With the election just a few short days away, most of us have had it up to here with the term “fake news.” We all have that distant family member who is sharing questionable articles on Facebook, claiming they are from reliable sources. Well, Aunt Kathy, we may need to have a talk — that link from googlyeyenews.org probably isn’t a fact-checked source.
What can this tell us about SEO? Are those questionable news sites linking to your company’s site? It may be a scary thought, but it’s one you can manage with the right strategy and tools.
How do I find where I’m linked?
This is known in the industry as “backlinking” or implementing a “backlink strategy.” There are many great free tools available to help you with your SEO, inbound marketing, and link-building strategies. Here are the two big players, which are a good place to start:
SEMRush
SEMRush is a trusted tool that’s been around for a long time. Not only can you see where you are currently linked from, but also look at future linking opportunities. You’ll have to make an account, but the tool is free to use.
Google Search Console
If you’re reading this and already have a Google Search Console account, then you are ahead of most people in this industry … and if not, it’s time to sign up! Search Console is a must have for anyone in organic content marketing. In the platform, you can see which sites are linking to your site and the specific pages they are linking to.
What can I do about it?
Oh no, googlyeyesnews.org links to my site and I don’t want to be associated with it! Having a backlink strategy is definitely something you should be incorporating into your SEO framework; it will, however, take a bit of time each week or month to make it effective.
Using either tool above, identify if there are broken links, missing links, or new links on an external website. Any of these reasons warrant reaching out to either the press contact listed on the site or filling out the Contact Us form on the company’s site.
Some other opportunities for reaching out for backlinks include:
- Reading an article that mentions your company without a link
- Seeing a request from a HARO (Help a Reporter Out) that aligns with your business, leading to a potential link from the news site
- An online directory where your website is not linked
Start small with these SEO backlink strategies and you’ll start to see big results … even if Aunt Kathy is still sharing untrustworthy news sites and questionable Facebook memes.
Looking for more content marketing tips? Check out our guide to blogging for small businesses!
