The current landscape of SEO and link building has become dynamic in nature and is constantly changing. In today’s current scenario the importance of building high-quality links has never been higher and the need to develop and implement high-quality campaigns is of utmost importance if you’re going to compete and thrive online.
So what is Link Building?
Link building is the process of acquiring links from other websites to your own. A link is a way for users to navigate between pages on the internet. Google’s algorithms are complex and constantly evolving, but backlinks remain an important factor in how every search engine determines which sites rank.
There’s a right way and a wrong way to build links to your site. If you care about the long-term viability of your site and business, you should only engage in natural link building, meaning, the process of earning links rather than buying them or achieving them through manipulative tactics commonly referred to as black-hat SEO, a practice that can get your site essentially banned from the search results.
Anyway, building links is one of the many tactics used in Search Engine Optimization (SEO) because links are a signal to Google that your site is a quality resource of information or requirement and is worthy of citation. Search engines use these links for certain reasons such as:
- To crawl the web
- To crawl the links between the individual pages on your website.
- To crawl the links between websites.
Therefore, sites with more high-quality backlinks tend to earn higher rankings in Search Engines.
Can a website rank without backlinks?
No, a website cannot rank without backlinks. It is an essential ranking factor.
There are several reasons as to why building backlinks is important, but mainly because it is Google’s #1 ranking factor.
One thing to note before we begin is that Google tends to rank pages higher in search results based on the authority of that page. In modern-day SEO, links are what help build up a page’s authority and improve its overall SEO value. But at the same time duplicate content will get penalized.
So let’s begin.
Here are 8 strategies that you can start today to build backlinks to your site.
1. Take Advantage of the Broken Links Strategy
This link building strategy is simple: Find pages on blogs with dead links or links that no longer work and request that the blogger replaces the broken link with a link to similar content on your own site.
Broken link building is a process that can be completed in three simple steps:
- Find a relevant broken link on a website.
- Create something similar to the broken resource. Or try finding a site in your niche that has broken links.
- Ask the blogger to replace the broken link with a link to your working resource.
2. Guest Blogging
Guest blogging is one of the oldest link building tricks in the book. Basically, you write an article for another website that is in your niche. They go ahead and publish it, and you link back to yourself from that article. It is as simple as that.
3. Replicate Best Links From Competitors
By researching your competitors, you’ll be able to uncover hundreds and thousands of potential link opportunities.
Here’s how you can go about it:
- Find your competitors URLs.
- Extract their backlinks.
- Sift through the results to find the best link opportunities.
4. Keep Track of Your Backlinks
You may have over 900 links pointing to your web pages right now, but when you check it after 30 to 90 days, some of the links might not even be there or they might be deleted. And if you actively contribute to other blogs and engage your followers on social media, you’ll be gaining links regularly. But you may not realize that some of your links have been removed. Since you don’t have control over the blogs and authority sites that link to you, they can easily take advantage and remove your link from their post or resource page without even notifying you. Hence it is essential to always keep track of your links.
5. Web Directory Listing
Head on over to an online directory and look for a “Submit a listing” page or a “Submit Site” page and go ahead and input all the required details. Some directories are paid, most of them will be free and links can be added in seconds and some upon email verification.
The key to link building is Relevancy. Therefore building links in niche directories and directories attached to informative websites relevant to your industry are beneficial for you.
6. Get Going On Social Media
Social media has completely revolutionized marketing and can be a huge advantage for your link building plan and guest post efforts. If you’re not already active on social media, then you’re doing your brand a disservice. Get active by sharing new posts, images, and updates regularly.
7. Reclaim Links
Link reclamation is a great strategy in the search engine optimization and social media world. You can reclaim broken 404 links that don’t link to your blog. You can check your Google Webmaster Tools for 404 pages that people are linking to, then point them to another active and relevant page, while you fix the 404 page. Or, you could just go ahead and fix your broken page to reclaim your links.
8. Infographics
However good your content might be, some people find it easier to grasp information visually. Different people grasp information differently, and your business message has to be available in every form so that it can capture the attention of a greater and wider audience. Many people use Infographics to attract links and it works. Sometimes someone might use your infographic, but without linking it to you. In such a case, you could start a “Google reverse image search”.
Conclusion
Your website’s link profile is one of the most important factors in how high it will rank in search engine results. Always remember that Google is not as concerned about how many links you have got pointing to your web pages, but rather about the user experience that you have created. Be smart and strategic about guest blogging or personal blogging, social media marketing, search engine optimization, and any other marketing technique that you’re using for link building. Get to know what makes a link powerful and focus on improving your link power.
