What to look out for when building backlinks?

Okay, so let's say that I have a website that's about food & cooking (example). I have X money articles, including keywords like "best kitchenware 2015" "baked turkey with wine recipe "spices for asian food detroit" (again, all examples) etc.

I've done everything that needs to be done and now it's time to build backlinks and try to rank my articles as high as possible. Let's say that I'm trying to rank the "best kitchenware 2015" article at the moment.

What's better;

1) looking out for websites with a broader subject, like "cooking" to guest post and submit my links to

2) trying to find pages with the literal "best kitchenware 2015" keywords included somewhere and post my stuff there?

While all my articles kind of do fall into the category of cooking, one is about kitchenware, the other one is a recipe and the third one is about locations selling spices - a human could make the connection but will Google do it?

I assume that websites with my exact keywords would be more relevant than the ones about cooking in general, but on the other hand I am their obvious competitor and if I have a good microniche with low competition exact ones will be hard to find.

Can I even get to the first page by only submitting my stuff to "cooking"?

Thanks.

Option 1 .............

option 1 + looking out for websites with a broader subject, like "cooking" to guest post and submit my links to

If you want to create the back links for your inner web pages then i will suggest you to use the reciprocal link building other activities will show as the spamming work.

I'd suggest all methods. You can also use links from non-related sites, they will still pass linkjuice.

The thread starter posted a very interesting question.

Personally, I would look for blog posts and articles that deal with "best kitchenware".

This means that you shouldn't just focus on the "best kitchenware 2013".

You should also focus on any blog post that deals with the best kitchenware items.

There are best pans, best pots, that kind of thing.

When doing link outreach, you should try to find pages that make lists with recommendations and ask them to link to your article because it adds value to their article.

That's how you should play that game.

Simply trying to find pages with the literal phrase "best kitchenware 2013" is probably not going to cut it.

Those pages are probably too few and far between to be worth your effort.

I would focus on looking at this on a more holistic basis.

You would probably get better results that way.

Also, there are more of those pages to work with.

Option 1, as option 2 is complete crap.