Whether you are new to SEO or an old hand at it, you might have heard about link building. It is the process of building one-way hyperlinks to improve the visibility of your website. Hyperlinks or backlinks are vital for effective SEO. While link building plays a vital role in driving organic traffic, it effectively improves your SERPs.
However, some common link-building strategies include content marketing, email outreach, broken link building, and public relations. Hyperlinks in the link-building strategy help users navigate different pages on the internet. It is no easy feat, as you cannot blindly build links without considering their quality.
The Journey from Quantity to Quality of Links
In the pre-Google years of the internet, Yahoo ranked search results according to the website’s content. However, Google entered the arena and changed the game. Today, Google introduced their PageRank algorithms that looked at how many people link to the page.
As per the recent updates, Google’s algorithm focuses on the types of links rather than counting their number. Links are one of the top three ranking factors for Google. Think of it as an excellent marketing plan. However, there is a technical aspect to link building as well. A faulty link-building strategy can land you in hot water with the regulatory authorities. For example, ineffective or purchased links can make your webpage spammy and incur penalties.
As a basic rule of thumb, remember that you will not get results unless you spend some time and effort in creating an excellent backlink strategy.
How to find high-quality links?
Excellent links are those which improve your Google rating. There are some ways to get high-quality links. For instance, you can get links from pages that have a higher authority rating. Besides, you can check the proxy indicator of every website through online tools.
Make sure not to add links from irrelevant websites. According to an interview with an ex-Google employee, the niche of the site also matters when earning backlinks. Therefore, it is best to gain links from authoritative, relevant pages.
Another vital point is to ask yourself if the link is editorial. In other words, an editorial link refers to a link created due to valuable content and marketing tactics. It is worth mentioning that Google prefers editorially-placed connections rather than random ones. Below we have provided six fool-proof ways that can help you build quality links.
- Infographics
Not only can they improve your traffic, but they also help you earn better links. According to a study, infographics generate 37% more traffic than standard posts. Since visual content is an essential part of blogging, infographics are excellent tools to improve your SEO. You can use online tools such as Canva to create the best infographics relevant to your niche in just a few minutes. Notably, infographics usually cost approximately $1,000. While the amount is high, the payback is even better.
- Social Media
In the 21st Century, social media networks have revolutionized ways to market products. Therefore, you must ensure your presence on various social media platforms. Share new posts, images, and updates on your social media accounts. An active sharing strategy can boost your engagement and improves brand visibility. The fundamentals of social media marketing depend on the 5/3/2 rule. Do not post so much that people lose interest in your brand. So, for every ten posts, five should be from other brands. Three posts should be from your content, and two should be related to personal status updates.
- Broken links
This strategy works best for those who are too busy to create content for their blog. It is an old strategy that can help you identify broken backlinks. All you have to do is find pages with dead links and inform the blogger about the broken links. Then help them out by offering them a link to your webpage that lands a user to similar content.
The tactic relies on the principle of reciprocity. You have to send bulk emails to get even a single reply from the website owners. So, you have to send at least 20 emails per day. Use a chrome extension to identify broken links. Any tool, once installed, scans all links and highlights broken ones in red.
- Help a Reporter Out
HARO is an excellent service to improve link building. Help a Reporter Out is a website service that gives reporters quotes relevant to their news stories. And in return, the journalist will link their piece to your website. You can sign up for this service to get an email. Comb through these emails to look for the topics that are relevant to your niche. Then you can reply to the journalists in a detailed post.
- Evergreen Content
Some posts are only relevant for a limited time, while others are popular throughout the year. Therefore, you should focus on evergreen content. These types of posts are usually how-to guides or countdowns. They may also be visual data or websites that offer product reviews. Remember, your blog should be a mix of evergreen content with valuable information that is relevant to your niche.
Try to write things that resonate with your audience. Focus on pillar content to improve the SEO of your website. Pillar content is usually 500 words long that provides practical advice to the audience.
- Guest blogging
While many do not recommend guest blogging, there are some benefits to this strategy. It is the process of getting in touch with other websites to ask if they want to publish your content on their site. The best tactic is to do taper guest content. Focus on the quality of the posts and write content that is relevant to your niche.
Conclusion
Google does not give a flying flamingo about how many links you have. It focuses on the quality of your backlinks for SEO. Be smart about blogging and use an excellent marketing strategy to improve link building. Improve the user experience, and you will automatically rate better in search results. Web owners cannot afford to ignore link building if they want better results.
I am Jones Smith and I am here to share my experience and expertise in writing. I’ve been writing articles for different publications for more than 6 years. I have a varied range of interests and that’s why I love blogging about different topics. In my opinion, blogging is a lot like acting, and I consider writing blog posts as an acting job. I am an entrepreneur by heart and there is nothing big or small when it comes to starting a business.
