Link building is and will remain a cornerstone of SEO success. Therefore, understanding all the intricacies of link building is crucial if you’re looking to boost your website’s search engine rankings and overall online visibility.
The primary goal of link building in SEO is to increase a website's search rankings. According to statistics, around 58% of SEOs believe backlinks significantly impact rankings in search engines. This is done by acquiring high-quality inbound links.
But what is link building for SEO? Here's your guide to link building, particularly for SEO. We explore the importance of link building as well as link building techniques to boost your SEO.
Link Building Definition
So, what is link building and why does it matter?
Link building is the process of getting other websites to link back to your site pages. It involves acquiring external links to your own website. Website link building, combined with other SEO strategies, can effectively boost your rankings in search engines.
What is a link builder?
A link builder is an expert who creates or buys links for websites. They can be an individual or an agency.
So, if you’re struggling to build links for your website, you might want to hire a link builder to help you create an effective link building strategy for your SEO.
What is the importance of link building in SEO in 2024
Search engines consider backlinks (links from other sites to your site) “votes of confidence.” After all, an external website can only link to your web pages if they believe it offers value to their visitors.
Therefore, if the content on your site is credible, valuable, and useful, you’ll get more backlinks. The opposite is also true. But how does link building help SEO? Let’s find out.
Boosts search engine ranking
Search engine optimization link building aims to get your website on top of search engine results so people can easily find your site and engage with your business.
Remember, many internet users have no time to scroll down looking for your website. They’ll stop searching immediately if they find something useful to them.
According to statistics, the top 3 Google search results get 54.4% of all clicks. This means more than half of internet users don’t go past the third Google search result. Therefore, if you can’t get your website on the top three results, at least make it appear on the first page. Link building for SEO can help you achieve this.
Boost your website’s credibility
High-quality links from reputable websites in your niche or industry can significantly improve your site’s credibility. As a result, people and search engines will view your site as a trustworthy and credible source of information.
When a reputable site links to your piece of content, it vouchs for its credibility. Literally, they are endorsing it as valuable and reliable. This is because an external website can only link to your site if your content is helpful, useful, and shareable.
Additionally, as more reputable and authoritative sites continue linking to your site and content, search engines will recognize it as an authoritative source within your industry. This will impact your rankings and visibility in search results.
Also, when your website receives backlinks from websites that are relevant to your industry, it reinforces the perception that you’re an expert in your field. This enhances your credibility among your target audience.
Remember, internet users often associate the quality of websites they visit with the quality of the links on those sites. Therefore, if yours has more backlinks from trusted websites, it will positively impact their perception of your site’s credibility.
Increased referral traffic to your site
Backlinks to your site can increase the amount of traffic it receives. When someone clicks on the link from the other website, they are redirected to your content. So, the more backlinks your website has, the more referral traffic you’ll get.
So, if you’re lucky to get a link from a reputable and highly-visited website, be sure to increase your organic traffic. And if the other website or content is relevant to your field or industry, you might earn some leads or sales.
Planning your link building strategy for SEO
So, now that you understand the importance of link building for SEO, it’s time to revamp your digital marketing strategies. But coming up with an effective link building campaign isn’t a piece of cake. In fact, 41% of SEOs believe that it’s the most difficult part of SEO. So, what's the best way to build links to your site?
Ask for links
One of the best link building strategies is asking for links from external websites. Therefore, you’ll need to identify a website, reach out to the owner, and ask them for a link.
However, you cannot just ask a website owner to link to your site. Instead, you must provide a compelling reason. This is what determines if the website will link to yours or not. Remember, the other website doesn’t care about your site or intentions. Therefore, they have no incentive to promote your site.
So, how can you get another website to link to your website? Here are some tactics;
Guest blogging
You can offer to guest post on the other website in exchange for backlinks. If you do, make sure the content you plan to create is useful, not for you or your readers but for the other website’s readers.
Link inserts
If you have a useful resource with more information related to the other website, show them and ask them to link to the content.
Use the skyscraper technique
You can show the other website a better resource than the one they are currently linking to.
Create linkable assets
This is one of the most straightforward ways to get backlinks to your site. To use this strategy, you have to create high-quality content that will naturally attract backlinks. Remember, you want to create assets that other website owners will want to link to, including;
- Data-driven studies
- Infographics and visuals
- In-depth, long-form guides
Websites will naturally cite your websites as a source if you create in-depth, compelling, and accurate resources. And since the links will be natural, they’ll help you move up the ranks quickly on search engines.
Broken link building
A broken link is a type of link that the content it is linking to is unavailable. So, when someone clicks on the link, they are taken to a blank page or a “404: Not Found error” displayed. This is often frustrating for website users and leads to poor user experience.
However, you can use these broken links to get backlinks. It’s a relatively low-effort strategy to boost your search engine ranking. You’ll get a backlink, and the other website will fix a broken link, creating a win-win situation. There are various strategies and tools to help you find broken backlinks and turn them into useful links.
Use testimonials to get links
A large percentage of online shoppers value testimonials and reviews. They use them to make purchase decisions online. However, you can use testimonials to build backlinks to your site.
How do you do this?
First, create a detailed product or service review post. Ensure the post targets products or services offered by the website you want a link from. Then, notify the website owners and ask them to link to your content.
If a site has a place for users to leave reviews, utilize that to earn links to your site.
Find unlinked brand mentions
Another website may decide to mention your business or brand in its content without linking to your site. This is what we call an unlinked brand mention. While a brand mention may be good for your business, it won’t benefit your website and SEO.
However, you can reach out to the other websites that mention your brand and ask them to link to your site. If they mentioned you on their website, there’s no way they’ll deny you a link.
However, you’ll need to find unlinked mentions and turn them into valuable links. Luckily, there are various tools to help you out.
Examine competitor links
They say if you can’t beat them, then join them. So, this link building strategy is like adopting and replicating your competitor’s link building strategies.
Therefore, you’ll need to examine your competitors' backlinks. Identify the types of content that get the most backlinks. If you find one, try to create that type of content and upload it on your site. Pay close attention to patterns on competitor’s topics, content length, style, and format. All these factors should guide your content creation strategy.
Additionally, identify the websites linking to your top competitors. You can use various tools like Semrush to get this information. Once you find them, reach out to them to ask for backlinks. If they can link to your competitors, they can also link to you.
What makes a good backlink?
Not all backlinks are good for your website. Therefore, while your goal is to get as many links as possible, you must be considerate of where the link comes from and in which context it's linked to. So, what makes a backlink valuable?
- Authority: A link for an authority site carries more weight than that from a personal blog. The authority of a website is often measured by metrics, including Domain authority (DA) and Page authority (PA). Therefore, when searching for link building opportunities, prioritize sites with higher Das and PAs.
- Relevance: Imagine your technology homepage getting a backlink from a blog post on health and nutrition—this link will be irrelevant. A backlink should be contextually relevant to the content on your website. The linking page’s topic should align with the topic of your web page. This helps enhance the link’s SEO value.
- Natural: Some people buy links to improve their website rankings. However, search engines are now smart enough to distinguish between a natural link and that which has been bought. That latter is not recommended and will hurt your SEO. Therefore, if you’re a link builder, ensure your backlinks are not sponsored, the anchor text is not spammy or branded, and the referring page has natural links.
- Unique: When it comes to search engine optimization, websites have the same goal, which is to increase online visibility and rank higher on search engines. However, your website will gain a competitive advantage if it gets more links from authority sites that do not link to your competitors.
Ready to build links for SEO
Link building or site linking is essential for SEO. However, some SEOs still don’t recognize the benefits of link building. If done right, link building campaigns can improve your website's search engine rankings and increase traffic to your site. So, if you ever doubted the importance of backlinks for SEO, you no longer have to.
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