A few notes on SEO, link building and the benefits of link building to serve your future enterprise! In this guide, we will cover the basics of building links, both externally and internally.
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What is SEO?
Search Engine Optimization is a method of increasing the amount of traffic a website receives through organic means. Search engines, such as Google and Bing, use special algorithms to rank web pages. SEO focuses on increasing that rank.
These are a few things we need to care about:
- Words
- Titles
- Links
Words – Search engines scan for every word found on a web page. This helps them differentiate between online shops, streaming websites, social networks, etc.
Titles – Search engines also focus on the title a certain web page is given in the source code.
What is Link Building in SEO?
Link building, quite simply, is the process of getting other websites to link back to our website.
It is one of the more important factors of Search Engine Optimization (SEO). The more links on the Internet leading to our page, the more a search engine prioritizes our website as a trustworthy source.
However, there are good, and there are bad link building strategies:
- Natural, organic link building
- Buying links or using private link networks.
Natural link building is a lengthy and difficult process. We say “lengthy” because those links need to be earned through time and quality content. This can be quite hard for new websites, but it is mandatory if we’re worried about the future of our website or business. The online world, as an open market, rewards originality and patience.
Buying links or otherwise manipulating the system (also known as black hat SEO) is an easier alternative. Keep in mind, though, that search engines have a way of detecting such fake links and can block you from showing up in the search results. This can be fatal to your business.
Ready to build? Here are a few tips:
- Create new, original and exciting content that people will want to link to. Spread the word about it. People like original and inspiring content.
- Connect with influencers in your industry that have a large social media following. If they take a liking to your service and advertise you, you will have a major boost in your total audience.
- Combine links with friends and partners in your industry. This way, you’re helping each other out. Links in similar industries have a stronger effect than random citations.
Another thing to care about while link building is the “potential” a certain link carries.
We will rank higher if a big and established web page links its users to our products or services. However, these links are harder to come by.
Always keep in mind that no other website owner will willingly drive away their own audience by linking to a different website unless offered something in return. In addition, remember that it takes time to build a lot of links, but it pays off in the end.
While you wait for those pesky links, take a look at something you can do right now:
Internal Link Building
Internal links are links that lead from one page on a domain to a different page on the same domain. Such a link is basically a navigation tool for our website.
It is a vastly underrated, but incredibly important strategy that improves the search engine ranking of pages on our website. This is done by distributing ranking potential across the pages of the website by forming a sort of hierarchy.
Think of your website as a tree. Your homepage is the trunk of this tree, and your other pages are branches of this tree. Hence, your website ranking power gets further diffused as you travel up the tree. An optimized hierarchy utilizes a system of categories and subcategories.
Most importantly, people are interested in information, media and news a lot more than shopping. This is why pages with informational content attract a bigger audience.
Thus, it is important to have internal links guiding your audience to different content on your page. You’re basically managing the flow.
Make sure to also pay attention to:
- Anchor text you’re using for your internal links. Anchor text is basically a link within a word or sentence that describes where the link is directing your viewer.
- Keyword phrases used to describe pages in different categories. Make sure they describe the wanted service or item. One of the best ways of finding these keywords is by using a keyword database.
- The ranking potential of the linking page relative to the page being linked. Search engines give bonus points to low-rank pages being linked by high-rank pages.
Furthermore, the easier we make it for our audience to reach a specific page, the more ranking power that page will have.
Benefits of Link Building
So now that we’ve covered the general concepts, let’s discuss the benefits of link building:
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- Long-term viability – Unlike ad campaigns, links that we acquire last forever. We can’t mask or hide them. Most importantly, if we invest in a strong link building campaign, we will establish a constant flow of new and old customers.
- Credibility indicators – Once we get a strong link placement, we earn the right to brag about it. Most brands display a logo of publications they appear in. Think of it as a cross-network shout-out; an achievement if you will.
- Brand authority – During your link building campaign, establish yourself as an authority in your industry. If you consistently publish strong, researched, opinionated content regarding your business sphere, more people will come to you for advice and data.
- Domain and page authority – Search engines consider the quality and quantity of inbound links pointing to our domain or specific pages. This helps them calculate the final ranking our site receives in organic search results. The higher our authority, the higher we rank.
- Referral traffic – Let’s disregard SEO for a moment and just observe the underlying truth. Referral traffic will always be present, depending on the number of links our campaign has built. Since links are there to stay, users can click on them and discover our page. If those users find our website appealing, we might see our referral revenue exceeding the website rank.
Let’s recap
Link building is important, and when done right, it not only solidifies our online presence but also establishes our authority over our industry.
Most importantly, if we optimize our website and business further, we will rank higher in organic search results.
Finally, link building, even though a lengthy and difficult process, is one of the biggest factors for achieving success in the online world. As a result, it brings longevity to our website.
