The Basics Of Link Building
You may have heard of link building and its importance in terms of search engine optimisation success. However, you may not have yet taken control of your links and harnessed the benefits. Today we will cover the basics of link building and how it can benefit your website and organic traffic.
Link building and SEO
Search engines use links to find new websites as well as to rank a web page within search results. Building links to your website help search engines ‘see’ your website and make it more visible to internet users.
The more high-quality websites that link to your website, generally the better your website will rank with Bing, Google, or other search engines. However, it is important to note the ‘high-quality’ part of this statement. Linking to blacklisted websites or sites that rank poorly could potentially harm your website.
What is link building?
Link building is a way of gathering links, or hyperlinks, that begin on websites that are not yours but lead traffic to your website. For example, if this post contained a link yourwebsite.com, you would have one link built.
Search engines crawl the internet and detect the links between websites. Links to your website increase your overall search engine optimisation value, or SEO. There are many techniques for building links to your website, however, many SEO experts claim that link building is the hardest part of improving SEO. Mastering the art of link building can add immense value to your website and increase organic traffic, and sales for ecommerce websites.
Why link building is important.
Link building between your website and others valuable for a multitude of reasons, the most important being that it helps you establish your website as a reputable source of information. You can also boost traffic due to the referrals from a popular website along with the organic traffic you could gain from improved search engine results.
You also have the opportunity to build relationships with other influencers in your industry or field. The essence of website links is that everyone wants, or needs, them to be successful. By partnering with others, you can establish a symbiotic relationship between experts.
Ways to start your link profile.
Note that successful websites will also naturally earn links because they offer great content that other websites refer to in their own content. Therefore, focusing on creating excellent, engaging content should always be your primary focus.
Beyond creating a website full of helpful resources, there are other methods you can use to boost websites linking to your site. Below are some steps you can take to create a great link building campaign:
Set achievable goals.
Ask yourself this: where do I want my website to be in a month from now? Six months? A year? Once you have determined your answers, create strategies and action lists to achieve your goals.
Determine which assets you would like to promote.
Out of all of your content, what performs the best? Which pages act as the greatest promoters for your brand? Make a list and prepare to create a targeted demographic.
Find your target audience.
What do you know about the audience you are trying to target? Which social media platforms do they use? Where do they go for trustworthy information? Try to make a list of everything you know about your specific audience. Once your list is complete, try to note down the reputable sites that could boost your website reputation through links.
Get help from social media.
Encourage social sharing and enlist help from your loyal subscribers.
Start engaging with your peers.
Now that you know where you would like to appear, start talking to website owners and establish partnerships with those you know. Offer to act as a guest blogger in exchange for links to your website.
Evaluate existing links and your proximity to achieving your goal.
Once your link profile begins to grow, make sure you keep a close eye on where your links are coming from. You want to do the best you can to ensure that your link profile is as legitimate and reputable as possible.