A solid array of backlinks are critical to your company’s success. They’ll ensure your brand’s visibility on search engines and across the web.
Despite their importance, however, a lot of the content produced for this purpose isn’t very good. This doesn’t have to be the case: If you understand the form, you can develop compelling website content that fuels your professional needs, rather than flattening your distinctive voice.
Here’s how.
Ignore The AI
There are plenty of valid applications for AI in SEO, particularly in the context of Google’s AI-powered search algorithm, RankBrain. But there’s also been a lot of buzz recently about the notion of using AI and NLP technology to generate content … and that’s where things could go bad quickly.
Although NLP and AI have come a long way in recent years and will likely continue to play some role in SEO over time, they’re not terribly useful for our purposes. Instead of entrusting your crucial backlink development work to AI, consider working with a professional link building service that uses real writers and editors to develop and place content.
Though AI content may manage to attract the crawl bots, it won’t get far with human readers, and we have to assume that’s still who makes up your customer base.
Tailor to Your Targets
In order to create successful backlink content, you can’t just be a good writer, or hire skilled prose artists. You also need to be able to move smoothly between different voices, which is another skill AI hasn’t mastered.
That means making sure your content stays in harmony with the tone of the host site and its readers, not just that of your own brand. What does this look like in practice?
Expert-oriented technical sites typically have a formal voice and don’t worry much about explaining industry jargon, compared to more mainstream sites who tend to lean toward a more conversational tone. The latter might refer to recent headlines, memes, or pop culture in order to build rapport with readers.
SEO experts highlight this as one of the more technical elements of copywriting: mastering a conversational tone that engages, rather than just educating.
Don’t Forget Your “Soft Skills”
If honing a conversational voice might be counted as a “hard skill” in your content toolbox, it’s equally worthwhile for you to engage your soft skills for developing backlink content. In particular, it’s valuable to express empathy and curiosity in your writing.
That often means discussing the particular challenges your audience may be facing, and how your products or services could solve them. Ask (rhetorical) questions to demonstrate openness and commiserate with readers when handling difficult topics. You may not know them personally as customers yet, but you hope to, and that’s what counts.
Developing content for your backlink library is a substantial technical undertaking. Doing it right will require a great deal of time and effort, which is why many brands resort to professionals to handle the task.
However you choose to approach it, though, it’s critical to make sure your content is shaped for its intended readership. Find the right hosts and study how their audience overlaps with your brand’s needs.
That’s another thing AI still cannot do.
