Have you heard of link building but don’t know what’s it all about? You are not alone. Every year, hundreds of businesses launch, but only a few manage to sustain their growth. Have you ever wondered why?
Businesses that adopt various methods to increase their visibility online have a better chance of earning profits for fueling their growth. That’s because today’s consumers search for products and services online. The better your business ranks on the SERPs, the more chances you have of enjoying consistent growth.
In this post, we will highlight the importance of link building and share a few tips to help you build a strong link building strategy.
Why is Link Building Important?
Link building is the process through which you can acquire backlinks from a third-party website to your own for boosting your web presence in the SERPs.
Search engines have complex algorithms that they constantly upgrade to give their users the best results. Although various factors determine Google’s ranking system, backlinks continue to be one of the most impactful.
According to Google, links serve as a vote for confidence, from one site to another. If your business website has more backlinks, the better Google will see it as a credible source of information. Recent research findings reveal a strong correlation between search rankings and links. According to a recent study, web pages with more backlinks rank better than pages with fewer backlinks. Furthermore, the variety of websites linking back to your webpage is more valuable than the number of backlinks. That means when you earn multiple links from the same domain, their value can diminish.
Here are a few things to know about link building tactics.
Choose Quality over Quantity
Previously, link building tactics involved back-hat or spammy methods to benefit from loopholes in search engine algorithms. Over time, Google’s algorithm evolved and became more efficient at identifying link-building schemes to penalize websites that violate any guidelines. Similarly, link building tactics changed over time. The focus is no longer on getting the maximum number of links but to get a decent number of quality backlinks from credible websites.
Here are some factors that can help you assess the quality of backlinks for your website.
Relevancy
The most important aspect of successful link building is relevancy. Make sure the web page you are looking for is a logical fit.
Domain Authority and Page Authority
Checking the page and domain authority of a website is a good way to judge the general authority.
Traffic
Quality websites receive a steady flow of traffic, without any major drops, for at least a year. Don’t link to websites that have fewer than a hundred monthly visitors.
The Feel of the Website
Seasoned marketers can quickly evaluate the website’s quality by observing the look and feel of the website. Here are a few questions that can help you judge the credibility of the website you link to for earning backlinks.
- Does the layout and design of the website look outdated?
- Do you come across any broken links when surfing the website?
- Are there any external links on the pages that do not seem relevant?
- Does the design of the website look professional?
- Is the content on the website original?
Remember to do further investigation before you ask them for a link.
Techniques for Acquiring High-Quality Backlinks
Now that you know why backlinking is important, here are a few proven strategies to help your link building strategy.
Look at your existing links and your rivals’ links to get an idea about the type of strategies that can work well for your niche. Here are some of the most popular and effective link building techniques that are likely to get your campaign a great start.
Unlinked Mentions
Many times, publications mention a company or a business within an article without linking out to their official website. Unlinked mentions offer a quick win for link building. That’s because you can quickly request the site’s editor to update the article with a link back to your official website, in case there is no link present. Discovering unlinked mentions is still one of the most successful and popular link building tactics. You can either conduct a manual search or set up Google alerts for receiving a notification whenever a news source mentions your brand name.
Local Link Building
This practice refers to the process of getting other websites in your area to link back to your website. Although that’s an effective way for smaller businesses to increase their visibility organically, the method can be challenging when local opportunities are limited.
Generally, local link building revolves around reaching to less authoritative and smaller organizations that operate in your company’s region. Remember that this opportunity allows you to link with websites with a low domain authority score if it is authentic and relevant. Some businesses partner with a few businesses in their local area to profit from existing relationships for building links.
Linkable Content
While directory links and unlinked mentions are relatively easy to link building tactics, leveraging linkable content is another incredible way to guarantee your link building campaign’s long-term success.
While guest blogging revolves around creating content for external websites, content-based link building involves creating and uploading a piece of content for earning links.
While you may already be updating the content on your, content-based link building does not mean you write or optimize an existing blog post and mass-promote it across the web. You must realize that some forms of content are better at grabbing attention than others. For instance, any content in infographics or interactive content will capture more attention and help you earn backlinks.
Guest Blogging
When your business has the resources and time to create a guest blogging strategy, you can benefit from this link building tactic’s many advantages. Typically, guest blogging involves contacting third-party publications for pitching your articles and content. This website allows you to link back to your website, within the article, in exchange for a high-quality or informative article.
When choosing this route, make sure you are only contacting a high-quality website that receives a decent amount of traffic and rank for relevant keywords. Some websites may require you to pay a small amount in exchange for a link. However, Google will penalize any website that features paid and unnatural links in their guest posts.
Guest posting is a highly effective link building method when executed appropriately. Not only can you increase your brand’s credibility, but you also help your website rank better within your niche.
Build your Link Building Strategy Today
You may be brainstorming different ideas to start earning links for your website. However, before you jump into this territory, you must devise a strategy. In the absence of a link building strategy, it is easier to get lost or keep track of your goals.
Evaluate the time you can allocate to your link building efforts. This strategy also depends on your current scenario and situation. For instance, does your website have enough content to build a link building strategy? Focusing on content creation before creating a link building strategy is a wise decision.
Final Thoughts
Even when you have amazing content on your website and the best tools at your disposal, there will be times when you don’t get a single response from your outreach emails or forum submissions. The key to success is to keep trying and pressing forward. Don’t be afraid to start something new, as long as you comply with search engines’ algorithms.
Now you know the importance of link building and a few ways to build and improve your link building strategy, don’t forget to check out more ideas on making your website rank better. We have several articles to help you rank your website better by adopting effective SEO strategies such as link building.