Link building remains without a doubt one of the most pursued strategies of SEO. While there is much to focus on the broader world of brand improvement and marketing, earning links from reputable sources helps increase a website’s prominence and relevance in search results. It is no wonder that many people still dedicate substantial amounts of energy and time to the endeavor.

Those who focus on this task will tell you that earning links isn’t exactly easy. It requires a stroke of luck, some great content, or both. Nevertheless, optimizing content can improve outcomes and make a difference over time. Today, let’s look at some must-have elements in your content and pages that’ll boost the likelihood of earning those links.

Emotion

Think about content that has moved you in some way. Whether it be a happy story of redemption, a sad tale about an illness or any number of other scenarios, this content touched you in some way. It may have motivated you to act in some way as well – whether that was sharing the content or donating to a cause.

Emotional appeals are above and beyond the most effective way to ensure content gets spread far and wide. Not only does this help content gain a larger audience via social media and beyond, but it generates the same effect among bloggers, influencers and other people who are the targets for your link building efforts. By pinging servers with content that appeals to one’s emotions, you have completed the single most effective optimization for building links.

Uniqueness

It seems nearly impossible to drum up a genuinely unique idea in the age of the internet, but perspective and style matter more than you might think. With virtually every topic covered by multiple bloggers, brands and businesses in some way, content creators must strive to provide a unique sense of style and perspective to each piece of content created.

For those wanting to earn backlinks, it is essential to find a unique viewpoint from which to approach the topic. This can be done in any number of ways, but many use personal stories, images and foreshadowing to create a unique reading experience.

Brown-nosing

Last but not least, it definitely doesn’t hurt to add some sucking up into both your content and your pitch. There are many ways in which to get in the good graces of those who’ll decide whether or not they’ll link back to you, thankfully.

Some examples of brown-nosing include directly plugging/linking back to their sites in the content, casually retweeting or otherwise promoting their websites beforehand on social media, and highly personal pitches. Such strategies – when executed properly – can significantly increase the chances of earning backlinks through proactive appeals.

The act of link building takes plenty of work and results in many failures. That doesn’t mean that the effort isn’t worth it, nor should it discourage you from proactively attempting to earn links. Knowing what you’re in for is half the battle, but the other half revolves around optimizing content and strategy to produce the best results. Now that you know how to improve the process, you can start pinging servers with content and pitches that’ll deliver more effective outcomes.