However, a lot of content marketers find link building to be a difficult undertaking. I’ve got you covered if you fit that description or simply want a refresher on acceptable link-building strategies.
Three different kinds of linkages
Let’s first examine the three types of reliable links:
- Backlink: A link from another website to one of your content assets (such as a blog post or infographic) or your main website.
- Internal link: Your website has a link on one page that directs visitors to another page. (Internal links assist Google comprehend your site’s structure, which is beneficial for SEO, but they are not as valuable as external links. They are also essential for increasing site engagement and lowering bounce rates)
- External link: A page on your website has a link to an appropriate external website. (Relevance wasn’t important in the early days of backlinking, but it is now.) For third-party websites, your external links count as backlinks.
No-follow versus “follow”
Links are not all created equal. Similar to how internal and external links affect search engine optimization, follow and no-follow links connect to external content but have quite different effects on it. Exposure Ninja explains the distinction clearly:
- Follow links are trustworthy internal or external links that point to your website, which is what you want while building backlinks.
- The code rel=”nofollow” is used on the back end to apply no-follow links. It is evident in the linking URL. The connected page won’t directly profit from this link because that tiny piece of code instructs search engines not to follow it.
How come no-follow links are used on websites? Some of the causes are explained by Exposure Ninja:
Unreliable content: No-follow links are frequently used to safeguard publishing websites. For instance, it’s standard procedure for websites that permit users to post links in the comments section because the connections may lead to spammy or abusive content that the website does not endorse.
Links that don’t require crawling include: When it crawls (indexes) your website. You don’t want Google to waste its precious time indexing pages on your website that have nothing to do with search (for example, password-protected areas). It’s crucial to include a no-follow.
Paid links: Google and other search engines do a lot to prevent SEO from becoming a pay-to-play industry. So, if a website receives payment to host a link, the link should be considered no-follow. (I will provide more details below.)
Know the differences among paid
Paying for links may be a dubious SEO strategy. Additionally, it can be an effective strategy to raise awareness for your company and increase its visibility while acquiring excellent links. How can you tell them apart?
Let’s walk through three alternatives. Think of them like a traffic light with three different colours: red for direct purchase, yellow for linking services, and green for go (SEO agencies).
Direct acquisition
What is the main deterrent to direct backlink purchases? Google will lower your site’s ranking if it detects that the link is a paid one. The credibility of those backlinks will be quite low in the eyes of search engines.
Watch out for companies and websites that promise and/or supply inexpensive links. These so-called “link farms” deliver your link to numerous, mostly irrelevant websites. I am uncertain if it is a link farm. If you’re unsure of a link’s relevance on a website, Google probably has the same question. It may be tempting to go cheap and quick, but it’s just not worth the risk.
Linking services
Your backlinking requirements can be met by a variety of third-party linking providers. Their authenticity is in question, though. There are rumours that many of them are private blogs. networks (PBN), which are businesses that pay a group of bloggers to post your link on their website, regardless of how pertinent it is to the content of the site in question.
Even if 1% of (these links) come from legitimate sites, the other 99% being PBN connections, does nothing except hamper your results, according to the specialists at Guest Post. The lesson? Examine any linking services thoroughly, and ask as many questions as you can about their strategies and the outcomes you should anticipate.
SEO companies
All the tasks that a linking service will promise to complete will be carried out by SEO organizations, but reputable businesses also include additional strategies. They conduct an analysis of your website, collaborate with you to establish your objectives, and identify the kinds of links required to improve your overall Google rankings. They might also produce the material for you or along with you to get those backlinks.
You won’t be offered a specific number of links by an SEO company. They are far more committed to successfully establishing your brand’s visibility via the utilisation of numerous reputable strategies and KPIs.
Not all organisations are created equally. If you’re thinking about working with an SEO service, ask them to be specific about how they plan to build the links you require. After that, you can determine if they are effective link-building strategies.
Ask them to explain if they mention using their “database of contacts” at all. Some less honourable businesses will make the pretence that they build their backlinks while actually outsourcing your service to one of the linking businesses discussed above.
How to acquire high-quality links
It’s time to consider what content and websites can help you obtain those high-quality backlinks now that you are aware of the various link types and paid methods to obtain them. The most reliable media and websites will link to you.
The SEO specialists at my company, 10x Digital, have listed some of the components that help generate such links.
Produce superior content.
Link building in reverse is one of the major mistakes we observe clients making. Instead of emphasising the linked-to material, they concentrate on the link. In order to increase views, impressions, engagement, and most importantly, conversions—which are the lifeblood of any business—your content must be valuable and meaningful. In order to do this, you should:
Identify your target audience and the topics that appeal to them (and search for them).
conduct a market analysis. Take a look at your sector. What are the trendy terms? What keywords do you want to see associated with your website in search results?
Look for holes in the material of competitors. What subjects might you cover that they haven’t? Use an SEO tool, like Semrush or Ahrefs, if you have access to one, right away. To help you optimise your website, look at their backlink profile and dwell periods.
With this new knowledge, concentrate on creating a variety of pertinent concepts and content genres to increase your distribution possibilities.
Post guest articles.
A tried-and-true method for honest link-building is guest posting. The secret is to produce and provide content that is actually useful for the third-party blog. The person on the other end of the email should instantly understand what you want to write about and how it will resonate with their audience, so keep your request or pitch for a guest blog post brief and to the point