What is Link Baiting
Link baiting is the process of adding bait or a hook to attract back links. Generally good content on a site that people are searching for will be an example of Link Bait. It actually means something unique or interesting on your website that would want others to link to it.
In the SEO world, a hook or bait is usually referred to link worthy content written for websites, online articles and blog posts and then submitted on popular sites.
Other example of Link Bait is tools, widgets and other useful online applications. As with all good SEO strategies, content will be written with importance on the title tag which will serve as attractive bait to the audience.
Link Bait - Link-Worthy Content
This refers a piece of content on a website that has been created with the primary goal of promoting it to a broad or niche web community. The goal of this content is to find people who will find value in the material and write about it or importantly link to it. This could be through social media sites, news portals and blogs. One example of this could be a beginner’s guide to SEO.
At Goy Media, we have a daily blog where posts like this one are published on a daily basis alerting our clients of new developments in the SEO community and the World Wide Web. Also creating training and learning resources on learning SEO. This would be a perfect example of Link Bait or Link Worthy Content.
Link bait - Attracting Link Attention with Controversy
These link baits tend to be negative or derogatory pieces, controversial stories or news, inflammatory material, or anything else that is designed to incite or provoke a reaction from with the online communities or blogs.
There are several baits or hooks that are commonly used which include
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Resource Hook:
Example: A complete beginner’s guide to online marketing
These are hooks generally provide useful resources to the audience and will gain incoming links.
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News Hook:
Example: Google hides referral data
These hooks generally bank on providing the latest stories following a particular news item.
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Contrary Hook:
Example: Aaron Wall to become the MD of Google
A contrary hook looks will focus on providing views contrary to an established or perceived school of thought. This could be something controversial.
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Attack Hook:
Example: Alex Ferguson sued for match fixing
This is quite similar to the contrary hook but seeks to be more provocative, direct and upfront in nature. This can be the strongest of all hooks and will command the most links if the news is worthy and credible.
It is extremely important to ensure that for the contrary hook and the attack hook it is advised to make sure that the facts are properly checked and corroborated before the post/article is published.
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Humour Hook:
This type of hook seeks to bring in some aspect of humour into the daily mundane lives of people. As a hook it can turn out to be very.
The Power of Link Baiting
- Create content that is highly entertaining and remarkable
- The content then is published on the web and gains popularity
- Successful link bait can increase inbound links, brand awareness and traffic to your site
