Build your website's authority beyond your own pages. Backlinks, brand mentions, and the trust signals that push you up in rankings.
On-page and technical SEO tells Google what your site is about. Off-page SEO tells Google how much other people trust it. Think of backlinks as votes of confidence. The more high-quality votes you have, the more authority Google gives you.
Here's the mental shift: Days 1-5 were about making your site perfect. Today is about proving to the world (and Google) that your site is worth ranking.
🎯 By the end of Day 6: You'll understand dofollow vs nofollow links, you'll have identified 5 guest post opportunities, and you'll have written (or drafted) your first link-building pitch email.
Moz's Domain Authority (DA) and Ahrefs' Domain Rating (DR) are third-party metrics (scale of 0-100) that estimate how authoritative a website is. Higher = more valuable links FROM that site.
Important: These aren't Google metrics. Google doesn't use "Domain Authority." But they're useful proxies. Sites with high DA/DR tend to have higher rankings and their links carry more weight.
What this means for you: When link building, prioritize getting backlinks from high-authority sites (DA 30+) in your niche over low-authority sites. A link from TechCrunch carries more weight than a link from a random blog.
Note: You can check any domain's DA/DR free with Moz Link Explorer (moz.com/link-explorer) or Ahrefs (ahrefs.com).
Not all links are created equal. Understanding the difference is critical:
Pass "link juice" (ranking authority) to your site. Google counts them as votes. These are what you're primarily hunting for.
<a href="yoursite.com">link text</a>
Include a tag telling Google not to count the link as a vote. They don't pass ranking authority, but they still drive traffic and brand awareness.
<a href="yoursite.com" rel="nofollow">link text</a>
When you see nofollow links: Press releases, social media, most Wikipedia links, and sponsored content use nofollow. They're not ranking signals, but traffic from them is real.
Newer tag types for paid links and user-generated content. Google treats them similar to nofollow.
<a href="yoursite.com" rel="sponsored"> or
rel="ugc">
The takeaway: Focus on dofollow links from topically relevant, high-authority sites. Nofollow links have some value for traffic and brand, but they won't directly boost rankings.
These are legitimate, Google-approved methods to earn links:
Write articles for other websites in your niche in exchange for a backlink. Find sites using Google search: "[your niche] + 'guest post'" or "[your niche] + 'write for us'"
Create newsworthy content (original surveys, industry data, unique tools) that journalists want to link to and write about. Use Connectively (formerly HARO) to pitch yourself as an expert source.
Find pages that list "top resources" in your industry and pitch your best content as something they should include.
Find broken links on authority sites, create replacement content, and suggest they link to you instead. Tools like Check My Links help find broken links on any page.
Respond to journalist requests for expert quotes on Connectively. When your quote appears in an article, you often get a link from a high-authority news site.
Original research, tools, calculators, templates, and infographics attract links naturally. The better the asset, the more people link to it.
Why these work: They all follow Google's guidelines because they create real value. People link to them because they're genuinely worth linking to.
Even mentions of your brand without a link may have some SEO value. Monitor them with Google Alerts (google.com/alerts). It's free and real-time.
What to do when you find an unlinked mention:
This is called "mention to link conversion" and it's one of the easiest link-building tactics.
For local businesses, "citations" are a form of off-page authority. A citation is any online mention of your business's:
Key citation directories:
Why they matter: Citations help Google verify you're a real, legitimate business. They improve local rankings and map visibility. Make sure your NAP is consistent across all directories.
These tactics violate Google's guidelines and can result in manual penalties:
The rule: If it feels like you're tricking Google, you are. Stick to white-hat tactics that provide real value. They take longer, but they last.
Use these free tools to see your existing backlinks:
What to look for:
Personalize with actual website and contact info for best results
Fill in your niche and topic for specific opportunities
Research competitor domains to learn what works in your niche
Action plan:
Target: Send at least one guest post pitch this week. You probably won't get a response immediately, but persistence pays off.
Link building is where beginners are most likely to waste time, get ignored, or accidentally damage their site. These are the mistakes that cost weeks of effort with nothing to show for it.
Generic "I love your blog and would like to contribute an article" emails get a less than 2% response rate. Site owners receive dozens of these daily and delete them instantly. One personalized pitch that references a specific article and proposes a real angle converts better than 50 generic blasts.
Beginners often celebrate getting 20 links from low-DA blogs and wonder why rankings don't move. One dofollow link from a DA 50+ site in your niche does more than 100 links from random DA 5 blogs. Quality and relevance are what Google measures, not volume.
If every backlink to your site uses the anchor text "best project management software," Google flags it as manipulation. Natural link profiles include branded anchors ("Acme Software"), generic anchors ("click here"), URL anchors ("acme.com"), and only occasionally exact-match keyword anchors. Vary it deliberately.
Link building is a 3-6 month game minimum. A link earned today may take 4-8 weeks before Google recrawls the linking page, processes it, and adjusts rankings. Beginners give up thinking "it's not working" right when the results are about to appear. Set a 90-day horizon and be consistent.
Site editors always check your site before accepting a pitch. If your website has 2 posts or looks abandoned, they'll decline immediately. Before outreach, have at least 5-10 solid published articles so you look like a real publisher worth featuring. Your existing content is your portfolio.
The pitch email is the single most important part of guest posting. Here's the difference between an email that gets deleted and one that gets a response.
💡 The formula: Reference a specific article they published + propose one specific title + list 3 key points the article will cover + link to 2 examples of your writing. That's it. Keep it under 200 words. Personalization at the top is what separates a 2% response rate from a 20% one.
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