How To Leverage Publicity For Free High-Quality Backlinks

Lately, I’ve been fueled by some great conversations with fantastic, seasoned entrepreneurs in the online space. These women I’ve spoken with have thriving businesses and possess a great desire to keep learning how to leverage their expertise.

They resonate with my brand and business but don’t know HOW I do what I do.

How do I use platforms like Facebook and Pinterest to drive traffic to my websites?

And how do I garner organic traffic to my sites directly from Google?

From these conversations, I’m learning that people want to learn from mentors like me who’ve “cracked the code.”

For example, repetition is vital for cycling content. Because unfortunately, not everyone sees the content you put out there the first time!

One of the questions I’m asked the most is:

“What’s my secret?” Translation: How do I lead my dream business with multiple successful streams of income?

This question has inspired me to create new opportunities for closing the gap and revealing the “secrets” to my success!

Starting with this post and a basic understanding of how to leverage opportunities in the media for organic traffic and no-cost marketing wins.

You’re going to get so many publicity ideas from this post!

Including your very own social share checklist for timely content sharing and how to leverage publicity for Google site authority with media outlets linking back to you!

As you might know, Google ranks websites based on a variety of factors. This means that more established websites and blogs, with more backlinks and content published, will always have the upper hand.

But what are backlinks, and even more specifically, what are PR backlinks? And how do you get them to give your site that upper hand?

All great questions – so let’s dive right in!

What is a backlink, and how do you get one?

A backlink is a link from another website back to your site, kind of like a web resource. It may come from another website from someone you know. Or an about the author page, a roundup post, a media outlet where you were featured, or something you wrote or said was shared.

While shares on sites like Facebook, Twitter and Pinterest are excellent ways to increase your social proof and message reach. Unfortunately, social media shares do not count as backlinks – womp womp.

Still, you should never count out the power of these platforms for other social credibility advantages. I’ll discuss more of how to leverage social shares a little later in this post.

Simply put, the pinnacle goal for your website should always be “quality backlinks that come from other sites with high domain authority.”

So basically, backlinks (from high-authoritative websites) are equivalent to someone handing you a bar of gold!

What is domain authority?

I don’t wanna geek out with a bunch of techy-talk here.

But it’s hard to discuss backlinks without bringing up domain authority, which is how websites are ranked by trusted search engines and searchers alike.

So not only do the search engine robots trust the website, but actual people use it as a reputable resource and trust it too!

What’s the importance of backlinks for SEO?

So why are backlinks so important for your SEO (search engine optimization) and digital marketing?

On search engine ranking and SEO, Google is the world’s largest.

We’re always trying to rank with and get domain authority from them to earn free organic traffic!

So Google is another huge reason why backlinks are so crucial for your online presence and domain authority.

What’s a PR backlink?

PR backlinks – backlinks from media outlets when you earn publicity on their site – are the most powerful type of backlink you can get.

How do you boost the number of backlinks for your website?

Now that you know that backlinks are so important, how do you get other links to your site?

Boost your site’s backlinks by gaining publicity!

In the below list from Search Engine Watch about the best backlinks for an SEO boost, notice that most of the list comprises PR backlinks.

What makes a good backlink?

7 best backlinks for an SEO boost

Editorial backlinks
Guest blogging backlinks
Backlinks in business profiles
Backlinks from webinars and podcasts
Free-tool backlinks
Acknowledgment backlinks
Guest post bio backlinks
Badge backlinks

Wanna know the best part about PR backlinks? They’re free!

So how many types of backlinks are there?

Not all backlinks are created equal. That’s why it’s important to know the different types.

Easy to remember, there are only two types of backlinks: dofollow and nofollow.

A person reading a web page will never see the difference between a dofollow and a nofollow backlink. The difference is in the (behind the scenes) source code.

What are dofollow backlinks and nofollow backlinks?

A dofollow backlink gives Google juice, aka domain authority, or as I like to describe it, bars of gold.

Nofollow links do not offer bars of gold because they give no link juice from the referring site (sad face and another, “womp womp”).

Social media platforms like Instagram, Facebook, and even Pinterest are all a few examples of nofollow backlinks.

If a link from your site is shared there, you will not earn any Google juice from this link.

Thus, social link sharing is commonly referred to as a “share” and not a backlink because of the nofollow attribute.

What should you know about nofollow links?

When sharing another site’s link on your pages, don’t be a meanie-face using nofollow links.

The goal of every site is dofollow backlinks.

So when there’s the opportunity to return the favor for another site, you want to choose a dofollow link.

You’ll know if you’ve selected a nofollow link. It’s either created on purpose with a bit of coding, or you checked a box to make a nofollow link.

Remember, a dofollow valuable backlink is what you’re always trying to collect for your site, too!

How do you actually go about building backlinks?

So now that we’ve got a lot of that pesky tech-talk out of the way, the next logical question is: How do you get backlinks when no one knows your name?

The better question is, how do you get quality backlinks?

And become “OMG, you’re everywhere and killing it!” (Sup, Drake) business-famous!

The best way to get a high-quality backlink? You probably guessed it – is with publicity!

SEO guru Neil Patel confirms my point about using publicity to get the best quality backlinks. Here’s his list of 8 ways you can build high-quality external backlinks when no one even knows your name!

8 ways to get free backlinks

Leverage public relations (aka publicity)
Write competitive content (and I suggest pitching your quality content to media outlets)
Do an original study (aka, do your homework about said topic to see if it’s worthy of media attention – and make sure it’s timely!)
Create an infographic (aka a Pinterest Pin! You won’t earn a backlink – but your Pin may land you in Google search results! I talk about that in my Pinterest Masterclass.)
Write testimonials for other websites (guest features, aka publicity)
Link externally and then reach out (Seek dofollow partner links)
Comment on other relevant blog posts (This lets Google know you’re in tune with other articles about your area of expertise.)
Align social signals (Share your publicity on social media to increase traffic and views – aka, more Google street-cred. Like upgrading from 10K to 24K bars of gold!)

I’ve earned gold-bar backlinks from websites like Better Homes & Gardens, Fast Company, and Thrive Global when I was featured by these media outlets.

Google gives MAJOR street-cred (bars of gold) and authoritative ranking when highly credible sites like these link back to your website!

While I’ve made it my business to continue landing impressive backlinks from sites like the ones I mentioned above. In all transparency, I’ve missed opportunities to get backlinks from other major authority sites like Cosmopolitan, Forbes, and Refinery29.

Missing these bars of gold was a bad, bad rookie mistake!

I didn’t always understand the value of gaining publicity and media attention beyond my name in lights. As a result, I made this one critical backlink error that I want you to avoid.

This next tip is huge. So much that you should write it down or commit it to memory.

Website backlinks: So how do you get the good ones?

Warning: Avoid this critical mistake!

Don’t let your publicity wins turn into backlinks to your social media pages!

You’re not going to get a dime or an ounce of Google juice or credibility from a backlink to your social media pages! (No bars of gold for you!)

Trust me: Mark Zuck does not need your help in garnering backlinks for Facebook or Insta. He’s got those platforms and their site authority on lock!

You, my friend, are on a quest to do what Zuck has done with Facebook and Instagram in terms of site credibility and power rankings.

Your well-plotted publicity strategy must include a request for all media feature accreditations to link back to *your* website!

Do you currently work on getting PR backlinks for your blog?

Congratulations on earning a high-end media feature! Now what?

Well, it’s all too easy for reporters to default to using one of your social media page links when giving reference to you.

And I get it. Social sites are top of mind when you think of finding someone, keeping up with them, and connecting.

So it’s crucial to your publicity and link-building strategy to redirect reporters by requesting that all links referencing you connect to your website.

After all, it’s your bar of gold. Like The Weeknd sings – “Girl, you earned it.”

How do you actually go about building backlinks?

Here’s what this looks like when corresponding with the media about a guest feature.

This is the actual email I sent to a journalist after our telephone interview.

I wanted to send her a written thank you with a reminder of where to direct her readers to find me.

Feel free to cut and paste my PR backlink template and make it your own.

PR backlinks template & swipe copy to use:

Hi, Kaila!

It was wonderful to meet and speak with you today.

Our time together was more like a conversation with a new friend rather than an interview!

I’m blown away by all the things we have in common. It was truly meant to be for us to connect.

I’ve attached a few pictures you can use in the article, including a Madam VP “that little girl was me” pic!

If you link to me in the article, I’ve included my website link for your reference: https://www.shaundanecole.com.

Readers can connect with me at shaundanecole.com for more Pinterest marketing and website traffic ideas.

Thank you kindly and talk soon!

Shaunda

SEO backlink example

In the article’s last line, the underlined text “here” is linked to my website.

Link building pro tips:

Remember that podcast hosts have show descriptions where it’s customary to link to their guests’ websites.
Even TV producers and radio hosts often share a recap of the current day’s topics on the show’s website.
It’s part of your backlink-building strategy to ensure these editorial links are directed to your site.

Need help scaling your online presence?

Wanna know how to build internal links for SEO in WordPress?

Then stay tuned for my next article about internal link building!

Now that you know the truth about backlinks, what other SEO legends are lurking out there?

If you wanna know more sooner, I’d love it if you’d fill out this quick survey on how I can best serve you more frequently with growth strategy tips like this!

Take the survey & grab your free social share checklist –> HERE!

Until then, spread your message using the power of publicity to skyrocket your impact and income!

Wishing you an impactful year with lots of media features, backlinks, and social shares!

I’m holding a vision of incredible things for you,