Link building is one of the most important factors of SEO activity.
“Link building is an SEO technique aimed at increasing the number and quality of incoming links to a website. Link building contributes, in ways that to date are not perfectly clear, both to increasing the “value” of a domain and, eventually, the Google ranking of certain pages in that domain. Generally, the technique consists of producing content of excellent quality to make other sites/portals “link” to us, making Google interpret this as a “signal” of authority. The purpose of this practice, in other words, is to increase the popularity of the site in question, sometimes to lend more authority to the source, sometimes for purely commercial reasons.” source Wikipedia.
It has a direct impact on search engine rankings and increases trust in your brand from Google and your customers, as it increases organic or natural traffic.
What is link building
Link building is a process of acquiring a hyperlink from a site outside your own.
It is a kind of recommendation; it is another site referring to yours as a source of quality, authoritative information.
In support of on-page SEO optimization and useful content for your customers, link building tactics can be effective in boosting the traffic you receive to your website.
Understanding what link building is and what it does is important as this is the most complex activity of website optimization.
How link building is done and what the benefits are
Not all links are planned and built by SEO consultants.
Getting unplanned or requested links is very useful, and SEO and marketing experts work toward this goal.
Selling a product and getting a link on the blog of the client you sold it to is the best.
Making quality content is the most used strategy in SEO today.
Selling good products, providing services valued by customers, writing quality link-worthy content on your site, all these things put you in a position to receive referrals from people who share their satisfaction on personal blogs or social media.
And this improves your Google ranking.
Building relationships
The best link building is that which is generated with quality content.
Content worthy of being referenced by other websites and bloggers in your niche helps you build long-term relationships with them, and you should consider this a value to your business.
Over time you can become a reference point for your niche and collaborate with bloggers and journalists who consider you a clear and reliable source in the industry.
Organic or natural traffic
Organic traffic is what you get from those who do not come to your site because they already know your brand, but it is what you get from search engines.
If we are talking about link building, a link from a well-known site can greatly increase the traffic you receive from search engines.
This can translate into an increase in your conversion rates and sales.
The value of a link from a well-known site is not just about optimization but about your potential customer.
Imagine these two scenarios: in the first you receive a link from a generalist blog site that covers a variety of topics and has few visitors.
In the second scenario, the link you receive is from a site that is in line with your niche market and has many visitors.
In this case, the readers who are directed to your site are precisely people who are interested in your content, products and services.
Can you see the difference?
Brand building
A great link building job can help you strengthen and build your brand on the Internet and establish your authority, as a company, in your niche market.
There are some really good link building techniques, such as guest posts and creating quality content that shows people your expertise and experience of your business.
For example, if you write content based on industry data, you have a chance to get noticed.
If you get links to that content, you’re just showing that you know what you’re talking about.
You are gaining authority in your niche, and in the long run, this practice helps build your brand identity.
Link building techniques, examples
Having lots of backlinks is a vital aspect of SEO: however, it is not a passive method that you can expect to work long term and without maintenance.
Backlinks can disappear, site or page decommissioning, manual removal, etc…, or become less relevant over time.
This means you have to continually find new linking opportunities to maintain the visibility you have gained on Google.
And this is the hardest part of the job.
If your site currently has few backlinks, you are in good company.
In fact, 95 percent of all online sites have zero backlinks pointing to their site.
That said, here are some great tips for backlink building:
Check for broken links (of others)
When a backlink no longer exists, the user is shown a page with a 404 error code.
A good way to build relationships and backlinks, is to write, if you don’t already have it, content with the same topic as the page that no longer exists.
At that point, contact the webmaster and inform him of the 404 error on his site.
If you can communicate some form of cooperation and trust, you can try to pitch him the article with the same topic, which is on your site.
If yours is a quality article, you will probably receive a backlink from the webmaster in question.
You are doing them a favor but, at the same time, you are doing yourself a favor.
Create images and infographics
Images attract attention.
That’s why it pays to create images such as, for example, infographics.
Infographics help you promote your product, service, brand, and get you more backlinks.
If you can produce a useful infographic for your niche, it will be shared and you will get backlinks to your site.
Check out your competitors
Finding out who your competitors are and what their backlinks are is a good place to start because, usually, their backlinks are relevant to your niche and therefore, to you as well.
Researching your competitors’ backlinks from high authority domains, if you can replicate them, can help increase your credibility in the eyes of search engines.
This is one reason why analyzing competitor links is one of the first steps to take if you want to reach the top pages of search engines.
Keep track of the sites you find and evaluate over time, the evolution of the situation.
If you failed to get a backlink, you can always try again after some time.
Missing backlinks
In addition to getting new backlinks, it is also a good idea to periodically check if your backlinks are broken.
Some may have even disappeared.
There are several reasons why a backlink may disappear, such as:
- The page may have been replaced by the webmaster (301 redirect).
- The page might have been removed by the webmaster.
- The site may be down, under maintenance, or even no longer exist.
- The page may no longer be indexed.
What to do in these cases?
Since each of these situations is not up to you and you have no control over them, the only thing you can do is to contact the webmaster for assistance.
Although you should not take it so for granted, you can get an updated backlink to a different page.
Guest Blogging
In link building, one of the most important off-site SEO strategies is guest posting.
Guest posting is that activity that results in your article being published on another site as a guest.
Guest blogging is a great tool for increasing visibility with audiences who are not familiar with your brand.
It is not an easy method; it requires time, effort and outreach to build relationships with other bloggers.
Get in touch with influencers
Networking with influencers in your niche, through events and social media, helps you introduce yourself, your brand, and your content to a large number of people.
Take LinkedIn, for example.
Joining groups in your niche, participating and starting discussions, sharing your links, helps you network.
Be careful not to share just anything but only information that you think will be useful to other people.
Conclusion
Quality external link building is an important factor for SEO.
The whole process is simple to understand but difficult to tame to your needs.
At the end of the day it is just a hyperlink to your website however, it shows search engines that your content is useful, informative and worth sharing.
Leave a Reply