Link building is a crucial practice for search engine optimization. It is a key method to increase website authority and trustworthiness. However, not all link building strategies may be suitable for all businesses.
In this article, we will explore what link building is, the different types of link building, and the various benefits of link building, and we’ll also provide a few tips and tricks that might help you succeed in link building for your website.
What Is Link Building?
The practice of getting other websites to link to yours is called “link building”.
Simply put, websites add hyperlinks that direct visitors to your page. These hyperlinks are called external links, inbound links, or backlinks.
You should use link building to increase your website’s authority, which will help your website rank higher in search results. You may wonder why any website would care to include links to your site. Although this is a challenging task, it is still achievable. Still, before implementing any link building tactic you find on the Internet, you have to understand how it works.
Key Takeaways
The term link building refers to the process of gaining backlinks on websites other than your own;
Websites with high domain authority pass more link juice to you than websites with poor authority;
You should rely on link building techniques only if your content is relevant and unique;
Referral traffic and brand awareness are major benefits of link building.
How to Define Link Building?
Link building is the process of acquiring backlinks from other websites that point to your website, which can help to improve your rankings on search engines such as Google.
Google search uses web crawlers to scan your website and put it in an appropriate place in their search index. Besides analyzing your website’s content, they also evaluate external links that lead to your website.
In basic terms, links from sites with established authority serve as signs of approval for your website. They are indicators that your content is relevant and of high quality. In this way, they “pass” some of this authority (or “link juice”) to your site. It eventually boosts your website’s ranking in search results.
However, link building can sometimes be a double-edged sword as links from poor websites may hinder your PageRank (Google’s ranking metric). Also, if users can post links on your website (e.g., forum posts, blog comments), you should consider adding the nofollow attribute by default to those links. Otherwise, with many irrelevant links for your content, your website may appear spammy in the eyes of Google search. What is more, spammers can take advantage of your page rank.
Why Is Link Building Important?
Apart from its immense SEO value, link-building can help you expand your business. Creating and fostering genuine relationships with other web admins in your niche will enable your website to become a trustworthy source. This is paramount if you want to achieve any long-term goals with your website.
1. Effective traffic generation
One of the greatest advantages of link building is gaining referral traffic. These visitors come to your website via a backlink on another website. Referral traffic can be beneficial to you for a straightforward reason. If your website has something to offer besides free written content, this traffic could lead to new conversions. Therefore, you should ensure that your backlinks come only from relevant sites. Otherwise, you are just wasting the potential of your referral traffic.
2. Greater brand awareness
Link building is an excellent strategy for raising brand awareness. Whatever topic your website covers, building a memorable brand is vital in reaching broad audiences. You will create loyal visitors who will put their trust in your website. With link building, this is viable. Just make sure that you do it correctly.
3. Enhanced credibility and authority
Link building plays a significant role in enhancing the credibility and authority of your website. When reputable websites link to your content, it signals to search engines and users that your website is trustworthy and valuable. This boosts your website’s reputation in the digital sphere. Being credible is a prerequisite to rising on the SERPs!
What Are the Best Link Building Strategies?
While the technical side of link building seems pretty easy, getting high-authority websites to relate to yours is tricky – but not impossible! You have to abide by a few principles when devising your link building strategy.
1. Quality content
This is a no-brainer. Quality content is the core reason why someone would want to link to your web page. You have to provide your visitors with value, or other web admins will not include links to your web page.
If you already have a lot of content and are unsure whether it is good, you should consider doing a content audit. It will help you keep your content updated and fresh.
2. Relevance
The website that links to your web page has to be about a highly relevant topic to your content. It may be suspicious to Google if a “car insurance” web page links to your “dog training” post.
3. Editorial links
The link’s position on a web page plays a massive role in page rank determining its value. The link at the bottom of the page is far less important than the one in the body. The links naturally occurring in the text are called editorial links, and you should aim to obtain them. More importantly, it is best to present the link to the reader through relevant anchor text.
4. Guest posting
Reach out to relevant sites and offer them free high-quality content. Simply include a link within that content that will lead the readers to your website. Many sites will not explicitly say that they accept guest posting, but you should still pitch to them. You never know who might accept your offer.
5. Checking source authority
Before placing a link on your page, it’s essential to do your homework and check the source’s authority. The authority of your page is determined by its trustworthiness, among several other factors. This approach helps you maintain the quality and relevance of your link profile.
Here is an overview of all strategies mentioned above:
| Link Building Strategy | Description | Effectiveness | Difficulty Level | Cost | Time Investment |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Quality Content | Creating high-quality and valuable content on your website to attract organic backlinks | High | Low | Moderate | Moderate |
| Relevance | Ensuring that the websites linking to your content are topically relevant to your website | High | Low | Low | Low |
| Editorial Links | Obtaining natural links from other websites within the body of relevant articles | High | Moderate | Low | Moderate |
| Guest Posting | Writing and publishing articles on other websites in exchange for a backlink to your site | High | High | Low | High |
| Checking Source Authority | Researching and evaluating the authority and credibility of potential link sources | Moderate | Moderate | Low | Moderate |
For a more extensive list of link-building practices, you should check out this guide.
Is Link Building Still Relevant to SEO?
Yes! It is crucial for your SEO but also the most complex SEO practice. External links with a lot of backlink juice signal to web crawlers that your site is good. Obtaining these links will eventually improve your page ranking.
Still, remember that internal links and a good backlink inventory are important checkpoints for search engine bots. This is why you should avoid having broken links on your website, as it will negatively affect your website’s ranking. The unwritten rule in SEO is always to maintain a healthy backlink and internal link structure.
An important thing to know is that you should never indulge in shady link building practices. These fall within the category of black hat SEO, and search engines can ban your website from their index because of it.
Related Terms
Explore these related terms to enhance your understanding of SEO and improve your website’s performance.
Additional Tips & Tricks
- Long-read articles get 77% more backlinks than short ones;
- Explore content enhancement options. Producing informative and engaging content will naturally attract backlinks from other websites in your niche;
- Build connections with influential figures in your industry to gain a better understanding of the niche and potential partners for your link building efforts.
The Bottom Line
Link building is creating and curating high-quality inbound links from external websites to your own. It is a vital part of any successful SEO strategy, as these links tell search engine crawlers that your site is an authoritative source of information and should be ranked higher in search engine results. Link building also helps to increase visibility, website traffic, and brand awareness.
You’ve just read about link building approach and why it is so important for your webpage to have it. With the knowledge and tips we have provided, you can make a great link building strategy and improve your website SEO.
Link Building FAQs
A broken link is simply a hyperlink that no longer leads anywhere. The broken link either leads to a down page or is no longer used for the specific page. Broken link building is a subcategory that replaces each broken link with a new quality backlink.
Internal links are links that connect different parts of the same web page. Unlike a backlink, an internal link does not lead to a third-party website. Internal links are important both for SEO and website navigation.
To build links, a variety of strategies can be implemented. While how you may build links are different, it’s good to keep in mind that the websites you are looking for ought to be relevant to your niche to be able to provide you with a relevant backlink.
Choosing the right link building strategy is about identifying your target audience, competitors, and potential partners. Market research is a significant element of any successful link building strategy.
