Link building is one of the main factors in off page SEO and one that is essential for your website’s ranking signals. In fact, links are one of the top criteria that Google’s algorithm uses to rank your website. However, this does not necessarily mean getting as many random websites to link your content as possible. When it comes to link building, quality is better than quantity. While it is a simple concept in theory, it requires persistent time and effort for it to be done correctly.
In this article we will dive deeper into:
· The importance of link building
· How to build a healthy link profile
What is link building?
There are three different types of links: inbound, outbound and internal.
Inbound links, also known as backlinks, are html hyperlinks that point from other websites to your website and vice versa in the case of outbound links. These work similarly to real-life reputation and word-of-mouth advertising but just in digital form. The more links pointing to your website the more trustworthy and respected your website will be. On the other hand, internal links are links that are connected to internal pages within your own website and these signal to Google that a certain page in your website is important.
In this blog we will be focusing mainly on inbound links as these are one of the most valuable links you can build and remain a strong factor in how search engines determine your websites position on the SERP (search engine results pages).
The Importance of Link building
Backlinks are essentially a way to gain a reputable website that ranks high in the SERP. They are essentially a currency of the internet; the more high-quality links you have the more valuable your domain. Notice the emphasis on quality, this is because, while having many backlinks should be the aim of your off page strategy, it is also crucial that these links come from healthy domains that will add value to your website. We will elaborate further on how to build a healthy link profile in later sections of this blog post.
Once you have created a healthy link profile with relevant and valuable links, this will help search engines understand that your site is trustworthy and authoritative. Ultimately having a positive impact not only on your organic website traffic but also on your SEO ranking and visibility.
How to build a healthy link profile
To ensure that link building is done correctly and delivers the best results, one must ensure that their link profile is healthy. This means building links in an honest and organic way, adding value to the pages that link to your website, gaining links from relevant sites to your business/topic, making sure the linking domain is trustworthy and authoritative.
Earning your links honestly
Given the power of links, many people have unfortunately begun manipulating them to their benefit by gaining links artificially or purchasing them. These tactics may seem like the easy way out however they can prove to be extremely damaging for your website as Google does not approve of this type of behaviour and can be quick to penalise it. For this reason, you should always aim for your links to be earned by producing high-quality content that adds value to users. Most of the time unique and interesting pieces of content require no specific action from you apart from building awareness about it.
Create high quality and unique content
Creating high-quality and unique content, that other websites are genuinely interested in sharing with their own audience, is the best way to naturally build and earn links. However, this doesn’t mean creating content and simply waiting for the links to come in, it is important that you actively market this content across different platforms in order to create awareness. Using social media platforms such as Instagram, Facebook or LinkedIn is a great way to promote content as well as making sure you are leveraging the best keywords and on-page SEO strategies.
Some aspects of high quality content include:
· Sparking the emotion of the readers.
· Creating something new that adds value to the reader or that is at least communicated in a new way.
· Using quality images to engage users.
· It addresses a relevant need or interest.
Link to relevant websites
Generally, you want to gain links from websites that are relevant to your own content. The linking domains don’t have to exactly match your topic, however it is best to avoid pursuing links that are completely off-topic. For example, if your business sells baby products, a link from a parent community will have more relevance and authority than one from a sports website. It is also good to note that having links from sources that are completely irrelevant can send confusing signals to search engines about the topic of your page.
Ensure healthy linking domains with high authority
Many different linking domain attributes can have an effect on how valuable a link is for your website, thus it is important that you properly assess these attributes. There are various metrics you can keep an eye on when judging the value of potential links or before investing your resources into pursuing a certain link. Here are the two most important ones:
Domain Authority
This is one of the most important metrics to understand how authoritative a domain is overall. It ranges from 0-100, with 100 being the highest authority. Normally a domain authority between 40-50 is considered average, 50-60 is considered good and 60+ is considered excellent.
Page Authority
This is a similar metric to domain authority and it also uses a 100-point scale, however it measures the ranking strength of a single web page instead of an entire domain. In general, the higher the page authority of the page you gain a link from, the more beneficial it will be to your SEO efforts.
How Can Clear Click Help?
Link building is all about persistent and consistent efforts. While there are many different strategies you can employ to gain links, we recommend you earn them organically and build a healthy link profile. However, one must remember that this is a time consuming and difficult task which can not take place overnight.
Our SEO team has put together 5 link building strategies for growth if you want to apply to best practices.
We understand the process of link building can be overwhelming, thus at Clear Click, our SEO specialist provides you with the best expertise to build a successful and healthy link building strategy. If you are looking to kick off a backlink building strategy or improve your current one, contact us with your request or book a free consultation call.
