Building links is hard, potentially even risky work if you don’t know what you’re doing. While link building is a crucial part of off-page SEO, ideally, you want to be attracting backlinks to your website naturally.
Enter link magnets.
In the below article, we’re going to tell you everything we know about link magnets, including why they should be a foundational component of both your content strategy and off-page SEO and some of the most common (and effective ways of building them).
Let’s begin.
What are link magnets?
A link magnet is essentially a high quality and original piece of content that is interesting, novel and thoughtful enough that the links just naturally come to it.
Instead of creating content that you then have to go and chase links with, with link magnets, you create the kind of content that adds so much value that other sites are compelled to link to it.
Done right, it is one of the best possible sources of relevant backlinks.
An important caveat
Before we go any further, it’s important to note that a link magnet doesn’t mean no effort. It’s not a set-it-and-forget-it style of link building (those don’t really exist). Sure, if you’ve already got solid traffic and are considered a trusted and valuable source of information in your niche or industry, you could get away with just letting people naturally stumble upon it in due time.
For most people, however, that simply won’t do. The vast majority of pages online get no search traffic, according to Ahrefs, with one of the leading factors being lack of links.
A better way to ensure the success of your link magnets (which by definition of high effort and perhaps even resource–time and money–intensive) is to make the world aware of them after publishing.
That’s where content marketing and content distribution come into play.
Any social channels, online communities, email lists, friendly bloggers and journalists you know who might find your new link magnet interesting and be willing to do some mutually beneficial digital PR for you; all of these are great opportunities to help ensure the success of your new content.
With that said, let’s learn how to actually build those link magnets.
Link Magnet #1: Unique Blog Posts
You need a blog (and blog posts to fill it with) by default nowadays–both for SEO purposes and to showcase your topical authority to visitors and customers.
The problem is that most blog content is unoriginal, recycled drivel at this point. It’s there to pad-out a website and written for Google crawlers, not people.
Not only is this kind of blog content no longer doing well (a quick glance at the March 2024 core update should provide ample evidence of that). But this kind of derivative SEO-first content is not going to attract any backlinks. Maybe if you are an established site with a huge readership and well-established domain authority, people will simply use your mediocre blog content as a way to insert some high authority backlinks into their own.
If you are not one of the web’s few behemoth sites, however, true link magnet blog content has to offer something unique.
Example
One of the best ways to get people clicking and linking is to forecast the future. People don’t like uncertainty, and anyone who can at least try to offer some reassurance or predictability (backed by real credibility and authority, of course) usually gets attention.
Take the below article from Semrush, for instance, titled “What is the Future of SEO in 2024.”
If you’re in the SEO space, you know that that is probably the foremost topic on most SEOs minds right now.
This was the first article that appeared when we searched “future of SEO” in Google:
Of course, this is Semrush we’re talking about–one of the foremost SEO authorities–so, of course, they are going to get a lot of attention regardless of what they post, but just look at that backlink profile:
Another article with the title “SEO best practices” is almost surely going to get lost in a sea of similar, unhelpful, completely unoriginal articles. A forecast of the future, on the other hand, will immediately pique people’s interest.
Some other great blog article link magnets include:
- Personal Stories or Experiences
- Behind-the-Scenes Content
- Expert Interviews
- Opinion Pieces
- Interactive Content
- How-To Guides
- User-Generated Content
Link Magnet #2: Infographics
Infographics are visual representations of data and/or concepts that are much easier to digest than big walls of text and often much more engaging and, consequently, perform better.
We’ve written an entire comprehensive article on infographic link building if you are interested in learning more.
Example
Check out this Asia Central article and accompanying infographic from 2021 titled “By the Numbers: The Supply Chain Disaster.”
This generated six backlinks from five linking websites:
It’s virtually a guarantee that none of these links came from link building (both because of the size of the site in question, but also because of the kinds of sites that are linking to this infographic and article).
How to Build
Because infographics are one of the most popular lead magnet approaches, there are a lot of tools online that help you make them. Some of the most popular include:
Even Adobe has a free infographic tool.
To make a good infographic that is going to attract links and not get lost in the noise (there are a lot of infographics out there with zero backlinks), you need to hit a few key notes:
- Clear Purpose and Focus.
- Clean Design.
- Visuals.
- Engaging Information & Data.
- Reputable Sources.
The supply chain infographic above had all of that (perhaps, a bit cluttered from the “clean design” perspective).
As with the blog content approach to link magnets, infographics can also become over-used and unoriginal.
To maximize an infographic’s value as a lead magnet, you need to be treading ground that hasn’t already been covered a million times, timely (the information needs to still be topical) and, as we mentioned at the outset of this article, you need to let people know you’ve created the content via contant distribution and marketing.
Link Magnet #3: Templates
Templates, as a form of linkable asset or "link magnet," refer to pre-designed and customizable resources that offer a solution or starting point for various tasks or projects.
These templates are often created to address specific needs within a particular industry or niche and sites that make them tend to offer them for free or as part of a content package in the hopes that people will find them useful and link back to them–especially other sites that see them as valuable resources for their audience.
Example
Here’s a great example of a template from teamwork.com that has managed to garner a ton of backlinks.
It’s a client onboarding template and people obviously loved it:
Just look at all of those backlinks (100% of which are dofollow links).
Link Magnet #4: Case Studies
Case studies, as a link magnet, involve detailed examinations of real-world examples that showcase the effectiveness of a particular product, service, or strategy.
Websites can use case studies as linkable assets by documenting successful outcomes and sharing them with their audience. Other websites may link to these case studies as references or examples of best practices, contributing to the linking site's authority and providing valuable information to their audience.
Example
Here is a great example of a link building case study that has performed remarkably well, done by Ahrefs:
Just look at the sheer number of backlinks this has generated for them:
Backlinks and link building are two of the most most polarizing concepts in the SEO space and everyone wants to know (and has their own opinion) on how effective links are.
Ahrefs takes that debate and builds a case study around it, with data and visuals, that show you why backlinks are important.
Take a topic that causes a lot of confusion or comes with a lot of contention in your niche or industry and build a case study around it and you are very likely to get people talking and linking.
Link Magnet #5: Statistics
We’re living in the golden age of data, and statistics and hard numbers are king.
A statistics-based link magnet in one which presents industry data, numbers, and trends relevant to a particular topic or niche.
This data can be collected via surveys, research studies, or independent data analysis, followed by the publication of the findings in comprehensive reports or articles. The objective is to have other websites link to these statistics as references or sources of authoritative information, enhancing the credibility and value of their own content.
Over time, if a statistics piece becomes well-known and respected enough, it can produce a backlink snowball effect, growing exponentially. This is one of the best ways to do future-proof link building that will keep your backlink profile full and natural for a long time.
Example
Hubspot is the master as this when it comes to marketing statistics. Have a look at the below article titled “The Ultimate List of Marketing Statistics for 2024.”
Well, that article has generated some 58,000 backlinks:
Quite naturally, it is in the very top spot on Google when you search “marketing statistics 2024.”
Link Magnet: Calculator Tools
Calculator tools are interactive resources that solve users' problems by simplifying complex calculations or providing quick results. The goal is to create calculator tools relevant to your industry or niche, addressing common pain points or offering convenient ways to perform calculations.
Other sites then use these tools to either enhance their own content or provide additional value to their audience.
Example
Let’s take a look a this income tax calculator from turbotax:
This tool has generated 363 backlinks:
That backlink profile is filled with links from banks, financial advisors, insurance companies, news outlets and financial industry bloggers.
That is exactly what you would want if you were a company like turbotax.
Wrapping up
Link magnets are one of the best ways to do natural link building. From unique blog posts that offer insightful forecasts to visually engaging infographics that simplify complex concepts, there are a lot of ways you can use what you’re good at and what you already know to create compelling linkable content.
By combining link magnets with strategic content distribution and marketing efforts, you pave the way for enhanced visibility, authority, and success in a very competitive online landscape.
Why Trust Us On SEO
Eric Carrell & Sebastian Schaffer have been working in SEO for over a decade, building their own projects - understanding and testing SEO strategy, along with building hundreds of white hat links per month for our projects. They take their learnings and experience and apply them to the strategy that drives our link building strategy for our clients.
Eric & Seb have always believed in quality over quantity, doing things the right way so we future proof our client’s websites against future Google updates and the evolving industry of search.
While Seb handles the company strategy around culture, processes and structure, Eric is constantly working to improve our service offering, customer experience, and following the industry in parallel with Google’s Quality Guidelines so that we are always one step ahead of our competition and aligned with what Google wants to see for your site to rank higher.