Even though some people have given up on link building recently – due in large part to the amount of competition in the field and an emerging series of new ways to attract traffic – this effort still provides intrinsic value. Being able to divert traffic from other popular websites and have as many backlinks as possible provides value in the form of short-term traffic and long-term prominence in search engine rankings. You may be stumped on where to find link building opportunities – and that’s a normal feeling – but we’re here to help you out. Below, we’ll discuss some link building opportunities and where you can find them.

Monitor Your Competitors

Chances are that your competitors already have a slew of links that they’ve earned through a variety of sources. How are they obtaining them? One tool out there known as Spyfu will allow you to keep track of this information and filter through the domains that are of no use. You’ll be able to see the number of organic clicks received, the strength of the domain and the number of outbound links associated with each. This tool can be vital in determining which competitors are excelling at the sport of link building, and will ultimately help you find where they are finding success. Since you are in direct competition, it is very likely that you will also be able to convince these sources to include your links.

Find Dead Links

A webmaster understands how a dead or broken link can cause detriment to the website’s reputation, which is why so many are grateful when you point this out. If you can produce some links on webmasters’ websites that are currently broken, then you may be able to use this as an opportunity to build a backlink through them. Tools such as Domain Hunter Plus can be great solutions in pinging links very quickly; many webmasters simply never bother to check. When presenting them with the information, also be sure to ask for a backlink. This is one of the few cases in which it is OK to be straightforward about it.

Use Relevant Badges

If you need outbound links that are relevant and valuable, then you should definitely try the use of badges. What does this entail? You’ve no doubt seen some websites with badges off to the side – these often showcase excellence in a particular category or are given to a special website for a limited time (“excellent site of the week” or something similar). This will allow you to build clout with search engines and as long as you keep the subject matter relevant, you may even be able to convince the webmasters of these sites to link back to you. Even if the latter is not the case, the more you are pinging links, the more activity you generate and the more signals you send to search engines.

Conclusion

Link building opportunities are everywhere. If you want to boost backlinks and outbound links, then use the advice above: scope out your competitors, find errors and broken links on others’ sites that can give you leverage to ask for a link, and find relevant, subtle ways to incorporate a variety of outbound links that you might not otherwise be able to use.