What is Link Building?
Link building is one of the most imperative off-site SEO strategies anyone can make. Google ranks those websites which are referred to by quality sites highly, meaning if you adhere to their guidelines and don’t resort to black hat SEOBlack Hat SEO is a term used to describe practices by webmasters who try to manipulate search engine rankings in ways that are not in keeping with the intent of the search engines. techniques, you can build up your back linksHyperlinks, also known as links, are the connection points on a webpage that take you to other webpages. and increase your standing on Google’s Search Engine Result Pages (SERPs) as a result. If you get up to that top spot, an average of 33% of all traffic will be going to your site, and your site alone. Conversely, if you aren’t on the first page, you will receive next to no traffic at all. If you aren’t on the first page, you don’t exist.
How to Get Started with Building Links
Thankfully, linkbuilding is a great investment, if you do it right. Under no circumstances should you resort to black hat techniques, like:
- Keyword stuffingKeyword stuffing is a technique that attempts to give pages higher rankings in search engine result pages by inserting the same keywords over and over again..
- Irrelevant keywords.
- Link farms.
- Spamming in comments.
Once you familiarise yourself with the techniques you can use, and those you should avoid at all costs, you can then start your link building campaign. Your campaign will require you to set realistic goals, determine who your target audience is, and what topics apply to your company, product, or service. The more relevant your backlink is on the site, the more chances you will gain organic trafficOrganic search traffic (sometimes called natural or unpaid search) is the traffic that's driven to a website because of unpaid placement on a search engine results page., as well as adhere to Google’s guidelines.
How to Build Links
There are many ways you can build links, from organic to strategic. You will want to combine your efforts for the most impact:
Organic Methods
Organic methods essentially refer to tactics that will encourage others to naturally or organically create content that links back to yours. This means ensuring that you:
- Produce great, share-worthy content.
- Partner with Influencers who provide honest reviews.
- Audit your website regularly.
The more value you offer your readers and customers, the more they will be willing to share your website with their followers and friends. Shareable content is one of the best forms of marketing in this digital age, and with many people online and signed up for social media platforms, this can improve your reach exponentially.
Strategic Methods
As you might imagine, you cannot control your link building through organic methods, which is why on top of producing share-worthy content, you should also look towards strategic methods. A few of these methods include:
- Listing your company on local directories.
- Providing press releases to relevant news agencies.
- Hiring a digital marketing agency to oversee your marketing needs.
The more local or specific your efforts, the sooner you will see results. Trying to get to the top of Google for a generic keyword will only mean you will face harsh competition. Narrow your efforts, and you can find yourself at the top of Google for searches that matter, sooner.
