When Should You Start Link Building

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After content quality, links are what make your blogs hit the top 3 spots on Google. They're a crucial ranking factor—arguably the #1 factor there is.

But if you've spent any time learning or doing SEO, you already know that. A question I've seen go unanswered is: when should you start with link building?

Right away? Once you have a few content pieces uploaded? Or after you steadily roll out killer content for a few months?

Well, here's the long story short answer: The sooner you begin, the better it is. Like all things in SEO, building backlinks is an investment. It takes time before the compounding kicks in.

Still, there are cases when waiting a while makes more sense. So, instead of giving you one-size-fits-all advice, let me take you through all you need to know to make the right call.

Let's start with...

Three Questions to Ask Before Starting Link Building

#1. How competitive is your niche?

If you spend enough time doing SEO, you're bound to run into folks who undervalue the importance of links. They'll throw around conjectures like:-

"Links don't matter as much",

"Build great content and the links will come" or

"I've ranked without even a single backlink".

They are the best of lies because each contains partial truths. Yes, Google itself has claimed that links aren't as important as they were a decade ago. But newsflash: they're still table stakes, especially when you're in a competitive niche.

At SmartTask, a work management software I've spent the last five years scaling, I've seen it myself. When trying to rank one of our blogs for the keyword task management software, you know what worked? Building backlinks. Without them, we never would've climbed from some obscure position on the 16th page of search to the #1 (now #2) spot.

This is a story that's far too common for competitive markets (and keywords). Nailing content quality is only half the journey. You have to finish the rest of it by building high-quality backlinks.

With that being said, the converse is also true. If you’re writing for a niche that has little competition, you can consider holding back on link-building for a bit.

#2. Do you have content that’s worth building backlinks for?

You don't need to roast every blog you cook to perfection. A few rough edges here and there are only human, and part of sticking to a consistent schedule.

What you shouldn't excuse (and hope for link-building to fix) is content that's beyond saving. A simple way to duck that? Abide by a minimum quality threshold for all the blogs you create.

Source: Animalz Blog

Avoid things like:-

Copycat content with little to no original research

Failing to meet searcher intent

Being condescending to your audience

A slow-loading website

A sloppy user experience

Writing so lacklustre that it puts even robots to sleep

Not using rich media

Overusing jargon

You checklist can be more exhaustive (or lenient) than this. The important bit is to have one that you can stick with. And before you do, it’s okay to pause link-building efforts.

#3. Do you have the resources for the job?

There are only two ways to build needle-moving backlinks: You either buy them or you earn them.

If you choose door #1, the average cost of one paid link is $83. Buy five of these and you'd have spent $400+ already. Not to mention how you'd also have risked a penalty from Google.

What about door #2?

Does it open to a bed of roses? Not really. Though earning links is 100% a safer (and saner) bet than buying links, it still isn't easy. Some ways to do it are:-

Use Smartlinks—the easiest, zero-outreach way to build backlinks at scale

Offer to write a guest post for someone else

Persuade people to add your link to their content via mass outreach

Get websites linking to your competitors to also link to you

Capture unlinked brand mentions

Make jaw-dropping content that people naturally want to link to

Create content that journalists can’t help but talk about (and link to)

Barring the first, all of these tactics demand considerable time and effort. So, this much is clear: You can't start link building without allocating resources to it.

But Once You Get the Ball Rolling…

It rarely slows down. Links stack up, making your website's authority (DR, if you're using Ahrefs) go up. Which means every high-quality backlink you earn makes earning the next one easier.

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That's because people are more open to giving backlinks to websites with high DR

But that's not all, a link you build once can offer disproportionate benefits over time. For example, if a website that had a DR of 60 when it first gave you a backlink link may become a DR 90 website in a year. The page from which they gave you said backlink may even get 10X more traffic than before.

The domino effect of that? Google sends some of that growth your way in the form of:-

More referral traffic

More authority signals

More positive brand interactions

More sales and revenue

And all this is not even considering how you will gain more experience with every link you build.

Of course, you can speed up that trajectory with Smartlinks. But even with regular link-building methods (given you do them right), the returns are too good to deny.

This brings me full circle to my initial point: The sooner you begin, the better it is.

Some Parting Wisdom for Beginners

Whether you start building links the day your website gets indexed, after publishing a few blogs, or whenever you have the resources... You're bound to make mistakes. I know I did. And with that earned wisdom, I'm here to leave with you some tips. They are:-

1. Start Slow, But Start

Link building was the hardest during the early days. You have to power through a massive learning curve while facing lots of rejection. But remain strong. Instead of trying to go all in from the start, take things a little slow. Moreover, only 2.2% of content published online has more than one backlink. That's not too hard to beat as long as you start.

2. Nail Content Operations

If you're a small or one-person marketing team, nail content operations as soon as possible. Get ridiculously good at creating content on a schedule and publishing it on time. Once you get that down, you can focus on scaling link-building without feeling like you're missing out on the basics.

3. Don't Settle for Sh*y Links, Ever**

As a rule of thumb, aim for links that are:-

From authoritative websites

Relevant to your niche

Carry the do-follow attribute

Are placed in the content body (not in the footer or the sidebar)

Under no circumstances should you settle for spammy links that sell a dime a dozen. They'll do nothing for your website (apart from attracting penalties from Google).

Bonus Tip: Ditch The Training Wheels with Smartlinks

After spending years building links, my team I got fed up with the grunt work in traditional tactics. So, we built Smartlinks.

What can it do for you? Well, help you ditch the training wells from day one and build more backlinks, faster. All you have to do is:-

Enter keywords you need backlinks for,

Get matched with opportunities,

Send a one-click backlink request,

And voila!

You earn backlinks without dizzying prospecting, tiring outreach, or never-ending negotiations. Just focus on creating link-worthy content and Smartlinks does the rest.

👉 Click Here to Try It Live!