ahref and BacklinkWatch use data-driven insights to accomplish this. Ahrefs has the world’s largest dataset of backlinks, which is updated every 30 minutes. This is why they boast about bringing big data to SEO professionals. SEMRush and other SEO tools use big data in similar ways.
It is enough to check the link profile of the site using specialized services with simple data analytics tools. Alternatively, you can check the URL of a competitor’s site in Google search by quoting it. Google is a powerful data analytics engine in its own right. Thanks to this method the search engine will display all the links leading to this web resource.
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Of course, these sites must be checked for quality and credibility. Do not just duplicate the competitors’ link profiles, because their mistakes will be copied as well. From the list of donors received, select those where you can post free links to promote the site. Then make a content plan, planning how many backlinks per day/week/month you will place there.
This is another way that big data is important. Data analytics tools like the Moz Domain Authority Checker can assess the quality of these sites. SEMRush uses big data to see how many keywords a site is ranking for, which enables them to determine its credibility with Google.
Places Where You Can Locate Links for Free with Data Analytics
Now let’s look at the main sites offering free site-links that you can find with data analytics:
1) Company Catalogs
Catalogs are suitable for companies that work in a certain area – construction, automobiles, medicine, etc. Such catalogs can be searched in Google or other search engines. It is advisable to select the best place by making a list for the content plan. In order not to cause suspicion among search engines, it is advisable to place one link per week. Remember that the web resource will quickly be banned for a mass appearance of backlinks in a short period of time.
2) Website Directories
If the first option is created for companies that work both offline and online, then these catalogs are intended only for companies with their own websites. It’s easy to get high quality backlinks free placement simply by registering. Sometimes a backlink appears after being checked by a moderator, which can take a couple of minutes or several months. In good directories, moderation takes some time.
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3) Forums
Free links can be also posted on the forums. However, you need to look for the forums similar to your site by the topic. To locate a backlink, it is recommended to register several accounts. Use the first account to ask for a recommendation and the second one – to respond to this message by leaving a link to your site.
For search engines, links on forums are considered natural. After all, if your site is recommended by other people – it indicates its usefulness. But do not abuse this method. The reference mass should increase smoothly and gradually, so make a schedule for writing messages on the forums and follow it.
4) Social Network
Social networks are a great source of free backlinks. All that is required – to write informative posts on your own pages or leave useful comments with a link to the site, encouraging users to repost.
5) Comments to the Articles
The sites where useful articles are published are a brilliant place for receiving free backlinks. You can write comments by leaving your link under the post. The domain name of the site can be specified even in a non-clickable form. Firstly, it will cause less suspicion among users. Secondly, when writing a useful comment, there will still be “live” transitions.
6) Reviewers
There are many sites where people leave reviews about products or services. You can also leave a useful review with a link to a web resource. Companies that sell products may periodically supply their products for free in exchange for a quality review. This will already be a good advertisement and if the review turns out to be of high quality, they will recommend it and share it with friends. Then free links will appear in huge numbers.
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7) Guest Posts
You can also get the link by writing guest posts. Arrange your publication with the owner of the site, discuss the requirements, and start working. If you publish guest posts on reputable sites – the effect of placing backlinks can be quite noticeable. However, be sure to check the donor’s hosting, page loading speed, traffic, and other parameters to make sure the linking does not bring you exactly the opposite result.
8) Link Exchange
In this way, you can post backlinks for free on reputable sites, but in response, you will have to do the same. You can publish it with the “no-follow” attribute. However, discuss it in advance with the owner of another site to avoid misunderstandings.
9) Quality Content
You can get natural links simply by publishing quality articles. If the content is really cool and useful, users will recommend it themselves. Such links are difficult to obtain, but they are considered as natural and valuable as possible.
Big Data is Vital to the Future of SEO
As you can see, there are plenty of sites where you can place links for free. Data analytics is making it easier to discover these opportunities. Choose the options that are most suitable for you, create a content plan, and start working on a link profile. Just do it gradually, using the optimal ratio of anchor and non-anchor links. Data-driven marketers will follow the guidelines listed above. Good luck!