Best Websites to Get Links From in 2016

Authority Sites: Picking the winners for 2016

According to Internet Live Stats, in any given second, we are chewing through 31,025 GB of internet traffic, and performing 51,503 searches on Google alone.

This is fantastic news for authority sites, which serve as vast hubs of information to draw visitors to their sites, only to send them onward through (hopefully) helpful links. They are useful, and let’s face it, they can make people very rich when they are monetized. Wikipedia is actually the beneficiary of the nonprofit Wikimedia Foundation, which reported net assets of $77.8 million at the end of its fiscal year on June 30, 2015. The revenue is generated through grants and donations from individuals and corporations intent on keeping the online encyclopedia free to the masses. Others opt to use paid advertisers to reap the rewards.

No doubt, Wikipedia is the site that comes to the top of everyone’s mind to get valuable links

from, and if you are deemed worthy, having your own site as a Wiki link can be your own pot of gold. Understanding that any “best of” list is fraught with obstacles, because it’s likely to be seen as subjective.

But let’s try anyway.

Understanding the Moz score

First of all, let’s talk about the criteria…these sites do lots of things right, and even if they haven’t achieved a perfect Domain Authority “score” of 100 from analytics authority Moz, they perform their function well. The higher the score, the higher the website is likely ranking in a Google search. As the name suggests, authority sites deliver information that its visitors are seeking and through its links, are useful and relevant to their search. These sites have also developed a strong following built on trustworthy content that keeps users returning and subscribing to their mailing lists, blogs, and social media platforms.

The value of these sites is two-fold: they provide information and resources in information searches for users. They also provide critical exposure to businesses and bloggers that are linked from their site. In marketing terms, it’s not unlike the earned media of being quoted as an authority in an article in the Wall Street Journal.

Moz reviews its ranking criteria every year, and in 2015 scores used factors including the number of links used, what rank each link had, trustworthiness of the links, keywords, engagement among others. Of course the standouts come from the “big 4” social media giants of Facebook, Twitter, YouTube, and Google (all of which had a perfect score of 100) so we won’t state the obvious.

Also ranking at the top with a perfect score of 100:

http://www.ireport.cnn.com*

http://linkedin.com *

http://www.voices.yahoo.com*

http://www.wordpress.com

http://www.adobe.com

Near perfect:

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/ (97)*

http://www.livejournal.com (96)*

http://www.slashdot.org (95)*

The majority of these sites are listed for general information. More targeted niche sites with strong scores included:

http://www.nationofchange.com (business) – 85

http://www.caringbridge.org (blogging) – 86

http://www.edublogs.org (education) – 87

http://www.ideafit.com (health and fitness) – 71

http://www.moz.com (marketing) – 93

http://www.activerain.trulia.com (real estate) – 89

http://www.renewableenergyworld.com (technology) – 82

http://www.blogher.com (women & fashion) – 84

Create your own “Best of” list

Don’t see your niche? In general, you can generally figure out what will make your own “best of” list by experimenting with searching for information using various search terms. For example, perhaps you’re looking for a reliable site on pets, or more specifically medication for your dog. Enter various terms like “medication for dogs,” “pet medications,” “medicine for animals,” and so forth.

Pay attention to the sites that come up on the first page of your search. If there is one that is consistent, it’s likely to be a good authority site. In this example, drugs.com and FDA.gov both appeared in all queries.

Likewise, any best of list is only valuable if it’s going to bring you value, especially if you are seeking to backlink to improve your own site’s profile.

Ensuring Backlink Success

Similar to pitching a story to an editor, if you choose to submit a blog or link to an authority site, do some homework first.

• Know the audience of the site. Obviously the more broad the site is, like Huffington Post, the more likely you will appeal to them with your content.
• If the site is general, it will be helpful to pitch it by referring to other associated content from the site that will indicate you’ve actually been following their content, and be ready to explain how your information is unique and will enhance their existing information.

For sites that do not allow submissions, you have more work to do, but it will serve to improve your content and site while you’re hoping to attract an invitation.

• Start building your digital profile by establishing your own social networks so you’re more easily found when these sites are searching for the content you’re putting out there
• Grow your audience via these channels and create engagement. While not a huge factor, social signals can help raise awareness and ranking in a search; this is also a good way to tag and mention the sites you’re ultimately hoping to be featured on.
• Guest blog within your circle – start with friends’ blogs (and often it’s easier to do if you first request that you feature one of their blogs) to build further awareness
• Follow/no follow links – If you are looking for stronger SEO, look for sites that use “follow” links – those that will “count” toward a higher score toward your SEO. If you are not concerned about that, nofollow links may not provide you with “link juice,” but they aren’t harmful unless your goal is mass spamming, in which case Google could take manual action to discourage you.

Picking your own winners

Assuming you’ve already honed in on a list of sites based on similar interests and audience, do a little more research on those sites to make sure they are a good fit, and will serve to boost your traffic.

• How well do these sites appear in a keyword search? What level of engagement (comments) does the site receive?
• What is their social media activity like? Are they generous with sharing articles on their pages?
• Engagement: What actions are taken by their followers? Do they share and comment on posts to raise the social signals on the site?

Again, lists are inherently subject to debate, and this one is no exception. Ultimately, any list should serve as a stepping off point, and as you develop your online presence, you can develop your own. Given the fluidity of rankings and Google’s moving target of an algorithm, you can also bet that list will change regularly as well.

About The Author

Jason Hawkins / http://www.themiamiseocompany.com

Jason Hawkins is the CEO & Co-Founder of The Miami SEO Company. He has over ten years of experience in search engine optimization, conversion rate optimization and lead generation. His core responsibilities include identifying ways to increase value of services rendered, training staff on advanced SEO topics, and A/B testing internal processes to consistently improve client return on investment.