8 Types of Content That Attract Natural Backlinks for SEO

Backlinks are super important. Not only do they help bring new visitors to your site, but they also boost your search engine rankings.

Backlinks are an indicator for search engines to assess your site’s relevance and overall value. The more quality backlinks you have, the quicker you climb the SERPs.

There are several ways you can build quality backlinks to strengthen your backlink profile. However, the best strategy to attract backlinks is to create meaningful content to earn mentions on relevant platforms.

You may want to consider a number of content formats. In this article, we will showcase the eight types of content that attract natural backlinks to fuel your SEO.

What Are Backlinks?

Before diving into the content types that naturally attract backlinks, let's explore what backlinks are.

Backlinks are inbound links created when third-party platforms mention you as the source of information published. These mentions are clickable links that help readers navigate to the original source.

When an online platform or a website uses your research or content, it has to give you credit to ensure compliance with the fair use policies. This is how your content helps you attract quality backlinks.

Receiving backlinks from credible sites improves your search rankings, as search engines recognize you as a source of authentic information in your respective niche.

This increases your online visibility and enables you to generate more traction organically compared to other players in the industry.

Importance of Backlinks in SEO

Creating backlinks is one of the most effective ways to attract a relevant audience. The tactic is so efficient and tempting that, back in the day, businesses even resorted to unethical practices like spamming to get more links.

Eventually, Google, a search engine giant with over 93% of the industry's market share, took notice and developed quality guidelines that prevented businesses from engaging in such practices.

Search engines assess your content using different parameters to determine the ranking of your respective pages with respect to the targeted queries.

Backlinks play a key role here as they facilitate search engines to determine the relevance and authority of your content compared to your business competitors. So, it goes without saying that quality backlinks significantly impact your search engine visibility.

So, it goes without saying that getting more backlinks from credible websites gives you an edge over the competition. However, not all links generate the same value.

Backlinks from highly relevant and reputable sites boost your search rankings, whereas poor-quality links have a negative effect on your SEO. There are several strategies to ensure quality backlinks, from link-building outreach to content contribution and establishing relationships with those websites in your niche.

So, here are a few best practices when building links that you should consider.

• Do not resort to spamming to create backlinks
• Avoid paid or sponsored links at all costs
• Never join link farms
• Avoid backlinks from non-indexed sites
• Discourage backlinks from irrelevant sites

Google has specifically designed and deployed an algorithm that detects the poor-quality backlinks created using the aforesaid methods and penalizes the sites responsible.

Even if you’ve never used unfair means to build links for your site, conduct a backlink audit on a periodic basis to identify the toxic links that have accumulated over time without your knowledge. Once identified, disavow those links and notify Google swiftly.

Now that we know how important backlinks are to improving your SEO, let’s explore the types of content that help you attract them naturally.

Types of Content That Attract Backlinks Naturally

Content is king. It helps you connect with a relevant audience and attracts quality backlinks from authority sites in your respective niche.

Furthermore, 60% of experts believe that leveraging content helps them generate quality leads. So, creating quality content serves as a reliable strategy to strengthen your backlink profile and generate more revenue.
Furthermore, the most successful B2B marketers heavily rely on content to hack growth and have a well-documented content marketing strategy.

Here are the different types of content that enable you to score quality backlinks from credible sites effortlessly:

Research-Based Articles

The content type with more chances of getting you quality backlinks from authority sites than any other format is an article you’ve created by conducting original research.

This is a more time-consuming approach, but the results make all your effort worthwhile. The originality of your content not only gives you a much-needed SEO boost but also attracts more backlinks from credible sites.

Research-based articles serve as reliable sources of information for other content creators, gaining you more backlinks in the process.

Guides

Creating wholesome guides and tutorials is an effective way of increasing your traffic and attracting backlinks from other sites.

Guides cover a particular topic in great detail and are created to facilitate the learning of the intended audience. This content type is all about helping people learn how to solve a particular problem.

Therefore, it serves as an ideal resource for other sites targeting an audience with characteristics similar to yours.

They can simply share your content's insights and key takeaways with their respective audiences. This customer-centric approach helps them drive relevant traffic and helps you score quality backlinks.

Statistics Compilations

It’s common practice to use statistics in your articles to support your argument as you back your statement with data.

For this, content creators or websites explore the data made available by credible sources and cite it to validate published information.

Since gathering facts from different sources is a time-consuming activity, content creators often look for statistics compilation articles or resources.

This type of content compiles relevant data from different sources and presents it in an organized fashion for easy access. Hence, it helps you attract quality backlinks on autopilot without much effort.

Listicles

Publishing listicles on your site is a great way to naturally attract backlinks. Listicles comprise a complete list of tools or solutions best suited to your audience's needs and preferences. For example, an article titled "Top 5 Video Conferencing Solutions” is a listicle.

To help your audience access the tools recommended, you add clickable links in your content, which allow them to navigate the solutions.

Since you’ve featured different solutions on your platform, the respective businesses may consider returning the favor and linking to relevant content published on your website.

This will help you score quality backlinks on reputable platforms and generate more traction for your website.

Case Studies

Case studies encompass your personal experiences and analysis of a particular situation or concern. This type of content is similar to research-based articles since you share your own research and findings with your audience.

Case studies can attract backlinks naturally due to the originality and exclusivity of the content.

Case studies published on your site represent your original research. So, if someone wants to quote the findings from your study or just mention it in their content, you will get a backlink in exchange.

Infographics

Did you know that visual content gets 94% more views and can generate more engagement and followers?

No wonder an infographic is one of the most shared content types and a reliable method of naturally generating links.

Infographics are popular when sharing content, especially on social media platforms like Facebook, Instagram, and Pinterest. However, not many have the time or resources to produce engaging visual content for their audience.

Hence, they resort to content curation and leverage the infographics created by others to engage their audience, which in turn generates quality links for the original creator.

White Papers

As said earlier, research-based articles, due to their depth and originality, can generate quality backlinks for their creators. White papers also fall into this category.

White papers are well-thought-out research documents. Experts create them to facilitate access to complex information about a particular topic or area of concern.

Creating white papers is an efficient way to build authority in your niche and attract links from other credible websites in your industry.

Checklists

Checklists are the type of content that contributes to the user experience. They serve as great resources for your audience and others publishing informational content on their respective platforms. Hence, creating this type of content helps you attract quality backlinks.

Checklists help your audience streamline different processes and maximize the yield from their efforts. You can create a checklist covering any topic, as long as it aligns with your niche. Plus, ensure your content is resourceful and offers value to the intended audience.

Content Strengthens Your Backlink Profile

This article discussed the eight types of content that attract natural backlinks and help improve your search engine presence.

Link building is a proven strategy that boosts your search engine rankings and helps build authority in the industry. However, building quality links can be easier said than done.

Producing relevant content is the key here, as it helps you attract credible backlinks on relevant platforms. So, if you’ve been looking for ways to climb the SERPs, diversify your content strategy and see which content type gives you the best results.