The Marketer’s Ultimate Guide to Link Bait

Can we please come up with some better terminology for the concept of “link bait”? To me, this evokes thoughts of those evil bait-and-switch advertising schemes.

But I’m going to say it loud and proud – “Not all link bait is bad!” TeaHere’s the right and wrong way to use link bait, and, when done correctly, marketers can drive more traffic to their content without alienating their audience.

Here, we’ll explain what link baiting is, what its benefits are, and how to do it right. Let’s dive in.

table of contents

What is link bait?

Benefits of link baiting

How to do link bait correctly

Whether link baiting is good or bad depends on how it is executed, as well as the intentions behind it. For example, this can quickly go awry when marketers use deceptive tactics to drive clicks to content that lacks real value.

For former Google engineer Matt Cutts, link bait is “something interesting enough to get people’s attention, and that’s not a bad thing.”

again, The main thing is to combine link baiting with high-quality, valuable and reliable content. You want people to click on your blog And Read till the last sentence.

Brian Clark of Copyblogger believes that link bait is “just a sexy term for high-quality content that benefits the reader,” even though he admits that the term is quite “ugly.” And I’m sure most experts would agree.

Let’s talk about why link bait is so effective, how it can benefit your marketing, and how you can create top-tier link bait content your readers will love. And price.

Benefits of link baiting

Link bait content can be extremely beneficial to your marketing. Here are three powerful reasons:

1. Increase search rankings.

Because link bait content is so interesting, it is generally very effective for generating inbound links (remember, this is called Add Bait for some reason). After all, people are more likely to engage with something if they find it interesting.

As a result, link bait content is extremely powerful for boosting your website’s off-page SEO, which we know is the most effective way to increase your organic search rankings.

As you’re creating content that you anticipate will make great link bait, make sure you’re optimizing it using the keywords you want to rank for in search. This will help you leverage your link content to increase your rankings for the keywords you want to be found in search.

2. More traffic and conversion opportunities.

Because link bait content is interesting, it usually contains a level of virality. As a result, link bait content is also usually a major traffic driver.

The more traffic you generate to your blog or website, the more visitors you will have the opportunity to convert into leads and customers. So, make sure your blog is optimized for conversion: use calls-to-action for each blog post as well as your top marketing offers at the top/sidebar of your blog.

As a bonus, because link bait content tends to rank well in search, the traffic it generates is usually much higher. durable. Searchers will continue to see your link content long after it was originally published.

3. Introduction to new audiences.

Remember how we talked about how link-bait content is usually very shareable? Because this is the case, link bait has great potential to expose your business and your content to a whole new audience that you might not have been able to reach otherwise. Thus, it helps you reach the top of your funnel, increase your reach, and attract new blog readers.

How to do link bait correctly

As we mentioned earlier, what any marketer considers link bait varies from business to business, industry to industry, and audience to audience.

The key is to experiment with ideas that you suspect will be successful for your particular blog, do regular analysis like I did above, and stick with what works for you as link bait. Learn. You.

And just as being willing to create something that will absolutely “go viral” is unrealistic, being willing to create link bait is never a given. The best thing you can do is emulate the qualities of content that have typically generated lots of inbound links and traffic for you in the past.

Here are some ideas to get you going, each accompanied by successful link bait examples from the HubSpot blog:

1. Original, engaging data

Publishing original data is not only a great strategy for earning media coverage – it can also make for great link bait.

If you’re a business that has access to raw data that you can analyze to uncover, add, or refute an industry topic or trend, take advantage of it! If not, there may be an opportunity to partner with a research firm instead.

HubSpot example:

2. Controversial Content

Who doesn’t love a little heated debate? Controversial content usually attracts a lot of attention, so if you have an opinion on a controversial issue, you might have some link bait on hand.

Your content doesn’t even need to be centered around radical opinions to leverage the power of controversy; It may simply be presenting a bit of data that contradicts your audience’s common perception.

Just don’t stir up controversy (you still want to be likable, right?), and don’t be controversial just for the sake of being controversial. Make sure you are passionate about the stance you are taking and always try to back up your claims with data, as in the post below.

HubSpot example:

3. To be the most comprehensive (or first) resource on a popular topic

A topic you know performs well on your blog and publishing (or at least trying to) the most comprehensive post on the web about it can be a great link bait win.

Are there any popular topics in your industry that very few people have written about (or written about). Well) Where do you see opportunity? jump on it! Even better if you can be one of the first to create comprehensive content on a hot topic.

HubSpot example:

4. Visual Content

Visual content is all the rage in marketing these days, especially when it comes to social media marketing. It’s no wonder why it makes excellent link bait material.

Visual content does not need to take the form of infographics to be link bait-friendly. Sometimes posts that compile a list of amazing scenes (like the example below) can work well too. Other types of visual link-bait content you can create include cartoons or Content/Concept Visualization ,

HubSpot example:

5. Content that is creative, entertaining, or entertaining

This content goes a long way because it’s generally easy to consume, great fodder for sharing, quick to scan, requires very little thought (for your readers), and well… . it’s funny! Think music videos or simply content that takes advantage of pop culture references or emerging, mainstream trends, like our example below.

HubSpot example:

6. A Headline People Can’t Stop Clicking (With Amazing Content)

Don’t obscure the text inside those parentheses too much. The important thing to remember is that your content should be consistent with its title; Otherwise, this link will not receive BAT status. If your headline is overly sensational and hyperbolic, yet the content it points to is barely average, you will weaken your credibility and completely lose readers’ interest in your content.

HubSpot example:

back to you

By now, you should be completely convinced that link bait is not always a bad, black-hat marketing tactic that you should avoid like the plague. but that Not there. This means that all link bait is of high quality, or you cannot abuse it. After all, Link Bats had to get his bad rap from somewhere, right?

Before you start creating a piece of content that you think would be great link bait, be sure to answer the question, “Will my audience still find it valuable?” is “Absolutely!” And remember, there is such a thing as ‘entertainment value’.

Additionally, think of your blog as a balanced diet. If you feed your blog readers the same diet of lean meats, nutritious grains, and nutritious vegetables all the time and deprive them of sweets of any kind (or variety), they may even start looking for a new chef. .

So go ahead – give your readers some candy every now and then. just don’t give them Very Too much, otherwise their teeth will rot.