Introduction

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Here at Ahrefs we believe that link building is, and will continue to be, one of the key elements of modern SEO. We also believe however, that as Google's ability to detect manipulative link building improves, it is vital that your efforts are focused on methods of attracting links that will ensure your site is safe from penalties �" both algorithmic and manual. More importantly, focusing on these same methods will allow you to build the kind of powerful, editorial links, that Google loves to see. The kind that will quickly see your site shoot up the rankings, and your traffic and sales grow on a monthly basis. We're sure that these are the type of links you want to be building, but... …we also know that link building can be a bit of an informational minefield. To help you navigate safely through it, we created this detailed guide to modern, white hat link building. A guide we like to call our 'little blue link building book'. There are currently 12 parts to the book (although we expect it to grow), and in each section we detail specific white hat link building methods (with examples), while also providing links to further reading/tools that will assist you when implementing the strategies on your own site(s). But before we dive into the methods, let's start by defining exactly what it is that makes a link white hat.

What makes a link white hat? First, an important point... Google is not against all link building and not all link building is 'bad'. We can quote Matt Cutts directly on that from this 2013 interview with Eric Enge of Stone Temple Consulting. “No, not all link building is bad. The philosophy that we’ve always had is if you make something that’s compelling then it would be much easier to get people to write about it and to link to it. And so a lot of people approach it from a direction that’s backwards.” Indeed, Matt has pretty much defined for us the ethos of white hat link building �" that links should be earned - not bought, or automatically created through manipulating loopholes. With every method included in this guide (save perhaps some social sharing), the editorial control remains with the linking website (either to approve the link, or to add it) and it is this editorial control that makes a link 'white hat'. But that's not to say we can't be clever too... Ok, let's get started.