Link building stands as both the most challenging and crucial task for SEO professionals. This intricate process involves acquiring links to your website from external sources. The quality and relevance of these links play a pivotal role in determining the effectiveness of your SEO strategy, directly influencing your ranking in Google's search results.
While it is true that accumulating more links from reputable, credible, and popular sites can positively influence your website's traffic, the dynamics of link building extend beyond mere quantity. It is, in fact, the most challenging facet of SEO to manipulate. To gain a comprehensive understanding of how link building operates, let's delve into its intricacies!
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The history of link building
To understand why link building is so important and why it's harder now than it was a decade ago, let's look at the history of link building in a nutshell.
The appearance of Pagerank (PR)
Link building gained prominence in 1998, when Larry Page, one of the founders of Google, created the so-called PageRank (PR), an algorithm for determining search engine rankings. It was the first time that the ranking of a website was influenced by the number of external links pointing to it. It is important to note that quality was not important here, only quantity.
Another innovation alongside PageRank - also by Google - is that keywords in anchor texts are stored by the search engine and taken into account when ranking. Thus anchor texts also played a significant role in link building. Link sharing in forums, comments and blog comments was widespread. Understandably, this did not focus on quality, relevant content, but on poor, irrelevant sites. This made it inevitable to update the algorithm.
Hello, Jagger!
The 2005 Jagger update brought a major change in search engine optimisation. It also analysed anchor text, linked page content and load speed. With Jagger, the focus was on quality over quantity. Link aggregators, spam sites and other SEO hacks such as duplicate content, hidden keywords, keyword stuffing and link buying were all penalised by Google.
Penguin and Panda
The 2011 Panda update aimed to reduce spam and eliminate content farms. Penguin, which debuted in 2012, is one of the most aggressive versions of the algorithms, focusing on low-quality sites, sites with strange (non-natural) links and avoiding over-optimization. This made the hitherto popular link building techniques risky and search engines ignored these pages. The penalty was a demotion, a reduction in the PR value or, in the worst case, removal from the Google index.
Currently, Google is focusing on link quality over quantity. Link building is a complex task requiring specific skills. Without it, it is almost impossible to get above a certain level. Nowadays, the technique of "premium link building" is none other than natural link building, whereby links are placed on quality, reliable, popular sites in long texts (at least 400-500 words).
How to build a link
Link building can take place after the content optimisation and technical “SEO" of a website. Search engines look at how many and what quality links point to a particular page when ranking it. The stronger the links to your site from external sites, the more valuable the search engine will consider it to be and the more traffic you will get. With many credible and strong links from other sites, you'll be higher in Google's search results, but without links, you won't get ahead. So the role of link building is crucial, but still: where do you get links from and what is a good link?
Characteristics of a good link
A good link is relevant, useful and natural. You can achieve credibility by getting links from strong sites that already rank well in search engines. The two most commonly used metrics to measure credibility are DA (Domain Authority) and PA (Page Authority). For example, you can get information about the credibility of a page here: http://opensiteexplorer.com/
You can check the quality of the link by looking at the following criteria:
- Is the linked page indexed by the search engine? (Don't bother with a page that is not recognised by Google.)
- Can you find contact details on the website? (A page that does not belong to anyone will not be favoured by Google.)
- How much traffic does the site get? (Use SemRush or Ahrefs.)
- How is the backlink profile rated? On Ahrefs.com you can get the Domain Rating number of a site (the higher the better)
- Is the link coming from a relevant site related to the topic of your site?
- What is the quality of the content?
- Are natural links or paid links in the majority?
- How many paid guest posts are on the site? (Too many is not beneficial.)
To build links as naturally as possible, it's a good idea to get your links from a variety of sources. The most common types of backlinks are guest blogs, image links (banners), social media links, linkless mentions, interviews, quotes, paid links, comments, posts and widgets.
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Master link building
Now that you know what a good link is and what types there are, let's find out how to get one! We've already talked about how Google's algorithms currently prioritise quality over quantity. However, at the beginning of a site's life, even low quality links are worth more than no links at all. Even then, however, you should aim to get links from sites that are stronger than your own. As your website develops, however, you should strive to get strong, quality links using the following methods for search engine optimisation!
1. Take a look at the competitor!
Competitor analysis as an SEO service is also relevant for link building. Use different applications to see where your competitors are getting links from. It's easy to get ideas this way.
2. Do a quick search for your own name in search engines!
Take a moment to conduct a swift search for your own name across various search engines. Identify instances where your company is mentioned. As you consistently deliver exceptional work, mentions of your brand are likely to surface over time. However, it's common for individuals to overlook including relevant links in their references. Don't hesitate to reach out to those who have acknowledged your efforts and kindly request them to include a link to your website in their content. While Google Alerts proves to be a valuable tool for monitoring mentions, manual searches or utilising news search features can also yield additional references. Stay proactive in ensuring your online presence is well-connected and accessible.
3. Guest post on another site!
The obvious solution is to write a guest post on a relevant site, but this is obviously the most time-consuming. Using the Ahrefs Content Explorer menu, you can easily find pages that might be relevant to you by searching for the keywords you selected in the keyword research. Guest posting creates a win-win situation, benefiting both parties. For the link giver, because they can publish a well-written article that brings in organic traffic, while the link recipient gets trust signals.
Despite being an energy-intensive link building technique, it is still one of the most popular methods today. One of its advantages is that it can provide good backlinks from relevant, credible sites. In addition, the link will be a dofollow link, so you can drive traffic to your site using it.
4. Look for your photos!
You can search not only for yourself, but also for your own photos in Google Image Finder. And for people who use your images and animations, simply ask them to include a link to your site.
5. Fix the broken links!
With http://www.brokenlinkcheck.com/ you can find pages with broken links, 404 or 500 links among your competitors' backlinks. Once you find one of these pages, ask the website operator to fix the error and link to your site!
6. Buying links
If you have your search engine optimisation done by an SEO agency, you are obviously paying for the SEO service, which includes natural link building. However, link buying does not refer to this, but to the activity of doing business with websites that sell links. You should treat them with suspicion even if they are trading explicitly strong links. These sites may use illegal methods and may only have temporary success.
If you do go down this route, choose a website with a strong enough theme. When choosing the right SEO service, you need to consider a number of these and similar aspects for effective search engine optimisation.
What else you need to know about link building
The key element of link building is the anchor text, i.e. the words and phrases that you link to. It is important that no more than half of the links within a page contain the anchor text or keyword. To reinforce the brand and to create a natural effect, it is a good idea to include the brand name or domain name in the anchor text. Nofollow links are also important nowadays, i.e. links that are included in forums or Wikipedia, for example.
As you can see, search engine optimisation, including link building, can be done in many ways, but there are some activities that should be avoided. These are the so-called black hat methods, which Google dislikes and even penalises. These include private blog networks, short, low quality links embedded in irrelevant text and hidden links.
Link building is a crucial area of SEO, but it is worthless without getting your content and technical SEO right. However, as part of search engine optimisation, it can add credibility to your website by exploiting its potential, gain you recognition and even help you gain new, professionally useful contacts.
Summary
In the realm of serious search engine optimization competitions, achieving robust organic rankings is unthinkable without effective link building. While the prospect of link building may evoke concerns, it stands as a pivotal task in 2024 and will likely gain even more significance in the future.
Undoubtedly, this undertaking is time-intensive, mirroring the comprehensive nature of search engine optimization. A minimum investment of 3-6 months is typically required to yield tangible results, contingent upon the quality of the link-building efforts. Although it's possible for individuals to undertake this endeavour themselves, the complexity lies in the meticulous selection of the right sites and the subsequent acquisition of coveted links.
#promobox#Are you seeking quality link building but find yourself constrained by time?Are you interested in securing links not solely from PR article sites but also from reputable and pertinent websites?##
