Search engine optimization (SEO) is at the forefront of digital marketing. One effective and successful SEO strategy is link building. Link building can help drive traffic to your website and increase brand awareness. In the past, Google favored a high quantity of links; the more links a website had, the higher it would rank on the search engine results page (SERP). Today, it’s quality over quantity. When an increased number of quality links lead to a specific website, Google will consider it relevant and rank the website higher. Every SEO strategy should include link building, and here’s why.
What Is Link Building?
A link itself is a connection between two pages on the internet. A link can refer people to a page, blog post, or any content on the web. Consumers can go from one web location to another. Link building is the practice of getting other websites to link back to your website. Links are one of the primary ways Google’s algorithms determine the relevance of a page. Focusing on high-quality links ensures they are directed toward useful and relevant websites.
Link building increases organic and referral web traffic. It can be time-consuming and might steer people to choose link quantity over quality. While it may have worked in the past, having a high number of average links won’t result in a higher ranking. Using the quantity method can actually lead you to violate Google’s guidelines.
How Does Link Building Work?
Google uses the PageRank algorithm; each link to your website is like a vote of confidence. Ideally, when someone links to another website, they are suggesting that website is a good and credible source. This is where quality and quantity comes in. Some companies would simply create new web pages and include links to their official website; a high number of links equals a high SERP rank. However, Google created a new system where only quality links are acceptable.
PageRank is used to determine whether a link is considered good or bad. Good links are from websites in the related field with relevant content. Bad links are known to originate from nefarious websites and spam sites that sell links. Using a lot of low-quality links can cause the website’s ranking to be lowered.
Top Link Building Tips & Strategies
It can take time to see the rewards of link building, but it’s worth the effort and wait. Here are some of our favorite top link building strategies:
- Content Creation – Having high-quality and targeted content will encourage others to link to your site. Most people will only include links relevant to their audience, and creating compelling content can achieve that.
- Outreach – Outreach can include several sources: friends, colleagues, reporters, influencers, etc. Contacting other sites and showing that your content is relevant to their target audience can help your cause.
- Include Infographics – When creating content, including infographics is a great way to grab the audience’s attention. Infographics can be easily shared and boost your link building.
- Promote Your Website – Having a website filled with creative content is useless if no one knows about it. You can promote your website and content through press releases, email marketing, and social media.
- Build Relationships – This can go hand-in-hand with outreach. Once another website links to your page, it can create a beneficial and reciprocal relationship.
Jumpstart Your Online Presence With Digital Mules
This is just a tiny intro to link building. A lot of work goes into link building, and it can be daunting to succeed without help. Digital Mules can assist your business with its marketing needs. Our range of services can get you that higher ranking and raise your brand awareness. Contact us today to get started on your digital marketing journey.