Innovative Link Building – How To Craft Linkable Assets To Enhance your SEO (Using ChatGPT)

Want to step up your link building game? You’re in the right place! In this blog post, you’ll discover a fun and creative way to make linkable assets for SEO that will make your website visitors want to link to your website. I, Martyn Snibson, created my own free tools using generative AI. Here’s how I did it!

Link building, or “Backlink Acquisition”, can be a costly endeavour, especially when you’re a new website on the World Wide Web with limited authority in the search engines (SERPs).

It’s understandable. In fact, according to Aira, the cost of link building is expected to only climb in the future. But hey, I think that only means one option:

To get creative!

I know that in many instances, Generative AI tools like ChatGPT, Preplexity and Gemini get a bad rap. In listening to many podcasts, many marketers and SEO specialists give the slick, wise master, ChatGPT, a mouthful.

And yes, at times, ChatGPT and other Generative AI tools can:

• Generate “digital landfill”
• Use original content from other websites to train its algorithm
• Threaten existing functions in marketing departments

However, when recently listening to Seth Godin on the Brand Master Academy Podcast, Godin offers a different approach. He backed the use of generative AI, stating that marketing professionals should be using Artificial Intelligence “half an hour a day that’s scheduled into their calendar.”

As a fellow marketer, I don’t need to advocate how beneficial it is to learn how to incorporate artificial intelligence into your daily marketing practices. And this is why!

What Is A Linkable Asset In SEO?

In SEO, a linkable asset is a piece of content developed with the intention of gaining backlinks (or ‘links’) from other websites. The development of linkable assets has continued to grow as an integral part of many marketing and SEO strategies. It’s much about giving your audience something valuable that they want to share organically.

@martynsnibsonmarketing

Link building for SEO can be costly, especially when you’re a new website with limited authority in search engines. It’s understandable. In fact, according to Aira, the cost of link building is expected to only climb in the future. But hey, I think that only means one option: To get creative! In SEO, a linkable asset is a piece of content developed with the intention of gaining backlinks (or ‘links’) from other websites. The development of linkable assets has continued to grow as an integral part of many marketing and SEO strategies. It’s much about giving your audience something valuable that they want to share organically. I created my own linkable assets for SEO using ChatGPT! I want to teach you how you can join the party! seo marketing tiktokseo marketingtips #tiktok #foryou

♬ Old School Gangster (Instrumental) – LoFi Hip Hop

How Can Free Tools And Software Become An Essential Linkable Asset For seo In 2024?

This got me thinking about the many instances I have used a ‘free online tool’ to solve one of my many problems. 

…. that got depressing really fast.

It reoccurred in my experiences of writing a speech for a school project and how I used free tools to convert my written scripts into ‘speaking time’. This ensured I was under the required word count for my speeches and presentations.

Martyn Snibson’s mind: “How about for those university assignment word counts that were always a blast to fulfil.”

Oh yes … I forgot to mention that.

Say you’ve written your whole university assignment out and thought you’ve fulfilled the word count, but….

It’s one of those assignments where particular sections are not included in the final word count.

Thanks to the wonderful internet, in many cases, I’d then use a free word checker tool to paste the assignment sections that were included in the final word count.

It then occurred to me that I had veered off into an imagined state. Whereby, when thinking that my assignment was done… I still had 500 words left.

What Do Free Tools Have To Do With Getting Backlinks To My Website?

Resource Lists 

You might have been online searching for something like ‘the top marketing books’ or ‘top travel destinations’. In fact, there are so many resources, recommendation lists, or “best of” articles on the internet today it’s crazy.

Subsequently, by having a great linkable asset on your website that is useful to your visitors it increases the chances of your free tool being included in these lists. This can potentially result in more authoritative backlinks, whether gained organically or through backlink acquisition techniques, to make your tool present on these websites.

Repeat visitors

Undeniably, it’s important to note that users who find your free tool useful will, as a result, have a reason to return to your website. This could be to use your tools again or take further action, whether to make a purchase or use a call-to-action, whether it’s a subscriber/ email list. 

Linkable Assets – Creating free tools for your B2B or B2C business

I am sure many come across situations like mine where they need a free tool to solve a problem or analyse a piece of data.

Even last week, I searched for a free tool online to turn my images into a transparent .png file and then compressed that image to decrease the file size using another tool. 

As a business owner or marketer, consider how you could create tools that will be a fundamental part of your marketing funnel that could lead your potential customers to make a purchase.

As author and keynote speaker Andrew Davis says, “Content builds relationships. Relationships are built on trust. Trust drives revenue.”

Therefore, giving potential customers valuable content, whether it’s a free tool or software that helps a customer even before the end purchase, helps to build trust and demonstrates the ability of a business to solve a customer’s problem.

Businesses That Incorporate Free Tools In Their Marketing Strategy Effectively

1. NAB Bank

If you are asking why I chose NAB Bank, basically, it’s an example of how a lot of banks use free tools such as ‘home loan (or mortgage) calculators’ to attract potential home buyers. 

In NAB Bank’s case, their ‘Home loan repayment calculator’ uses user inputs to calculate their estimated repayment. Their page also incorporates many call-to-action buttons and pop-ups to either book an appointment or interact with their virtual chat assistant. 

2. The Knot

The Knot is another perfect example of free online tools being used to attract customers and drive purchases to their website: ‘The Knot Shop‘. Their adaption of linkable assets helped them to establish a leading presence in the wedding industry. 

The Knot offers free online tools such as a wedding checklist, style quiz, and budgeting tool, which can be accessible in exchange for a user sign-up using an email address.

By enticing their potential and existing customers to exchange their email addresses for their free services, they can build their subscriber list for future marketing opportunities. This could be through business updates, additional free tools, and promotions.

3. Grammarly

Grammarly is an instant classic in terms of using free tools and software to drive customers into a sales funnel, often leading to purchasing their premium options.

Grammarly’s Free Paraphrasing Tool is a renowned example. It’s a tool that instantly solves their target audience’s problems (being senior to college students). Moreover, Grammarly is aware that this audience often needs to paraphrase many source-based materials in their academic writing.

Furthermore, Grammarly also uses this as an opportunity for search engine optimisation (SEO) by establishing keyword authority for paraphrasing tools. This includes information under headings such as:

1. Industry-Leading AI Paraphrase Tool
2. What Is Paraphrasing?
3. How to Use Grammarly’s Online Paraphrasing Tool
4. Who Can Use Grammarly’s AI Paraphrasing Tool
5. Frequently Asked Questions
6. Learn How To Paraphrase

In fact, when I last searched ‘paraphrase’ on Google, surprisingly, Grammarly’s paraphrasing tool ranked 4th in the search results (SERPs) for that query.

Although Grammarly is an authoritative website that’s been well established on Google, it’s obviously worth keeping this as inspiration when developing your own linkable assets. 

How I developed my own linkable assets using generative AI – A free SEO Content Readability Tool.

My inspiration for developing free tools and services as linkable assets came whilst watching Nathan Gotch’s “The Ultimate SEO Strategy for 2024.” In his YouTube video, he mentions how “it used to be hard before, but you can now use ChatGPT [or other generative AI tools] to create awesome free tools that function perfectly as clickbait.”

What’s more, Gotch then shows the example tool he created using ChatGPT as a ‘linkbait’, which was a Script Timer tool.

It got me thinking…

What’s something that I need to improve my content writing skills?

Firstly, I recalled that when writing my previous blog post about ‘Backlink Acquisition’, my SEO Tool ‘All-In-One SEO’ mentioned that my text was difficult to read.

*Mind, some of my sentence lengths were rather long, which didn’t help…*

Something else I was being picked up for was my lack of transition words – something Yoast SEO says influences the readability of your text and, therefore, leads to readers “stay[ing] on your page longer.”

Fair enough, I guess.

So I decided to give it a shot by giving ChatGPT 4o its time to shine. I prompted it by asking:

‘Create me a sentence length checker tool that would only require HTML code when implemented on my website”. 

I was surprised by how quickly it came up with not only the HTML code but also information regarding the tool’s features, explanation and an overall summary. 

So, I implemented it onto my WordPress site using the HTML drag-and-drop tool. 

You can also use a WordPress plugin like WP Coder, particularly if you require CSS and Javascript. It will develop a short code for you that can be inserted into the shortcode element on your website. 

However, I noticed something that bothered me: it wasn’t aligned towards the centre of the page. 

It’s obviously worth noting that when asking generative AI tools (ChatGPT) to develop things like tools and software, it won’t get it right straight out of the gate.

So, I prompted it again:

 “I want it to be aligned to the centre of the page”.

The new HTML didn’t work. And when I re-promped it, it kept coming up with HTML and CSS. 

So I asked it again, saying it needed to be simplified for WordPress and only use HTML. 

It fixed that problem, now the next thing to address was the enormous <h1> heading, I asked ChatGPT of where in the code should I adjust the h1 title to make it smaller. 

Further Enhancements:

I kept playing with the code more. This was when I developed the additional idea of creating a colour scale system.

Eventually, I was at the point where I could then add additional features to my ‘SEO Content Readability Tool‘ where I could:

• Check the sentence length of my work
• Check the word count. As well as
• Highlight sentences that require transition words

Overall, this experimenting and playing around with prompts with ChatGPT took roughly an hour to an hour and a half. It was really enjoyable, and it made me feel like I had done the hard work of the actual HTML coding. 

I later wondered – how could my experiences with ChatGPT lead me into future pathways in which I could further train it to develop new and exciting ways of solving everyday problems, particularly in the Marketing and SEO space.

25 Free Tool Ideas for Linkable Assets To Elevate Your SEO Strategy

For marketers and SEO specialists, here are some ideas for linkable assets that you could implement on your website for a wide range of industries. Some of these free tools should mostly use HTML, CSS (and basic Javascript, depending on tool complexity). 

1. Keyword Density Checker
2. Content Idea Generator
3. Meta Tag Generator
4. Email Subject Line Tester
5. BMI Calculator
6. Currency Converter
7. Savings Goal Calculator
8. Calorie Intake Calculator
9. Unit Converter
10. Recipe Nutritional Calculator
11. Headline Analyser
12. Citation Generator
13. Flashcard Generator
14. Size Guide Tool
15. Carbon Footprint Calculator
16. Budget Planner
17. Movie/ Show Recommendation Generator
18. Color Palette Generator
19. Fuel Cost Generator
20. Email Signature Generator
21. QR Code Generator
22. Gift Suggestion Tool
23. Job Interview Question Bank
24. Word Counter Tool
25. Headline Analyzer

Keeping Up With Trends – Generative AI And Linkable Assets

Keeping up to date with the array of ways you can use Generative AI to your advantage can feel like a full-time job at times, I’m sure. 

However, even if it’s just a few minutes a day, leveraging generative AI to create linkable assets is a great strategy to enhance your SEO and link-building efforts.

I mentioned industry leaders in marketing and SEO like Seth Godin and Nathan Gotch. I also like listening to podcasts and Martin Waxman MCM APR’s ‘Digital Marketing Trends’ newsletter, which discusses topics on social media, digital marketing, and Generative AI. 

On the whole, by using Generative AI to create helpful and user-friendly tools, you can not only provide value to your audience but also increase the probability of gaining organic backlinks. 

Sure, you may not get the perfect tool by generative AI on the spot. However, with tweaks and experimentation, the end result is a functional, valuable resource that you can be proud of whilst improving your site authority and SEO over time. 

So…

Start brainstorming and developing your own linkable assets today so you can stay ahead of the competition. 

Key Takeaways – Linkable Assets For SEO

✨ To recap, here are the basic steps to creating linkable assets using generative AI (ChatGPT) for SEO link-building:

1. 🤔 Identify a Problem: Think of a common problem your audience faces that a simple tool can solve relative to your industry.
2. 👨‍💻 Use Generative AI (Like ChatGPT): Create basic HTML/CSS code for your tool using prompts.
3. 🖌️ Customize the Tool: Adjust features to meet your needs whilst making it user-friendly and appealing.
4. 🧪 Test: Ensure it works on your website and make any additional adjustments.
5. 💬 Promote The Tool: Share it on your blog and social media. Reach out to other websites and influencers to gain backlinks. Check out my blog on ‘Backlink Acquisition‘ if you need help doing so!

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