Link strategy optimization is key to improving a website’s visibility and authority. However, in highly competitive sectors such as technology, finance, and sports, link building becomes an even greater challenge. In this article, we’ll explore the best practices for optimizing your link strategy in these sectors, based on our 2025 Annual Link Building, PR, and Media Study.
Sectors with the Highest Link Demand
Our study reveals that the sectors with the highest demand for sponsored publications are:
| Sector | Demand Percentage |
|---|---|
| News, Society & Politics | 11,95% |
| Economy, Business & Employment | 7,97% |
| Technology, IT & Apps | 6,78% |
| Betting & Casinos | 6,11% |
| Sports | 5,20% |
Additionally, we observed a decline in demand for sectors such as home decor, construction, and DIY, while betting and sports have gained relevance.
Strategies to Optimize Your Link Building in Competitive Sectors
1. Focus on Topical Authority
Google increasingly values the relevance of the sites linking to yours. In sectors such as technology or finance, links from specialized media outlets carry more weight than those from general sites.
Recommendation:
- Seek media outlets with high authority in your industry.
- Publish on blogs and portals with content aligned to your niche.
- Prioritize high-quality content to generate natural links.
2. Diversify Your Link Sources
Our study indicates that while blogs still dominate link generation, press publications are gaining ground.
| Site Type | Publication Percentage |
| Blogs | 52.3% |
| Press | 47.7% |
Tip: Alternate between specialized blog posts and publications in recognized media to achieve a balanced link profile.
3. Use the Right Type of Link
A staggering 98.72% of generated links are dofollow, highlighting their importance in passing authority. However, including nofollow links is also advisable for a more natural strategy.
4. Optimize Your Use of Anchor Text
The use of exact-match keywords has dropped by 37.73%, while generic anchor texts have increased by 25.02%. Google penalizes excessive use of exact-match keywords, making it essential to diversify anchor texts.
| Anchor Text Type | Usage in 2023 | Usage in 2024 |
| Exact Keyword | 64.23% | 26.50% |
| Brand Name | 18.00% | 14.40% |
| URL | 10.50% | 5.10% |
| Generic | 4.78% | 29.80% |
| Entity | 1.49% | 13.70% |
Recommended Strategy: Use a mix of brand keywords, entity-based anchors, and generic anchors to diversify your profile and avoid penalties.
For more information on anchor texts, check out our article: How to use anchor texts in link building?
5. Link to the Right Pages
There has been a significant shift in the destination of links:
| Link Destination | Percentage in 2023 | Percentage in 2024 |
| Homepage | 35.85% | 15.54% |
| Service Pages | 20.43% | 29.26% |
| Blog Content | 12.12% | 23.66% |
| Category Pages | 27.27% | 21.04% |
| Social Media | 3.03% | 1.05% |
There is now a greater focus on linking to service pages, product pages, and informational blog content, which improves conversion rates and strengthens EEAT (Experience, Expertise, Authority, and Trustworthiness).
6. Invest in High-Quality Content
The average article length has increased to 791 words, reflecting a growing emphasis on valuable and informative content for users.
Tip:
- Create content that answers user queries and provides real value.
- Include updated, data-driven information.
- Leverage AI tools to enhance content structure and quality.
7. Ensure Qualified Traffic
36.1% of publications generate organic traffic, and within our managed service, this number rises to 42.7%.
Keys to attracting high-quality traffic:
- Publish on authoritative media with an audience aligned to your niche.
- Create content targeting transactional search queries.
- Analyze link performance with tools like Ahrefs or Google Search Console.
Find more details here: Managed Link Building Service from 500€
Optimizing your link strategy in competitive sectors requires a combination of choosing the right media outlets, diversifying anchor texts, focusing on key pages, and creating high-quality content. With these elements, your link building efforts will not only improve your search rankings but also attract qualified traffic and strengthen your website’s authority.
Check out the full study here
