Types of Content That Naturally Attract Links

Any successful content strategy begins with offering value through personalization and concludes with goal-specific conversions. However, an excellent byproduct some content types can have is natural links – an invaluable, limited resource for digital marketers. To leverage this byproduct, you will first need to identify those types of content that naturally attract links. Then, you may strategically incorporate them into your content strategy and reap their benefits.

Why Do Links Even Matter?

But first, let us establish exactly why links, or “backlinks” in Search Engine Optimization (SEO) slang, even matter. Doing so should hopefully dispel any doubts you might have regarding their value and whether they deserve your time.

1. They Denote Quality to Google

Perhaps most importantly, as far as SEO goes, backlinks help Google value your content. Google has high standards regarding quality and strives to rank quality content higher in search engine results pages (SERPs).

Some of their quality standards, which SEO seeks to address via backlinks, include:

• User engagement. Naturally, longer, deeper content will incite more user engagement. In this regard, outbound links provide value to users, while backlinks attract more audiences to produce engagement metrics.
• Authoritativeness. Similarly, Google promotes authoritative websites and pages in SERPs. Here, Follow backlinks enhance your website’s authority, while all backlinks contextualize your pages’ content via their anchor texts.
• Trustworthiness. Finally, trustworthiness is a broader quality that hinges on security and other elements. It also relies on user engagement and authoritativeness, however, as well as on reviews your users leave.

2. They Produce Traffic

Second, as highlighted above, not all backlinks yield equal benefits. Follow links will enhance your authoritativeness, for instance, while NoFollow links will not.

However, all backlinks produce more traffic. The self-evident benefits of this include:

• Higher lead acquisition rates to fuel conversions.
• More user engagement signals to fuel SEO.
• ●        More website traffic overall, a crucial SEO factor in itself.

3. They Attract Relevant Audiences

Finally, knowing which types of content naturally attract links allows you to attract relevant, engaged audiences. That’s because backlinks typically come from others within your niche, who share your industry focus and thus have similar audiences.

Referral traffic audiences, then, have a plethora of benefits of their own, like:

• Higher chances to convert. Unlike typical audiences, relevant audiences already have an interest in your proposition.
• Better user engagement metrics. Visitors who consciously choose to visit your website via backlink are more likely to engage with your content.
• More trust. Finally, backlinks effectively serve as a form of endorsement, so such audiences already trust you comparatively more.

Types of Content that Naturally Attract Links

With this context in mind, we may discuss which types of content can best facilitate links. In no particular order, our five picks are the following.

1. Insightful Blog Posts

Starting a blog may be among the wisest business decisions a professional of any industry can make. Initially, insightful blog posts can effectively act as landing pages, generating leads through ranking high in SERPs. What’s more, they typically address informational search intent, which most queries have. It’s this quality that makes them excellent natural link magnets, as users love sharing informational content.

For blog posts that generate links, you may consider such types as:

• Evergreen content. Timeless content remains accurate and valuable much longer than most, and thus incites more shares.
• Guides and how-tos. Similarly, guides and how-tos address your visitors’ informational needs while also earning shares with others who have similar questions.
• Deep analyses. Finally, deeper analyses on industry-specific topics also get more shares, as well as carry the content length that SEO suggests.

Should you want to take this content type a step further, you may also employ Backlinko’s Skyscraper technique.

2. Infographics

Another excellent type of content that naturally attracts links is infographics. This content type requires some moderate effort to craft successfully, but it definitely pays off. For proof of this, simply consider the following:

• Image searches. First, quality infographics will often rank for image search results. With proper SEO best practices, such as optimal keyword use and descriptive titles, you can ensure yours do too.
• Contextual value. Second, infographics offer an undeniably effective way to enrich your content – such as blog posts. By the same token, others may use them for the same reason, earning you a natural backlink in the process.
• Social media shares. Finally, social media marketing thrives on compelling visuals, and infographics offer an excellent tool to leverage this. Infographics offer concise, bite-sized, visually appealing bits of information social media users appreciate.

To elevate your infographic strategy, you may also consider what Neil Patel dubs as “guestographics”.

3. Listicles and Checklists

Should you prefer relatively easier blog posts with little infographics enrichment, listicles and checklists may be an option for you. Listicles are immensely effective, as Copypress finds, and both of these content types are easier to produce than original content.

As you craft yours, however, you may want to mind such elements as the following:

• Pick your subjects carefully. Picking subjects within your niche won’t suffice; remember that your content still needs to rank for your keywords. Identify your audiences’ search intent, track it back to valuable keywords, and base your subjects on those instead.
• Choose catchy headlines. Second, the above research strongly underlines the need for catchy headlines. Those are typically the final arbiters of your content’s effectiveness – and attracting links will also hinge on user engagement.
• Update them. Finally, remember to update your listicles and checklists whenever appropriate to keep them valid and relevant. Google appreciates this practice, and so do human audiences.

An additional benefit of this content type is that it opens the possibility of connections with those you include. Listicles of technological giants may not do so, but ones of local businesses or initiatives often will.

4. Research

Conversely, you may prefer to produce research instead – a rightful mainstay among the types of content that naturally attract links. This content type is undoubtedly harder to produce but is also undeniably effective.

For proof of this, simply consider those we have linked to in this article ourselves. We did so because their research provides value to our readers, and that’s exactly why research consistently earns backlinks.

Still, producing research takes considerable time and effort. Among other elements, consider the following:

• Data accuracy. First, ensure your data professes as much accuracy as possible. Dubious and incomplete data can severely hamper research content’s quality and, in turn, its shareability.
• Data relevance. Second, consider how the data you cover relates to your audiences. To work within your content marketing strategy, the data you pick needs to answer clear questions your audiences care about.
• Citations. Finally, remember to always cite your sources. Doing so will boost your audiences’ trust, and increase the chances that your research gets backlinks.

You may combine research with infographics, for example, distilling its main points into a shareable infographic or guestographic.

5. Webinars

Finally, should your resources allow it, you may consider webinars. 99Firms find that webinars enjoy increased popularity and effectiveness, which also makes them excellent link magnets.

That said, webinars have 2 distinct disadvantages in this regard:

1. They’re more expensive; the research above prices the average webinar between $3,500 and $5,000.
2. They focus on mid-funnel relations; webinars are not typically used for link-building by default.

You may still employ them for their own merits, however, and combine them with other marketing efforts for link-building. Consider such options as:

• Content marketing. First, you may frame your webinars with robust content marketing. Examine your analytics and determine if they can fit into landing pages, informational posts and guides, and so forth.
• Social media marketing. Second, you may promote your webinars through your social media marketing outreach. More often than not, your audiences will likely care for both – and earn you links.
• Influencer marketing. Finally, you may borrow from the concept of influencer marketing and invite industry pioneers and thought leaders to your webinars. Combine this with actual influencer marketing for expanded reach, and your webinars may very well garner links and attention.

If webinars are not within your means, you may always consider producing free tools instead. Those are somewhat similar in shareability, and may often be cheaper to produce depending on your scope and industry.

Conclusion

To conclude, there are many types of content that naturally attract links. Among them, insightful blog posts and listicles are quite effective and most affordable. Infographics and research are typically even more effective but require more resources and, at times, a higher budget. Finally, webinars may lag behind in generating links but may still serve this role alongside their primary one.