As marketers, SEO is crucial in our marketing strategies. In fact, one of the most important. So, when we can branch out into different fields within SEO we would be silly not to do so. And for those who are new to this and don’t know what SEO is, it stands for Search Engine Optimization which when put simply is making sure your businesses website is ranking high on the search engine.
And now to answer our question, what is link building in SEO?
Link building in SEO is when you get other websites to link to your website. No marketer or business owner should skip past this step when achieving success in your brand or product. It increases your site’s authority and allows you to firmly mark your territory on the web. Whether you are implementing a local SEO strategy or going more international, backlinks are an absolute must.
WHAT IS THE PURPOSE OF LINK BUILDING IN SEO?
Well before I tell you what I have to say about the matter, here is Google’s opinion on why link building is essential to conquering the world of SEO: “In general, webmasters can improve the rank of their sites by increasing the number of high quality sites that link to their pages.” This shows just how recognisable this strategy of SEO is due to the fact that even big names like Google, who are key influencers on the marketing and business world, suggest and promote this way of getting your work noticed.
WHY AS A BUSINESS SHOULD YOU BUILD LINKS FOR SEO?
When looking at and referring to Google’s algorithms across the years, you can see clearly that every year they change, sometimes drastically. However, when watching factors of marketing evolve and go out of fashion, one thing that always stays the same and has a permanent place in Google’s algorithm is backlinks, because they are something that never decreases in value when it comes to how the search engine determines which sites rank for what specific keywords.
These links are fantastic in the SEO process due to links being an indication to Google that your site is of high quality and is worthy of being ranked higher than other competitive businesses in the same field as you. You ALWAYS want that edge; this could be it.
There is however a right and a wrong way of achieving this method. If you’re one who cares about the long-term viability of your site and business you should strive to engage only in natural link building. This is essentially telling you to earn your link and have faith in your work to achieve your company goals and warning you off cheating and buying your link or even reaching the publication of your business link through manipulation. If you contact someone about the possibility of your link being published on their site, make sure you are polite and transparent as your actions can get your website taken off the internet and blacklisted as a company online if you are offensive or using your online voice in a negative way.
Where do you even start? Good question. It’s all about seizing the moment and knowing you’re targeting the right people.
You need to track down ‘round up’ websites that are of the same field of work as you. A round-up website is a site that has pages of links to companies or products of the same topic. For example, this blog, a site would have a link to my blog about link building SEO and other blogs about the same thing that they deem worthy of being helpful. This makes it easier for media users to find sites they need and have options and multiple choices. When you’ve found a website dedicated to your specific field of work, you will realise that they post daily, weekly or even monthly, so you know they’re always going to be updating their content and change around the links on their websites according to whether they found a better link or a more relevant one to one they previously had. You’ll find that they’ll replace and swap links around. Many marketers suggest and insist that you contact the brains behind the site and notify them of your link, they might like it and publish your link instead of one they already had. Who knows you could be featured in the next article? Just remember, when asking for a feature on someone’s website be polite and whatever you do don’t be pushy or else you will give your website a bad name and that is down to your own wrong actions.
Broken links, they’re your ticket into getting your link published on another website and it’s SO EASY!
So, broken links are websites that cannot be found. Simple as that. You can identify these with a programme called ‘Check My Links’ on Google Chrome. Here’s how you achieve success with broken links in link building in SEO.
Step 1. As with the round ups, track down the websites that link to other websites like your own, then check the links in the programme and discover which links are broken links.
Step 2. Inform the website owner via their contact information and let them know, in a none patronising friendly way, that some of their links are broken links. Don’t upset someone who could potentially promote your brand.
Step 3. This is an important one. OFFER YOUR LINK AS A REPLACEMENT. This way you aren’t being pushy or forceful, you are simply implying that you did a favour for them so in return here is my link could you please promote that on your page as a thank you. You are also saving them time finding another link. You’re doing the work for them.
You now know what Link Building in SEO is, you should now value that the strategy isn’t there to be another thing you have to think about with your online presence as a business, but as an important, extremely effective tool to boost the popularity, rank and worthiness of your website and ultimately your business. Conquer the world of online, make your business’s mark not only with your website but on other websites that are promotional for your business. It’s low cost, it’s out there and it’s a strategy that is here to stay. Even Google says so.
