Link Building Methods to Trust in 2023

Author: Guy Sheetrit Updated Date: March 7, 2026 Category: Link Building

Ask an SEO expert about link building and you will receive multiple responses – that it is an essential SEO skill; that it combines various skills like psychology, content, marketing, sales, and programming; that it is key to improving search engine traffic, and so on and so forth. According to a 2017 Search Engine Land study, Google considers backlinks to be the strongest indicator of rank authority. However, you’ve got to realize that you need to innovate and adopt the latest advanced link-building methods in 2023 to stay relevant and stay at the top. For a deeper dive, explore our guide on Death Traditional Backlinks.

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But Why This Obsession With Links?

Well, Google’s PageRank Algorithm was a game-changer as it not only analyzed page content but took into account the number of people linking to that particular page. Fast forward 20 years and links still happen to be the best way of determining page quality. However, since the Google Penguin update of 2012, the search engine focuses more on quality than quantity.

What this means is, random/bad links will no longer find any favor with Google. In 2023, businesses need to step up their link-building game, and that requires following the latest and the best tactics. Find out what they are below:

Get Help from Your Competitors

Find Out the Common Backlinks Used by Your Competitors

Research the various competitors your business has, and notice the common backlinks between them. Now eliminate the ones that are already present on your site and you will be left with the ones that you don’t have yet. But you need to acquire these backlinks. Why? Because most of your competitors have them, which means they hold value.

This is a simple process. Start by analyzing the backlinks using a tool like the Common Backlinks Tool (CBLT).

Now, enter a maximum of 10 rival companies and begin generating the report. Use CBLT to find common backlinks as well as the techniques and sources used by the competition.

Acquire Indirect Backlinks from Rival Companies

Use a tool like Link Juice Thief (LJT) to discover the common websites your competitors link to. More often than not, these websites tend to be high-authority pages within the SEO industry. Analyze these links and try to get them for your site.

Often, the Link Juice Thief (LJT) results will resemble the ones from the Common Backlinks Tool mentioned above, proving that the pages linked by your competitors are authoritative websites in your respective industries.

Link to these websites if you wish to provide your business page with a big boost. But know that doing so creates an indirect opportunity for your competitors to link to your site as well. If that’s okay, proceed with link building. Just be sure to pick the web pages with a high enough LRT Power*Trust, low risks, and high relevance to your field.

Harness the Power of Reddit

Reddit is a social news aggregator, discussion, and web content rating site. With a 250 million strong user base, the website caters to various industries. There’s no reason why it shouldn’t serve your SEO needs too. An innovative feature of this platform is that it allows you to view where a particular domain was shared on their site. Use it to monitor your own site along with that of your competitors.

How Do You Do That?

Here’s an example. If I enter a specific query – https://www.reddit.com/domain/moz.com/ – I will be able to see the recently shared stories from Moz on the Reddit platform:

This way you can check if someone submitted your article to a little-known sub-Reddit, sending numerous visitors to your website. Of course, there’s no guarantee that these visitors will remain on your website for a long period, but at least, you can use this opportunity to promote your page in the future.

Does This Work For All Websites?

Keep in mind, however, that new websites or the ones with minimum shareable content will not produce many results. But, at least, you can run the rival businesses through the same query and receive innovative content ideas and insights on which subreddits produce the best results. Once you become familiar with the Redditors interested in your niche, use the information to create viral posts that increase your opportunity of reaching more industry people and getting linked.

Use Guestographics

Wondering what guest graphics are? Well, just the hottest link-building method of 2023! Create an infographic and then pitch it to the relevant audience in exchange for a link. Think of it as a guest post but with an additional infographic.

First, post an infographic on your website.

Of course, you need to create the infographic first. This involves picking the right subject, designing the infographic, or outsourcing the task to somebody else.

Use tools like Canva to create a great-looking with minimum effort and skill. Once you’re done, upload it to your website. Add some content to it.
Now look for other websites in your niche that cover interesting topics. Contact them and pitch your infographic to them.
Sweeten the deal by offering an extra 200 to 500-word intro content to go along with the infographic.
Do not forget to add your link to this content.

Understand the Benefits of Guestographics

High-Mileage Investment: Sure, it requires money and time – valuable business resources – to create an infographic. However, the upside is that your investment lasts a really long time. Design a single infographic and you’ll find hundreds of websites in your niche. Even if you manage to get a dozen backlinks from these, it indicates a decent conversion rate. So, the price of one infographic gets you a high mileage investment – one you can use and reuse as required.

Better Control Over Target URL and Anchor Text: Enjoy better control over the anchor text, which is quite important when trying to rank pages and develop brand signals.

More Shareable Content and Multichannel Traffic: Some industries are targeted more than others. An infographic increases the chances of your post being shared because users love visual content.

Links From Harder-to-Get Websites: Guest posting has long been considered one of the best link-building methods. But the thing is, it’s 2023 and people now prefer visuals over text-heavy content. So, not every website accepts guest posts nowadays. But an infographic gives you a whole new means of pitching to such sites.

Thus, geographics are a great way to tap into all this because link-building isn’t just about link-building; it also involves the track and referral traffic and potential clients.

Concluding Remarks

Make link-building an indispensable part of your marketing in 2023. Remember links strongly influence the visibility of your website in search. But make sure the link-building strategy you develop connects you to links of value. This value may take different forms, but it all comes down to accurately guessing the value offered by your website. Leverage that value for links on the Internet. While it’s not uncommon to face problems while link building, concentrating more on the value of your business plus implementing the techniques given above will ensure successful link building and healthy growth in your company’s online presence in 2023.

Frequently Asked Questions

What are the best link building methods for 2023?

Effective methods include content marketing, digital PR, guest posting, broken link building, resource page links, and building relationships with industry influencers.

Why are backlinks important for SEO?

Backlinks signal authority and trust to search engines. Quality backlinks from reputable sites can significantly improve your search engine rankings and drive referral traffic.

How long does it take to build backlinks?

Link building is a long-term strategy. Most campaigns take 3-6 months to show results, with significant impact typically visible within 6-12 months.

What is digital PR for link building?

Digital PR involves creating newsworthy content, press releases, and original research that attracts links from media outlets and authoritative websites.

Should I buy backlinks?

No. Buying backlinks violates Google’s guidelines and can result in penalties. Focus on earning links naturally through quality content and relationship building.

How many backlinks do I need to rank?

There’s no fixed number. Focus on quality over quantity. A few links from high-authority, relevant sites are more valuable than many links from low-quality sources.

For a deeper dive, explore our guide on Quick Generate Many More.

The Evolution of Digital Marketing Strategy

Digital marketing has transformed dramatically over the past decade, evolving from simple banner advertisements to sophisticated, data-driven strategies that leverage artificial intelligence and machine learning. Understanding this evolution provides context for developing effective modern marketing strategies that resonate with today’s consumers.

Modern digital marketing requires integrated approaches combining multiple channels into cohesive customer experiences. The most successful businesses recognize that consumers interact with brands through complex journeys spanning multiple devices and platforms.

Content Marketing Best Practices

Content remains the foundation of successful digital marketing, serving as the primary mechanism for attracting organic traffic, building brand authority, and engaging target audiences. Effective content addresses specific search queries while providing genuine value to readers through comprehensive answers and actionable insights.

Data-Driven Marketing Decisions

Modern marketing success depends on sophisticated analytics enabling data-driven decisions. Understanding which metrics connect to business outcomes allows continuous optimization and improved return on investment through testing and iterative improvement.

Building Brand Authority

Establishing thought leadership provides significant competitive advantages including increased brand awareness and customer trust. Effective thought leadership addresses emerging trends, challenges conventional wisdom, and provides actionable guidance.

Maximizing Marketing ROI

Proving marketing ROI requires clear objectives, sophisticated tracking, and continuous optimization. The most successful marketing organizations treat marketing as an investment delivering measurable returns through continuous testing.

Learn More: Home

The Modern Link Building Landscape: What Actually Works in 2025

Google’s link quality assessment has evolved dramatically since the original PageRank algorithm. Today, links are evaluated not just for authority metrics (DA, DR) but for topical relevance, anchor text distribution, traffic verification, and editorial context. A single link from a genuinely relevant, trafficked page on a real publication can outvalue 50 links from low-traffic “authority” blogs.

The sites winning in competitive SERPs today are earning links through a combination of digital PR, content-based outreach, and systematic relationship building — not bulk outreach or link schemes.

Link Acquisition Strategies With the Best ROI in 2025

Original Research and Data: Proprietary studies, surveys, and datasets generate passive links for years. A survey of 500 industry professionals with interesting findings will get picked up by journalists, bloggers, and industry publications without active outreach. Tools like Typeform (survey), Screaming Frog (data collection), and Data.gov (public datasets) make this accessible even for small teams.
Journalist Sourcing (HARO/Connectively/Qwoted): Responding to journalist queries with expert commentary is one of the highest-ROI link building activities available. A 15-minute response to the right query can land a link on Forbes, Inc., or a major industry publication. Response rate improves dramatically with specific data points, contrary opinions, and named expert attribution.
Broken Link Building at Scale: Use Ahrefs or SEMrush to identify broken outbound links on high-authority pages in your niche. Create replacement content, then notify the linking site. Conversion rates of 5-15% are common because you’re solving their problem, not creating one.
Strategic Guest Posting: Guest posting still works when done selectively. Target publications where your target customers actually read, with real editorial standards, on topics directly aligned with your core content pillars. One guest post on the right site beats 20 on generic “write for us” directories.
Unlinked Brand Mentions: Use Ahrefs Alerts or Brand24 to monitor mentions of your brand without a link. A simple, polite email requesting a link converts at 20-40% — they already think you’re worth mentioning.

Link Velocity and Natural Profile Development

Google’s algorithms detect unnatural link acquisition patterns — sudden spikes in links, uniform anchor text distribution, links from the same IP ranges, or links appearing faster than a site’s content cadence would logically generate.

A natural link profile looks like: varied anchor text (branded, naked URL, topically relevant, generic), diverse referring domains (not all in the same niche), links appearing over time correlated with content publication, and a mix of dofollow and nofollow links (nofollow links from real sources are a positive signal, not neutral).

If you’re conducting active link building, mirror natural patterns: acquire 5-10 links from a campaign, then pause outreach for 2-3 weeks before the next push. This pacing looks more organic and reduces algorithmic sensitivity.

Auditing Your Existing Link Profile

Before building new links, audit what you have. Toxic or low-quality links can drag down otherwise strong pages. Monthly link audits should check for:

Links from domains with spam scores above 30 (Moz) or Trust Flow below 10 (Majestic)
Links from hacked/compromised sites (sudden drops in referring domain traffic)
Over-optimized anchor text patterns (more than 20% of links using the same exact-match keyword)
Links from clearly irrelevant industries or foreign-language sites with no logical connection

For genuinely toxic links, first attempt removal via email outreach. If unsuccessful after two attempts, submit a disavow file through Google Search Console. The disavow tool is not a cure-all — use it surgically, not as a routine maintenance step.

By Guy Sheetrit
Apr 13, 2018

Link Building Methods to Trust in 2023