What are Editorial Links & How to Acquire Them in 2024

Sure, using different strategies to gain backlinks is useful. But do you know what’s even better? Gaining backlinks organically.

You can earn backlinks in two ways: 

• You use strategies like guest posting or niche edits to get a backlink from a website. For this you can consider credible blogger outreach agencies.
• You simply create something so valuable that it gains a backlink organically. 

Both are useful, but the latter one is better. That’s why you must focus on trying to earn links organically.

These kinds of links are called editorial links.

Wondering how you can get editorial links? Well, we are here for you. 

In this post, you are going to learn what an editorial link is, why it is important, and how to get them.

Let’s go.

What are editorial links

An editorial link is simply a link that is not asked for, traded for, or paid for. It is a link that you earn because of the value that you provide.

It’s when people feel that your content is valuable and link to your site in their piece of content.

These kinds of links are often earned without any communication among both parties. People see your content, they like it, and they link to it. It’s that simple. 

It’s also important to note that not every page on your website can earn editorial links. These kinds of links are only earned by some specific categories of pages. 

For example, an About page is not likely to earn an editorial link while an ultimate guide blog is more likely to earn these kinds of links from other websites. 

Benefits of getting editorial links

Okay, now we know that editorial links are links that are earned organically. But what makes them very important that you must focus on getting editorial links? What are the benefits that they provide? 

Let’s understand.

1. They skyrocket your rankings

You know what? Getting backlinks using link building strategies and outreach is not enough if you want to top the SERP. 

You should know that no single link is enough to take you to the top of SERP, and that’s why you need editorial links. 

If you want to rank on search engines you need to create a piece of content that is so valuable that it keeps on getting high-quality backlinks from popular websites, and then yes, you’ll be on the path to ranking on search engines.

Moreover, editorial links earned through high-quality content signal Google about the authority and trustworthiness of your website and automatically skyrocket your rankings.

2. They help you earn trust

Editorial links play a very important role in enhancing your brand’s credibility and trustworthiness among people. 

How? Well, when you earn backlinks from popular websites and publications organically, it informs people about the trustworthiness of your website. 

That is simply because people trust popular websites and when these popular websites add a backlink to your website they automatically start trusting your brand as well.

3. They help you build relationships

What’s more? The editorial links that you earn are your golden opportunity to build strong relationships with other popular websites and publications.

That is simply because when writers from popular websites link to your content, you get the opportunity to introduce yourself and build strong connections with them which can help you in the future.

Links from popular websites also open doors for you to get in front of other professionals who visit that website and build connections with them as well. 

Lastly, you can always contact that website to talk about further collaborations that can benefit both parties.

4. They drive referral traffic

You obviously know how important traffic is for a website. If you want to run a business using a website, the most important thing that you need is people coming to that website, right? Yes. 

When you get links from popular websites that receive thousands of traffic on a daily basis, you open up your opportunity to drive more and more referral traffic from that website.

People will see your link placed on that website, click on it, and visit your website. This will give you more conversion and sales opportunities to turn that referral traffic into your customers.

5. Natural link profile

Finally, editorial links give you a natural link profile which boosts your SEO. 

How? You see, editorial links are the links that your content receives from other websites for the value that it provides. 

One more thing is that since editorial links are received for the value your content provides, you’ll have anchor texts with relevant keywords that can help you rank higher on search engines. 

Finally, a valuable piece receives backlinks from different websites which increases your number of domains and improves your SEO rankings.

Acquired links vs editorial links

Now let us understand the actual difference between acquired links and editorial links. 

Acquired links

• Acquired links are backlinks that are earned through intentional efforts such as outreach, partnerships, or creating agreements with other websites, for backlinks.

• You have more control over these kinds of links. Since you earn these links with intentional efforts, you always have the power to change the link placement, anchor texts, etc.

• This is used for the sole purpose of improving a website’s SEO.

• The risk of search engines finding a manipulative pattern and penalizing your website is high.

Editorial links

• Editorial links are backlinks that are naturally earned from external websites simply because of the value that your content provides.

• Since these kinds of links are not generated intentionally with no contact with the external website, you get lesser control over the placement of the link and the anchor texts used.

• This is used for the quality, relevance, and authority of the content.

• The risk of search engines finding a manipulative pattern and penalizing your website is very low.

Does this mean you should only focus on editorial links to gain backlinks

No. You should understand that only focusing on editorial links is not enough if you want to rank higher on search engines.

Since editorial links are the kind of links that you earn from a website because of the value that you provide and it doesn’t involve any intentional tactic to earn backlinks, the chances of getting backlinks from a website are uncertain. A piece of content may or may not generate backlinks for your website. 

That’s why it’s also important to put equal effort into using strategies to earn backlinks. 

The best way to get a combination of these two is by working with an expert link building agency like SERP Forge which has a team of experts who can understand your business and use strategies and tactics to earn you these kinds of links.  

How to get editorial links

Now that you know what editorial links are, why they are important, and the difference between acquired links and editorial links, it’s time to learn how to get these links straight to your website.

Step 1: Understand where you stand

The first step to getting editorial links is to understand where you currently stand. 

Take a look at your backlinks profile and analyze the number of backlinks you have, the quality of those backlinks, where they are coming from, the popularity of your website, the amount of traffic you are receiving, where that traffic is coming from, and so on.

All of this will help you form the base level to earn editorial backlinks.

Step 2: Analyze your competitors

This is probably one of the most important steps that will help you understand what needs to be done in order to earn editorial links. 

Start by creating a list of your competitors and the websites that are competing against you on search engines. One good way to do this is by searching for the keywords you want to rank for and finding all the websites that are ranking on SERP. 

Next, go to Ahrefs backlink checker and paste their page URL to analyze those competitors.

You can copy the URLs of all the pages that are ranking for your keywords and paste them in backlinks checkers to get information about all the websites and popular publications that are sending backlinks to that page, the anchor texts they are using, and their reason for linking to that page. 

This gives you an idea of which publications you should target and what kind of value you need to provide.

Step 3: Start creating content

Next, it’s time to create content. When creating a piece of content you must keep these points in mind:

Your content should provide real value

Providing value doesn’t simply mean creating in-demand content and uploading it. It means creating or presenting something in a new and unique way that automatically earns backlinks from other websites. 

Your content should be link-worthy 

Value isn’t enough. You must create a piece of content that is worth linking to. Your content must be created in such a way that it makes people automatically add a link back to it. 

Your content should be evergreen

While it is not mandatory it is an important point to note that the content you create must be evergreen. Yes, creating trendy content is also important, but you must majorly try to create content that provides value to the audience for a long-term basis and stays evergreen.

Here are some kinds of content that can earn editorial links

1. Research and statistics

The first and one of the best ways to earn editorial links is by creating a research and statistics page. 

Bloggers and writers are constantly looking for statistics that they can mention on their pages to add value to their content. And this is exactly why research and statistics pages work really great when it comes to earning editorial links from external websites.

2. Ultimate guides

Another popular type of content that can earn a lot of editorial links is the ultimate guide articles. 

Ultimate guides are lengthy articles that cover almost everything about a topic from start to end. Writers love linking to an ultimate guide when they want to help their audience understand a topic. 

The reason these kinds of articles receive many editorial links is because of the amount of content they contain on a single page. 

3. Create tools

Another great way of getting editorial links from websites is by creating mini tools.

These can be any kind of tools like calculators, word count checkers, grammar checkers, and so on. If your tool ranks for a similar keyword on SERP, you surely will be on the right way to earning hundreds of editorial links. 

4. Infographics

Finally, you can also create eye-catching infographics that explain difficult topics using designs.

Good infographics have the potential to earn hundreds of backlinks from other external websites. 

Step 4: Promote 

In the end, once you are done with creating your valuable piece of content, it’s time to make sure that content reaches the right audience.

You can use various promotional channels such as social media, emails, and so on, to increase your chances of reaching more and more audiences.

Additional tips on how to get editorial links

Now that you know how to get editorial links, let’s get some additional tips that could act as add-ons to the existing techniques discussed above.

1. Form a strong online presence

If you want other websites to link to your content, you’ll first need to get in front of them. 

Your first editorial links tip is to create an online presence that is so strong that you automatically get in front of your target websites. 

You can do this by regularly posting on various social media platforms, answering questions on Q&A platforms like Reddit, and Quora, engaging in forum discussions, and forming connections with a professional network. 

This will increase your likelihood of getting discovered by more people.

2. Engage in broken link building

What is broken link building? Well, broken link building is all about finding the pages on your target websites that are linking to content that no longer exists and offering them to link to yours instead. 

You can do this by using tools like Broken Link Checker and informing your target website about the broken link that they have on their website.

Next, you can offer them to link to a similar piece of content that you have. 

3. Collaborations and partnerships

Another great way of getting editorial links is by collaborating with other popular bloggers or influencers in your industry to create content. 

By doing this, you get the opportunity to get in front of more people and also get noticed by big publications if the influencer or blogger is popular enough to grab their attention.

4. Keep an eye on your competitors

You know what? When trying to build editorial links to your website, your competitors will act as your most effective guides. Let us tell you how. 

First, take your competitor’s URL and upload it in a backlink profile viewer to get an overview of all the backlinks that your competitors have. 

Next, find all the pieces of content that are getting the most backlinks from other popular websites. Ask yourself – what’s the reason behind people linking to this content? Once you understand that, create similar pieces of content with more value and uniqueness.

5. Offer free resources

The last and final tip to getting high-quality editorial links from popular websites is to offer valuable free resources.

You can create any kind of valuable resource such as a free course on a popular topic or an interview with a famous personality or simply combine and create a list of something that is a hot topic in your industry.

This way you can grab the attention of big websites and make them link to your website. 

Mistakes to avoid

Finally, let’s talk about the mistakes that you must avoid in order to gain editorial links.

1. Not focusing on your content quality

Creating content doesn’t mean simply creating any kind of content and uploading it hoping that it would get a lot of traffic and editorial links. 

While creating content, many people make the mistake of focusing on the quantity of content that they upload and totally forget about the quality that they should put in their content. All they care about is uploading a piece of content regularly, and then they wait for it to boom.

The thing here is that if you only focus on uploading more and more content regularly all you’ll get is a massive bucket of content that never gets discovered by people. Create content that gives value. 

2. Ignoring on-page SEO

Do you want to rank on the first page of SERP? Yes? Well, then you cannot ignore on-page SEO. 

You should know that if you want your content to rank on search engines you should never ignore on-page SEO elements such as meta tags, headings, and keyword optimization.

Optimizing your page for search engines increases your chances of getting higher rankings in SERP.

3. Ignoring user experience

Other websites have a lot of options to link to. That’s why your most important job is to make sure that their first option is you. 

This can never be achieved if your website and your page are not user-friendly.

You must focus on improving user experience factors of your website such as making it mobile-friendly, improving your page load speed, not using complex words in your content, and so on. 

All of this increases your chances of getting editorial links from other websites.

4. Ignoring brand mentions

Another common mistake that you must avoid is not monitoring brand mentions.

You must know when and where your brand is mentioned and if they have included a link to your website. In case a website mentions your brand and doesn’t add a link to it, you can always reach out to them and ask them to add a link to your website.

You can use free tools like Google Alerts to get informed every time your brand is mentioned.

5. Ignoring relationship building

The final mistake that you must avoid when trying to earn editorial links from popular websites is ignoring the importance of relationship building.

If you get a link from a website, make sure that you contact them and thank them for linking to your website and try to build a strong connection with them.

The reason why building a relationship is extremely important is because getting one link from a website isn’t enough if you want to rank on the top page of a search engine.

You’ll need to connect with popular websites and make sure you get links from them in the future. This will also help you get noticed by other popular websites and get links from them as well.

Conclusion

So here we are to the end of this post!

In this post, we learned what editorial links are, why you should have them, how to get them, and the mistakes that you must avoid.

Since having these kinds of links is extremely important for your website you must not risk going through trial and error with it. If you are not sure about how your website can earn editorial links you can always contact an expert link building agency like SERP Forge. 

SERP Forge has a team of experts who will help you get editorial links from popular websites straight to your website and boost your rankings. 

Contact us today!

FAQs