What is link building for crypto/blockchain companies? Link building is the process of getting other websites to link to your website. Those links are referred to as backlinks, and, essentially, are trust signals for Google that help with rankings.
Although many crypto businesses successfully implement on-page SEO optimization, they typically struggle with link building, because honestly, it’s hard to get backlinks in this niche.
Unfortunately, most marketing channels like PPC are not an easy option for most crypto companies, which makes them rely on organic traffic.
To shed some light on the matter, we have put together this comprehensive guide to help you get started with link building for your crypto website.
If you need help with your Crypto Website's Link Building or overall SEO strategy, book a call with our head of SEO for thorough consultation!
So, what link building strategies do those highest-ranking crypto websites actually implement? Are there any proven tactics that guarantee results?
Of course, there are! If applied correctly, the following proven methods will become your favorite white-hat link building tactics for sustainable SEO results.
Continue reading for a quick one-by-one overview of each technique!
Guest Posting is when you write content for another website to level up your SEO by getting backlinks.
The guest article must cover a relevant topic and feature an inserted link that goes to your own website. Of course, this tactic will show impressive results if the website you chose for the guest post is within your niche and is authoritative.
There are plenty of crypto and blockchain blogs out there that’d be happy to publish a well-written article on industry trends. To give you an idea, here are a few crypto blogs with decent authority scores that accept guest posts.
Similar to guest posting, link insertion is another classic SEO tactic, where you get a niche website link to your blockchain website. In link insertion, though, you get the link placed within existing content. This way you not only improve the reader’s experience with a valuable external link but also drive traffic to your own site, without having to create content.
Are you a popular, well-established brand in your niche? If yes, this technique may come of great use to you.
There is a big chance that other websites have referred to your brand or the stuff you offer but haven’t given you the credit for that. In such cases, what you want to do is reach out and ask them to add a link to the mention. There are tools that can help you find those unlinked brand mentions.
Here’s an example of a Coinbase unlinked brand mention on a high-authority website. If interested, Coinbase could reach out to them and ask to place a link on the mention.
If you are willing to put a little effort into creating visuals, infographic link building might be the tactic you want to go for. Visuals are content the human brain loves to consume the most.
Like Statista, you can create a valuable infographic on a trendy crypto-related topic that might interest businesses.
To increase your chances of getting backlinks, you can reach out to prospects and present the infographic.
Have you launched a new product or service? Tell the crypto world about it! Share your press release with crypto news websites. Chances are that those news outlets will provide you with a backlink. Besides, you’ll also get amazing bonuses in the form of new organic traffic and a good relationship with the media.
Bitcoinist.com is one such great crypto news website you can reach out to.
If you represent a crypto exchange/trading platform, coin, or a cryptocurrency-related business, you are probably familiar with the leading ranking and price-tracking platforms like CoinMarketCap. Do comprehensive research: is there a way for you to get listed on those websites? Check out their listings criteria.
Linkable assets are awesome resources, content, or tools that you put on your websites to get backlinks.
A linkable asset for a crypto website may be something as simple as an online crypto converter or a crypto charting tool, and even the trial version of your main product.
CoinMarketCap’s online converter and calculator tool is a prime example of a linkable asset that generates an impressive amount of backlinks (27K+) as a free, simple, and usable tool.
In fact, there are countless content-based ideas for linkable assets to attract backlinks and more traffic naturally – exactly the way Google likes it. The only thing you need to take care of is crafting powerful content based on thorough research of the industry trends.
We have put together a list of more linkable asset ideas for you to use on your way to a stronger backlink profile, increased traffic, and higher rankings.
Otherwise known as the link reclamation tactic, the lost link method is used to retain and update your previous link building efforts. Before jumping to new link acquisition tactics, it’s always a good idea to fix the broken ones or get back the removed ones.
More than that, the broken link strategy can be used to acquire links that previously pointed to competitor websites but now are 404s. All you need to do is create similar content, reach out to the website that placed the link and offer to replace it.
Doing link exchange with relevant websites from the crypto or financial niche is an extremely helpful and mutually beneficial tactic. Even more, it may turn out to be the most effective link-building opportunity in terms of getting high-authority links.
However, there is a caveat: make sure you don’t engage in “excessive link exchange” as Google calls it. That is to say, you shouldn’t try to acquire reciprocal links from hundreds of websites just for the sake of getting lots of links. Those links might seem unnatural for Google, resulting in a penalty.
The key here is to get relevant, high-quality backlinks coming from a valuable source.
A good technique to use is taking part in link roundups. These are essentially curated lists of the best content within the crypto, finance, or any other niche. Contact niche-related websites that might be interested in link roundups and try to apply this technique.
Getting links from influential media publications is not just a boost to your backlink profile, but also to your credibility and trustworthiness. Hundreds of powerful publications and magazines frequently publish ratings, business reviews, and all sorts of “best” articles that give ratings to businesses or products.
This article by Business Insider is a good example of a digital product rating chart for bitcoin wallets.
While it may be challenging to get a link from a publication like Forbes or the Economist, it is totally possible. Besides, you can always find slightly less popular but pretty decent niche magazines to get featured in.
If you have successfully partnered with another business, you can ask your partner to put your logo on their website with an external link to yours.
Now that we are familiar with the most beneficial link building strategies for crypto websites, let’s get right to do’s and don’ts list of SEO tips.
100% truth – the more backlinks you have, the richer your backlink profile. However, there is one factor that’s far more important and that’s link quality. If you get lots of low-quality links, they won’t do much good to your SEO. In fact, quite the opposite – those links may result in low rankings and penalties from Google. So, the golden rule of link building is “One high-quality link is worth hundreds of arbitrary ones”.
By looking at the links your competitors have, you gain insights into how well they are performing and what you can do to beat them. More than that, you get lists of industry websites you can reach out to for your own link building.
Yes, the homepage is the most important page on your website, but other pages should receive a decent amount of attention as well. Linking mainly to your homepage may look spammy and badly affect your SEO.
Being active in crypto forums and contributing to the discussions is an amazing opportunity to lead target traffic to your website. If the forum offers do-follow links, it is also a proven tactic to complement your main link building efforts.
This simple yet effective tactic will help build backlinks and relationships with popular figures, preparing the ground for future collaboration. Most likely, those influencers who are mentioned in your post will share the content with their audience.
There is no doubt that a backlink from an influential domain is extremely valuable, but it is only true if the website linking to you is also relevant. An irrelevant yet high-quality link won’t do any harm, but it’s not effective either. The reason behind this is Google’s algorithm: it focuses on relevance as its top priority when evaluating links.
As you start building your backlink profile, make sure to avoid black hat SEO practices at all costs. What exactly are black hat link building tactics? To put it short, any technique that tries to manipulate search engines for higher rankings goes against Google guidelines and is considered black hat.
Below are a few such link building tactics you should absolutely avoid.
- Driving links from link farms
Much like PBNs, link farms are groups of websites that engage in reciprocal link exchange to hack the Google algorithm. If you are associated with such websites in any way, Google may eventually penalize your website.
- Getting links from spammy forums
Unlike niche forums we discussed above, there is a huge number of forums that provide no value whatsoever. Typically, these forums are not moderated and only contain ads and thin answers without any real contribution. It is needless to say that backlinks from such forums won’t help you in any way.
- Getting links from sites that use hidden text and links
Finally, make sure you don’t guest post for domains that have hidden text and links in their content. Some websites use deceptive techniques to hide from users the excessive keywords and links they placed for crawlers. Once again, because Google considers such practices manipulative, it makes sense to avoid any such interaction.
As we have already mentioned, backlink quantity alone isn’t enough to boost your rankings. It is relevance that guarantees a strong backlink profile. For more clarity, let’s explore 4 types of relevant platforms that are very likely to give you backlinks.
#1. Crypto and Blockchain Businesses
This one is pretty straightforward, right? Other businesses providing crypto and blockchain services will make the best prospects for link-building. Let’s say you are a company offering a crypto portfolio tracking software. While it doesn’t make sense to reach out to companies offering a similar product, you can always contact the following businesses:
#2. Finance Websites
Websites like The Economist, Financial Times, or Investopedia regularly publish news, blog posts, and crypto business reviews. Sure, it will be extremely challenging to acquire links from such influential websites if you are just getting started, but you can always find suitable prospects within your reach. Rest assured, links from less popular but high-quality sites will work just fine!
#3. Affiliate Websites
You have probably come across those “10 best…” articles across the web. That’s the type of content affiliate websites usually provide. Such websites promote products and services to generate sales and earn commissions from each sale. Getting featured in affiliate lists isn’t just beneficial for backlink acquisition but also for directly attracting users. This list of crypto exchange platforms put together by NerdWallet is the perfect example.
#4. Crypto Blogs
As more and more people become interested in crypto investments and blockchain technologies, there is a high demand for high-quality informational content.
By doing a little research, you can find hundreds of crypto bloggers and blog websites that are happy to collaborate. Platforms like Bitcoin Magazine, are open for well-written guest posts.
Now, from theory to practice! Are you ready to apply what you have learned about crypto link building? Let’s cover the entire process step by step.
Step 1: Choose a link-building strategy
First things first, you need to develop a comprehensive strategy for your website. To create a working strategy, be well aware of your site’s strengths and weaknesses. Assess your SEO performance, audit existing content, and define your audience. Based on the analysis, you can come up with a smart long-term link-building strategy.
Step 2: Define target pages
Remember that not all pages of your website are equal. Drive links to the pages that provide value in terms of sales and lead generation. Also, make sure the URLs you choose have good keyword opportunities and traffic potential.
Step 3: Make a list of potential prospects
Now that you have figured out the target pages, it’s time to create a prospect list. Always evaluate the websites you want to reach out to. These are the metrics you should pay close attention to before including a site in your prospect list.
Use this free tool by Moz to figure out if a website is worth prospecting.
If the websites match your quality guidelines, go ahead to collect their contact details. You can use this free tool to find the e-mails of webmasters.
Step 4: Reach out with a personalized pitch
Your pitch is the e-mail you craft to send to your prospects for collaboration offers. Depending on the offer type, whether it’s for guest posting or link insertion, you will need to craft individual, personalized pitches for each publisher. Custom e-mails will increase your chances of standing out from thousands of spammy offers and getting a positive response.
Step 5: Negotiate and get the backlink
With a well-thought-out plan and a bit of luck, you will eventually get responses to your outreach e-mails. Make sure you use your negotiation skills to your full potential to get the YES. There we go, you have just completed the final step and the link is yours.
No doubt, link building is a rigorous process that requires time, effort, and devotion. Yet, as with all SEO practices, the benefits you reap are sustainable and long-lasting. Once you get the ball rolling, your strategy will start working for you with minimal effort.
If you need more case-specific recommendations and a killer custom strategy to take your crypto business marketing to the next level, feel free to contact us for an in-depth consultation.
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