Link building is an essential part of any SEO strategy
How to link build
Link building is an essential component of any good SEO strategy. If you are looking to have your site ranking higher on Google and other search engines, it’s an absolute must!
What is Link building?
Link building is the process of creating directional pointers from other websites to yours. For the purpose of SEO, these links should be high quality and show you as a knowledgeable source of information, with a useful website.
Why is link building important?
Link building shows people that your website is valuable and trustworthy. When it comes to Google, trust is absolutely imperative. The higher quality the source of the link is, the better influencing factor it will have on your website.
The history of link building and what matters today?
Historically, search engines used to rank webpages based on the content that was available on them. Being the competitive creatures we are, we all started stuffing keywords in the content in a scramble to reach the top of the rankings.
As a result, not everything that was ranked was pertinent, resulting in people losing faith in search engine reliability. Enter Google. They noticed that the most relevant pages seemed to gain links, and the more links there were pointing to a site, generally speaking, the more trustworthy the website was. Imagine links like votes, that was, and to some extent still is, how they were viewed.
If course, as is the way with technology, things have progressed significantly. Nowadays, search engines use a combination of factors including links, content, page speed, bounce rate, AI, and page analysis in order to accurately rank websites.
To further complicate matters, links themselves are ranked in their own hierarchy too. In addition, and this is REALLY important to remember, search engines are very good at spotting links that are paid for. This is NOT helpful to your link building strategy.
Links are vital, but you can’t use them as your sole strategy. We don’t know, and probably never will know, to what extent link building is considered; but we do know it’s important. You still need to have great content, and all the other factors we mentioned earlier.
How do links show standing?
Links for a site may cover a specific topic, or perhaps a broader industry. The way that links are positioned show authority too.
- A number of links spread out across the website could indicate that you are an important resource.
- A site that has not gained any links for some time could be looked at as stagnant, due to lack of interest.
- A site that is quickly gathering numerous links could be deemed as exciting, so climb the rankings quicker.
As we said, websites are not ranked through the volume of links that they attract. What search engines care about is how interesting your site is to the people who land there. Are you educating them and are you professional? Above all… are you trustworthy?
Links are important because they indicate worth, but to get the link you have to have that value. So how do you start your link building strategy because let’s be honest, this all feels as clear as mud!
Great content! A site that offers quality content and is structured in the right way, is going to naturally cultivate spontaneous links. So, step one of any good link building strategy is to write some really great, quality content. Following that, you cannot just expect people to find your information. Take to social networks and let people know what you have written. Use the right hashtags to make sure people know the value of what you are offering.
Dependent upon the method you take, content marketing should be a solid part of your link strategy, it is what the vast portion of your success will hinge on. In much the same way that if you provide a quality service the customers will stay; great content encourages quality links.
Here at VerriBerri, we use our PR team to work on our clients link building strategy. Media outlets have high value links, drive traffic, and additionally allow you to put ‘as featured in’ on your website which increases client trust, meaning more sales.
So, to summarise:
- Links tell Google that your website is important.
- You should not pay for links
- You should build a strategy for link building
- Not all links are created equal
- Links can be a sign of relevant keywords.
Contact us
Still not sure where to start or how you’ll find the time? Get in touch with our link building experts for help and advice. We offer both a consultancy or a full-service agency so can provide as much or as little support as you need. Click here to contact us.
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