Link building
Link building is one of the core SEO techniques that we use to help establish a site’s authority. When search engines like Google respect a site’s authority, they are more likely to promote it closer to the top of their search results. But unlike on-page SEO techniques, which are all about optimizing your site and your content, link building is reliant on other people choosing to link to pages on your website. That can make it a more complicated and challenging proposition.
There are a whole host of link-building strategies that have been developed over the years. Here, we will lift the lid on three of the most common.
Strategy one: Guest posting
This is a strategy with which you probably have some familiarity already. The basic theory is simple enough. You write an article for another site, you include a link to your site within it and the other site publishes it.
It sounds easy, but there are plenty of hidden dangers in guest posting. The first thing to be wary of is where you post your article. There are thousands of spammy sites out there that exist only to host poor-quality content for the purpose of backlinks. Posting on sites like these can do more harm than good, as Google penalizes websites that try to game the system in this way.
It’s vital to reach out to authoritative sites that are relevant to your product or service offering and to provide them with content that really adds value to their readers. It might sound counter-intuitive, but sites that have screaming invitations for guest bloggers, or big “write for us” buttons are best avoided. The problem with sites like these is that hundreds of people will be pitching them poor-quality articles. It’s not the sort of company that we would recommend our clients to be keeping! The truth is that most sites will welcome a guest contribution if it is of good quality. They don’t need to actively go out searching for guest bloggers.
Strategy two: In-content (editorial) links
An even more powerful type of backlink is an in-content link. This is when another site chooses to link to your content as a reference source. When you think about it, that is almost the dictionary definition of being an authority! There’s an example in this very paragraph, where we linked to an article by Moz.com. They are among the leading experts on SEO and link building, and we just added another vote of confidence by referencing their article!
So how do you get these precious in-content links? The trite answer is by creating great content, but of course, there is more to it than that. If you are a company like Moz, or a respected news source such as CNN, people will link to your articles all the time. For the rest of us, it involves hard work and some professional expertise in both creating great content and then making sure other people know about it.
We could discuss content for hours, but in short, there are certain types that naturally attract links. Infographics are a perfect example, as they convey rich information in a way that is quick and easy to take in. Once the content is published, tools like social media marketing can then be used to spread the word about it.
Strategy three – paid link building
From what we’ve said so far, you won’t be surprised to hear that paying another site to link back to yours is a highly controversial topic. After all, surely it flies in the face of what we know about authority and goes against Google’s guidelines? We wouldn’t argue with either of these points, but the fact is that paid link building is extremely common because it is a simple way to get guaranteed results.
It is certainly riskier than the first two strategies, and if you pay for links on one of those poor-quality sites we were talking about earlier, you are asking for trouble. Having said that, we can’t ignore the fact that some major businesses use paid links as part of their digital marketing strategy, and they do so with great success. Ultimately, it comes down to being highly selective about where you publish and how your link appears.
Help from the experts
Link building can be one of the most rewarding areas of SEO. However, it also carries plenty of complexity. It’s an area that beginners should approach with caution, as getting it wrong can end up damaging your SEO instead of helping it. If you need some expert advice on developing a link-building strategy, do get in touch with us at Hummingbird Wed Design for an informal chat.
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