Create content people can’t resist linking to. Learn what link bait is, why it works, and how to craft assets that attract backlinks and drive traffic.
Link bait content helps you earn backlinks organically by providing irresistible content that other websites then source and link to.
Not all link bait content needs to be sensationalized or controversial, as is often synonymous with the term “bait” in online content creation. You can create link bait content that aligns with your values and attracts high-quality backlinks without PR or outreach.
Well-executed link bait content builds authority, helps your audience, and is shareable, so all of your marketing channels reap the benefits.
So, how do you create content that earns links naturally? In this guide, we’ll break down what link bait is, why it matters, the psychology behind it, and the most effective types (with real examples) so you can create a content strategy that serves your audience while passively earning backlinks and building your site’s authority.
What is link bait?
Link bait is content specifically created to attract natural backlinks.
A natural backlink is earned when someone discovers your content (whether through a Google search, social media post, email, or anything else) and finds it insightful enough to link to.
Journalists are a good example of people who naturally discover relevant content and link to it, because they research topics and look for statistics or real-world examples to support their content.
Link bait content is a legitimate backlink tactic that surpasses older link-building tactics. There’s no need to spend hours on aggressive outreach, pitching to every online publication in the pursuit of high numbers of backlinks.
Link bait is about passively attracting the right backlinks: those from highly authoritative, relevant sources. This approach is practical from a time perspective, and it has significant benefits related to building experience, expertise, authority, and trust (E-E-A-T), as well as the Helpful Content system.
Why?
Because highly authoritative backlinks from relevant sources signal to Google that your content is high quality and trustworthy.
Why link bait matters in SEO today
SEO today is more than keywords, rankings, and clicks from search engines like Google.
It’s about:
- Brand visibility across marketing channels, appearing in places beyond search, and in the right context (with positive brand sentiments—not negative ones)
- Citations and rankings across the search landscape, including AI search like AI Mode, AI Overviews, or large language models (LLMs) like ChatGPT
- Maintaining search engine rankings despite volatile search engine results pages (SERPs), which have changed significantly in the last few years with the rise of AI, AI overviews, and zero-click searches
Quality content and link bait content help you achieve all of the above.
When you earn backlinks from high-quality websites, you improve your foundational SEO through link equity.
It’s well known that Google uses links to understand pages and their context. PageRank is one link analysis system that Google itself refers to as a “core ranking system.” This system assigns a score to a “document” based on criteria, including the scores of both other documents that link to it and those linked from it. It’s complex, and other criteria, such as the URL, host, domain, and author, have different weights.
Where linking and PageRank are concerned, all you really need to know is that your site is likely scored based on the links connecting to it, and the higher the value of the linked-from pages, the higher the score assigned to your page.
Further reading: If you really want to get into the details of PageRank, read Google PageRank Explained for SEO Beginners.
Higher numbers of high-quality links are likely to improve your page and site rankings in both traditional search engines and AI search.
When a site has good rankings and high-quality content signals through backlinks, pages have a better chance of withstanding volatility in the search engine results pages (SERPs), which has become exceptionally important with the amount of changes made to the SERPs in the last year or so, such as the prominence of AI overviews and the introduction of Google’s AI Mode.
Authoritative backlinks are also helpful for AI search and AI Overviews because you earn citations if you’re trusted. Even zero-click searches, which occur when AI fully answers a search query and makes a click to a website unnecessary, become beneficial to your brand because you’re still gaining visibility in the citations. And there is always a chance someone will click the citation to read more about what you’ve got to say.
Plus, no matter what happens to Google and search, earning citations and mentions from one prolific industry website to yours will always look good to your users. If trusted sources trust you, they should, too.
It’s all about brand visibility.
The more your brand appears across multiple channels, the better it will perform.
And visibility goes beyond search.
If a journalist picks up your content and you receive a citation, then your brand will be credited in authoritative pieces of content. You’ll gain visibility through PR, the link to your content will send referral traffic, and people will read your thought leadership articles (which are likely the type of content that qualifies as link bait).
Why does this matter?
Visibility in expert roundups is essential across the search landscape, including AI, and this AI SEO monitoring tool demonstrates that. See the screenshot below that shows the recommendation that a website needs to appear in high-ranking expert roundups that feed into Google AI answers.
The psychology behind successful link bait
Successful link bait taps into human psychology. It hinges on content resonating with people and inspiring action:
- Sharing content
- Citing it as a source
- Linking to it
But how do you inspire people to take action?
You have to give people something shareable in the first place.
For example:
- Novelty and uniqueness include thought leadership content that offers fresh perspectives or presents new data, often gathered through surveys or research. This content attracts links since the latest data is desirable for anyone writing content on the topics you researched.
- Ego bait leverages influencer and expert mentions to amplify reach and build E-E-A-T signals.
- Utility vs. entertainment balances useful, actionable content with viral potential.
- Emotional triggers can increase click-through rate (CTR) because emotions such as surprise, delight, curiosity, and excitement are highly effective link magnets.
Pro tip: Unique data that you’ve sourced is invaluable for AI search because it increases the chances of your site earning a citation in AI overviews or AI search tools like ChatGPT or Gemini.
Types of link bait content with examples
Link bait content is most effective when it supports your business, its values, and its marketing efforts. Create the right type of link bait, and it can serve your business in many ways, not just backlinks.
To help you choose the right content, here are some types to consider, along with examples and explanations of why they work.
Unique data-driven studies
Original research, surveys, and industry benchmarks encourage links, but they also help your site rank well, position your brand as an expert, and gain mentions and citations in AI search.
This type of link bait content is highly effective.
Here’s an example of a new Semrush study that generates backlinks, all while providing topical, trending data to its audience:
The quality of links pointing to this article is undeniable. The Backlink Analysis report (pictured below) is filtered by websites with the highest authority score.
The websites linking to this study include:
- Exploding Topics
- Forbes
- Site Bulb
- B2B Vault
- Backlinko
- HubSpot
These websites are influential, industry-leading publications in the business, SEO, and marketing verticals, which will quickly build strong PageRank and E-E-A-T signals.
Why this data-driven study works:
This study is highly topical and addresses many important questions for its audience of digital marketers, particularly future-thinking SEO specialists who are mindful of AI’s role in SEO.
This screenshot from Google Trends demonstrates the trend and its high relevance.
How you can create data-driven study link bait content:
The greatest barrier to data-driven statistics is acquiring the data. Generally, you need a large audience for a good sample, and the data must be both relevant and topical. Semrush succeeded with this study because the information is highly sought after by their audience and will likely remain significant in the months—and even years—to come.
You need:
- Good data that your audiences are looking for. The subject needs to be topical.
- Infographics and supporting images, like the graphs in the AI and SEO study. These components can attract links as other websites use and cite them.
- A well-designed page encourages sharing. In the example above, social sharing links are available on the right sidebar.
Trend analysis
HubSpot is an excellent example of a brand that effectively utilizes trend analysis and reports. This method of creating link bait content is similar to data-driven studies, as convincingly identifying trends requires data to back up the claim.
While HubSpot always provides its own research, its trend analysis reports differ from the unique data-driven studies in the presentation. When you visit one of their trend pages, like AI trends for marketers, you’re invited to download the report, but some data is available on the landing page.
Here’s what the landing page looks like:
As seen on the page, there’s:
- A button in the hero to download the report
- Links to relevant sections,
- A quote from HubSpot’s CMO, Kipp Bodnar, that summarizes what’s inside the report
All of these components encourage a download. Plus, the quote itself is enough to warrant a citation. For those who are looking for data but don’t want to download the report, they may still lift the quote and cite that.
The backlink analysis report below is a testament to this trend report working in HubSpot’s favor.
This report has links from:
- Forbes
- Terra
- Grammarly
- Shopify
- Cousera
- Semrush
These are all prolific websites in the digital marketing space.
Why this trend analysis works:
HubSpot is a go-to resource for trusted, authoritative content overall, and marketers highly anticipate their trends reports.
Through trend analysis and a commitment to covering various trends, including consumer trends, marketing trends, AI trends, social media trends, and more, HubSpot has established itself as a reliable source that its audiences can trust.
How you can create trend analysis content:
As with studies, the barrier to trend analysis is data gathering.
You need:
- Reliable data and large sample sizes
- Well-designed landing pages and reports that capture attention and provide a linkable asset
- Website authority for rankings, so people can find you when they search for this type of content
- Large audiences through other marketing channels, so you can share the report
Breaking news
Quickly reacting to news can favorably position your site to earn links.
It works because other writers are looking to cover topics as they break. The faster you write, publish, and index your piece, the faster people will find and link to you. This tactic isn’t new; it’s called “newsjacking,” and it’s been part of PR for years. PRs use newsjacking to leverage breaking news, gain visibility for brands, and build connections with audiences by offering a relevant and timely perspective.
Here’s an example on our site:
Search Engine Land always covers breaking news.
On May 6, Google released AI Max for Search. On May 12, Search Engine Land published an article covering the launch.
Here’s what the article looks like.
The screenshot below shows four of the most influential links.
The article has 146 total backlinks. Some links are from highly authoritative sources (Forbes), and others are from industry-leading publications (SEO Round Table) and industry experts (Claire Jarrett).
Most backlinks were quickly added in May or June, but this piece of newsjacking link bait content continues to benefit Search Engine Land, as the most authoritative link appeared months after the news broke.
To become a primary source for breaking news citations and links, you’d probably want to get something published within the first 24 hours. Every day that passes, more and more articles get published, especially if it’s big news. The more live articles, the less chance that yours will be found and cited.
There is a tradeoff to consider, however: the quicker you publish, the more you risk misrepresenting something and being exposed by a more thorough analysis.
As things develop, your early insights might need refining, but you can always update.
Why this worked:
Search Engine Land is an authority in the digital marketing space. When news breaks in the industry, it’s beneficial for Search Engine Land to cover the topic, as doing so helps maintain its presence as a brand with high levels of E-E-A-T in its niche. This authoritative presence is important for Google’s systems and rankings, as well as AI visibility.
But more importantly, people turn to Search Engine Land for guidance.
As Search Engine Land maintains its position as an authoritative source, people will look to it for guidance during critical moments, such as the introduction of a new digital marketing feature.
The result?
Aside from links, Search Engine Land achieves high conversion rates with breaking news content because the brand’s authority encourages CTR; people click on brands they trust.
As Search Engine Land is an authoritative and trusted source, people are happy to share their articles or cite and link to them from their own pieces of content.
For smaller brands with less authority, breaking news link bait content can be highly effective for securing top ranks on Google, provided you get there before anyone else.
How you can create breaking news link bait content:
You don’t have to be as authoritative as Search Engine Land to create breaking news content.
You need:
- A timely response to breaking news in your industry so you can publish an article at your earliest convenience, soon after the news has broken.
- An expert who can chime in with a perspective. At the end of the Search Engine Land example, there’s a “Why we care” section. In the early moments or days of something major happening, audiences are looking for succinct, easily summarized answers and reasons for why and how it’s important.
- A well-designed, engaging page that keeps user attention. In this breaking news link bait example, there are infographics of the questions and answers originally shared by Google.
Pro tip: In the early days of covering breaking news, you’ll benefit from having a pre-built audience to share it with. For example, if you’re in the digital marketing space, you might share your insights on LinkedIn and link to your article.
Ego bait
Ego bait is content that includes expert or influencer insights and then benefits from the engagement of the expert’s audience.
For example, an invitation-only event that experts or influencers attend, write about, and link to.
Or better yet (and more evergreen), a long-form article that features industry experts.
Titles often include things like:
- According to experts…
- I spoke to X, and they said Y.
Here’s an example from Nushell:
The article pictured is titled, “What Is Marketing and What Can It Do for Your Business?” Within the article is a section that features 25 experts who contribute and share their perspectives on what marketing means to them.
The page has attracted some nice links, including one from Canva, a highly authoritative source.
Why ego bait content works:
Ego bait content relies on people included in your article sharing, citing, and linking to your content, or their audience finding the article and doing the same.
Everyone featured in the article is a person related to or working in your industry, so any links they send will be relevant.
With ego bait content, there’s a good chance your content will be shared across social media or via emails. Contributors have something to gain, such as the credibility or E-E-A-T signals of being featured, and they may want to share it. This, in turn, may increase visibility among relevant audiences, and they might also link to it.
How you can create ego bait content:
You need:
- A good hook that will draw in your audience. Ask yourself what topics people in your industry want experts to chime in on.
- Access to respected experts who your audience will listen to and respect.
- Influencers or experts with large audiences are beneficial because their reach and audience can amplify yours.
- Something to offer contributors, like credibility. For the best chances of ego bait content paying off, your contributors need to be so happy they’re featured that they want to share it with their audience.
Actionable content and lead magnets
A good, actionable piece of content with a lead magnet can do wonders for your passive link-building strategy.
It’s easy to do, and if you create content that is also well-optimized, even smaller businesses can find themselves earning links.
Here’s an example from 310 Creative, found for the keyword “marketing audit checklist.” The page ranks number three against some recognizable names in marketing, including Mailchimp and Smart Insights.
Although this actionable piece doesn’t have a lead magnet, it’s gaining links that it may have otherwise missed, top rankings in Google, and clicks.
A lead magnet could elevate this piece of content and its marketing benefits, especially if it were gated.
To see an effective lead magnet, let’s go back to HubSpot’s Trends reports. To access the full trend report, you first have to give your email address. Thanks to the email exchange, HubSpot can send targeted email campaigns to recipients based on the topic of the report they downloaded.
HubSpot’s lead magnet functionality looks like this:
Why actionable content and lead magnets work:
Once you’ve created actionable content and a lead magnet, you have an asset that serves your business in many ways. Your content should rank, leading to visibility, and helpful content gets cited and linked to by others.
If your checklist is used and enjoyed by others, they might link to it. This is what happened to 310 Creative, which led to the example above. Other marketers used it and referenced it in content relevant to the topic of marketing audits.
How you can create actionable link bait content and lead magnets:
Creating this type of content is very accessible!
You need:
- Enough knowledge on a topic to create a useful guide and/or lead magnet
- SEO knowledge, as it enables you to optimize your content for better rankings and increased clicks
- A well-designed lead magnet, as it encourages people to use it and increases the desire to share it
Emotional triggers
Content that is emotionally triggering aims to evoke a strong emotional response in the reader. You can use challenge, surprise, delight, or controversy as link magnets.
Here’s an example from Search Engine Land.
The title “The future of SEO is now” is a nod to SEO’s survival during a turbulent time amongst frequent “SEO is dead” (another emotionally triggering topic, and a controversial take) narratives.
This piece from Search Engine Land works because it elicits a variety of emotions:
- Surprise, delight, or relief for those worried about the future of SEO: In the title, Search Engine Land offers some reassurance that the future of SEO isn’t over; it’s just evolving in real time. Marketers who see the title might be inclined to click and discover more about what this means and how they can stay current.
- The controversial takes encourage click-throughs: The narrative around SEO is conflicting at the moment. There’s a camp of people who are adamant that ranking in AI tools is just SEO and nothing has changed, while others suggest that generative engine optimization (GEO) is the new SEO. If the future of SEO is now, as it says in the Search Engine Land article, then readers will want to know what Search Engine Land has to say about it.
Remember the notes about Search Engine Land in the “Breaking news” section above? Search Engine Land is an authority in the digital marketing space, and readers will be keen to read Search Engine Land’s take on this subject.
Why emotional trigger link bait works:
The current turbulence in the SEO industry might trigger conscientious SEOs. The trigger encourages a click.
An emotionally triggering article must resolve the triggered emotion.
In the Search Engine Land example, they provide tactics and mindsets for modern-day SEO. These are resolutions to problems. For example, there’s a section dedicated to platform fluency and how to do SEO across different platforms.
Without the resolution, emotional link bait content can come across as negative.
But with a resolution, it’s helpful content that earns links.
How you can create emotional triggers in link bait content:
Before you can create a piece of content that triggers your reader, you need to know what triggers them so you can use that to your advantage.
You need a:
- Problem or mistake that your audience wants to avoid
- Resolution to the problem that triggers an emotional response
- A well-designed blog that is helpful for scannability
Controversial or contrarian takes
Polarizing content draws attention from readers and may result in people reviewing your take, good or bad, and integrating it into their own content.
When they do, you should get a link.
Here’s an example from a B2C brand that uses contrarian takes to demonstrate that link bait isn’t just for B2B:
Zoe writes about calorie counting and low-calorie diets for weight loss on their blog. The title tag is “Why Calorie Counting Doesn’t Work,” and that’s what searchers will see on Google. The contrarian take will encourage a click.
The page generates links from a range of websites, including authoritative journals and health influencers such as gyms and personal trainers.
Why the contrarian take works:
Contrarian and controversial takes are a bit like emotional triggers. If the content triggers someone, they might click. Equally, someone in agreement with the take will be interested in reading more.
A contrarian take is link-attractive because it forces a conversation. Writers covering a topic often present contrasting viewpoints. If you give them a strong “against the grain” argument, you’re far more likely to be cited than if you play it safe with a middle-of-the-road summary that no one remembers.
How you can create controversial link bait content:
You need:
- A controversial opinion: Your controversial take must be authentic for you and aligned with your values. Avoid creating controversy for the sake of polarization.
- Data and reasoning behind the controversy: In the Zoe example, the experts present data and statistics to support their claims.
Quizzes and interactive experiences
Quizzes and interactive experiences gain links because they’re fun! And many of them will be evergreen.
Mailchimp’s games are a great example of interactive experience link bait content. It’s an engagement-focused asset, and it’s clearly successful, as evidenced by marketing publications linking to it.
Here’s what the landing page looks like:
For Mailchimp, this is more than just link bait.
Mailchimp uses this content as an opportunity to express brand values through language like: “Loading…Self Care” and “our small business customers spend every day working…they deserve a break.”
Themes of games run through Mailchimp’s work; they have game stations at their events.
Why quizzes and interactive experiences work:
A quiz or an interactive experience offers something of value to those engaging with it. Quizzes are often fun, or they promise to tell the user something about themselves, like a personality quiz. This is an immediate draw for many readers, as they want to discover what the quiz says about “them,” and then they show off their results and share the link in the process, which continues the cycle.
Something that brings positive vibes deserves to be shared. For Mailchimp, it’s likely that email marketers enjoy this touch of care and share it with their marketing friends.
How you can create quizzes and interactive experiences as link bait content:
The barrier to creating quizzes and interactive experiences as link bait is relatively significant because you need a good experience. This means designer and developer time, which can be expensive.
You need:
- A quiz or engaging experience that resonates with your audience
- Designer and developer time to ensure the experience is done well, making it linkworthy
Definitive guides and frameworks
Evergreen, reference-worthy resources will always perform well as link bait content. Definitive guides generally perform well in search engines, such as Google, and in AI Overviews or large language models (LLMs) like ChatGPT.
They’re comprehensive and incredibly helpful.
Here’s an example from Backlinko:
This piece of evergreen link bait content is described as “the ultimate SEO tutorial.” It’s edited frequently, so it stays updated, and it dominates search results, ranking for 80 keywords.
Plus, the content has over 350 backlinks and over 1,200 shares to social media thanks to the convenient share module on the left.
Why definitive guides and frameworks work as link bait content
If you can help your audience as well as Brian Dean and Backlinko help the SEO industry, then you deserve a citation and a link.
The Backlinko example is beautifully designed, featuring infographics, with circles below the hero link that lead to relevant sections. Plus, there are annotated screenshots to guide users through every step.
How you can create evergreen guide and framework link bait content:
You need:
- A problem to solve: Think about a common issue that many people struggle with.
- Expertise to solve the problem: If you’re creating a definitive guide, it needs to be that: definitive. You must add more detail than any other ranking guide.
- The time and desire to keep the page up to date: Backlinko updates this page frequently to keep it fresh and relevant.
- A well-designed landing page: You can only capture the attention of readers and earn a backlink if the page is visually appealing.
Visual assets
One thing that all of these link bait content types have in common is the use of visual assets. There are two main reasons for this:
- General UX and design: Visual assets make a page or an experience memorable and engaging!
- The asset itself is shareable: If you summarize data visually, you’ve helped your reader. Visual assets are linkable resources.
Here’s a fun example:
This infographic, which displays baking times for various cake types, has over 900 backlinks.
Other examples of visual assets include interactive tools (such as quizzes or interactive experiences like Mailchimp’s games) and calculators.
Why these visual assets work:
When searching for statistics, infographics, or charts, people can use Google images, and when they find an image they like, they might link to it.
Charts from other pages are often embedded into articles. Here’s an example from the Search Engine Land blog:
Search Engine Land has cited and linked to HubSpot’s research and shared HubSpot’s branded infographic. This is a great example because Search Engine Land and HubSpot share a similar audience. HubSpot benefits greatly from its infographic getting featured in this article.
How you can create visual assets for use in link bait content:
Visual assets don’t have to be complicated. You can use a tool like Canva to create them if you want something simple, or if you prefer a more complex design, you can hire a designer.
You need:
- A reason to create a visual asset, such as an infographic summarizing data or sharing a workflow
- Designer time to create it
How to create effective link bait
There are some best practices when it comes to creating effective link bait campaigns:
- Conduct a competitor gap analysis to identify under-covered or emerging topics. You want to be the thought leader and go-to resource for this content to increase your chances of earning a link.
- Explore content ideation frameworks such as skyscraper techniques, pillars and clusters, or 10x content. With content frameworks, your link bait content can serve your content strategy in multiple ways. It can help with rankings or provide valuable, shareable assets for other forms of marketing, like email or social media.
- SEO layering means targeting linkable content with consideration for long-tail keyword optimization. We saw this work exceptionally well for many of the link bait examples above. Many of them were found because of their prominence in search and AI tools.
- Data sourcing strategies are a great way to create shareable content. Using Public data, proprietary insights, or API integrations, you can gather data, analyze and summarize it, and present it in a clear and digestible way with visuals like infographics.
- Co-authoring and collaborative content give you the benefits of ego bait while providing outstanding value to your readers, especially if your co-authors are genuine experts. Influential co-authors also bring built-in amplification.
Promotion strategies for link bait
Good link bait content works hard for your brand. It doesn’t just build backlinks.
It takes considerable effort to create effective link bait, so when you do, make sure it entices a share from your audience—and, importantly, make sure it’s shared across your owned marketing channels like email and social media.
Here are some ways you can share link bait content:
- Outreach workflows and pitches using a tiered approach, meaning you offer your content to the most influential journalists, influencers, or bloggers first. Repeat outreach workflows after the initial wave, especially for evergreen guides that can be updated and republished annually (or more frequently).
- Digital PR tactics are useful throughout link bait content creation. HARO pitches will help you reach influencers and experts who bring value (and ego bait) to your content. Press releases and social media amplification, such as a share on LinkedIn, help increase visibility.
- Paid amplification can quickly accelerate visibility. By running ads, sponsoring, or boosting posts on social media platforms, you can place your content directly in front of your target audience. LinkedIn advertising allows you to target specific companies or job titles.
- Community leverage means putting your content into relevant digital “hangouts.” This takes place on forums such as Reddit, aggregator sites like Hacker News, or niche industry forums on Slack. You choose your communities based on where your audiences are.
Track, optimize, and win in Google and AI search from one platform.
Start creating link bait content
Now that you’ve read this comprehensive guide on link bait content, you’ll want to get started.
Your next step: Identify the type of link bait content that’s right for you.
How?
Think about your business and marketing goals, then create the content that serves your business in multiple ways.
For example, if you want to be a thought leader, then maybe evergreen articles or controversy are the right type of link bait for you. If you’re already creating content but don’t feel you’re getting the reach and amplification to make it worthwhile, consider using ego bait and co-creating content with experts. And don’t forget to promote it.
Here are some guides to help you as you start creating link bait content:
- Content marketing strategy: A practical guide: This article will help you create content that serves your overall strategy. Top tips for workflows and visibility are included.
- How to recognize quality backlinks: This piece will help you review your link bait content and ensure you’re getting the right type of links.
- What is link equity, and why does it still matter in an AI landscape? This is a great read if you need to persuade your team that links are still important.
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