Link Building is the practice of the shared promotion of websites using hyperlinks. The goal is to secure a link on another website back to yours, or your clients. We spoke to Graham Grieve who has been running an SEO Glasgow agency for the past 6 years to find out his top tips for building links for beginners.
This marketing technique is one of the most effective tactics in Search Engine Optimisation (SEO).
SEO is defined as:
“the process of maximizing the number of visitors to a particular website by ensuring that the site appears high on the list of results returned by a search engine.”
Google’s search engine has an 86.02 percent market share as of April 2020. According to Hubspot, 34,000 searches are conducted on Google EVERY SECOND and 75% of Internet users never scroll past the first page of search results. With that in mind, you are going to want to master link building to appear in those searches, and you want to be on the first page.
What exactly is a link?
Links, web-links, hyperlinks all mean the same thing. They are graphics or text that links to other files, objects, or websites. Links are what build the ‘WEB’ and have been used online since the 1990s, they are how users navigate the internet. The internet is made of hyperlinks linking countless pages and files to one another.
One of the reasons Google dominates as a search engine is its algorithm named PageRank. Google’s understanding of the value of links gave it a competitive advantage. Pagerank is responsible for ranking or positioning search results and it’s the key to where your website or webpage will appear. Pagerank and the equivalent algorithms on internet search engines use the links that lead to websites to place value on them.
Taking the above into account it is more than apparent that link building is a vital marketing tool. If you want organic traffic to your website from search engines then link building and securing links from relevant websites is vital. Links are exposure. Every time a link to your website appears on another, not only does it boost your appearance in search engines it demonstrates credibility it’s showing the human searcher that they can trust it.
So, Where Can You Find Easy Links to Get You Started?
Quality
Firstly, you need to be ‘link-worthy. The only way other website owners will want to link to your content, product, or services is if it’s valuable. In rare cases, your offering may be so good that people will want to tell everyone about it without you having to try too hard. Think about the occasions when you’ve gone out of your way to share something that you found valuable and aim for that kind of quality. If you can provide really worthwhile content and then promote it to death you will earn your links organically. Remember content is for human beings, there’s no point in ramming it full of keywords if it is not an engaging read.
Make sure that your exceptional content regularly, search engines put more value on recent updates. Also, ensure you will escape these possible link-building mistakes.
Reach Out and Build Relationships
You are going to have to reach out to people in your market, who compliment you but don’t compete with you directly. Firstly you need to identify websites you want to appear on, you may already be aware of some from your field of work. If you can’t think of any from the top of your head, research businesses that are just starting out in your market.
You can also research websites online and find some that already link to websites like yours or have content that mentions your keywords. When you have found a good fit, go for it, take the plunge and email the website owner.
You’re going to have to be confident and persistent. Use sales tactics to offer up your quality content. Reaching it is time-consuming but it can also help you build great working relationships. Remember to return the favor, make sure that your relationships are mutually beneficial.
✋ Warning
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Guest Blogging
Guest blogging is one of the easiest tactics in books. You write a one-off post specifically for another website to publish and make sure that you include links to your own website. Occasionally, companies will advertise or request guest posts so you can go down that route. You can also include this offer when you reach out to businesses that you want to work, including a pitch for your blog post ideas.
Broken Link Building
Broken link building can be time-consuming but it’s very easy and it pays off. We’ve all hit a link on a website and reached a dead end. If you focus on finding dead links that match your content then reach out to the website owner, explain the link has expired, and offer up yours in its place. It’s an easy sell.
Existing Mentions
From time to time, you will be mentioned on websites without the owner actually linking back to you. Searching for your own company name is a good way to locate these gems. Once you have identified an existing mention, reach out and ask that a link is created.
Social Media Worthy
Social Media plays a crucial role in modern-day marketing. While link building is focused on the website to website traffic, always bear in mind other places that it can be shared. You have to constantly be considering things like;
How will your infographic appear when I share it on your Facebook page?
Is my heading worthy or tweeting?
Does my image look good enough for instagram?
Paid for Links
From time to time you may come across an offer from a third party to pay for links, don’t do it. No matter how cleverly it’s done Google has a sophisticated system that can identity paid for links and this practice is forbidden.
The above link building tips are enough to get you started and there are plenty of other options to explore. Link building can be time-consuming and it involves strong communication skills and creativity. If carried out successfully not only will you climb the ranks in search engines, you can also become a trusted and valuable industry leader building great business relationships along the way. The rewards are worth the effort.
