In this article, we will discuss what is link building and how does it work? So keep reading.
Digital marketing has replaced traditional advertising in the 21st century. Since consumers look for the required products/services by searching on the internet, an average customer doesn’t go beyond the first page of Google search results. So, brands compete to appear higher on SERPs for their niche. This competition has led to the emergence of search engine optimization or SEO.
Your website is optimized to get a better ranking on search engines for enhanced visibility and increased organic traffic. Google uses a few factors to determine the position of each webpage in its database. Perhaps, some main factors include your content, target keywords, and the efficiency of your link-building strategy.
What Exactly Is Link Building?
First, let’s discuss what hyperlinks are and why do they even exist. Suppose you create a valuable research paper and upload it online for public viewing. Then a well-established website cites it as a source and links back to your paper. Readers will arrive at your webpage through that popular platform as you’ll generate organic traffic. It is how link building works, i.e., getting links from other websites that point to your website (also known as backlinks). Now, from that famous website’s perspective, this will be an “outbound link.”
But what purpose does this intricate link building serve?
The internet is an entangled mishmash of millions of domains. Google finds these different websites through link building. When your domain gets a hyperlink, your website gets connected to the global search engine database. That’s how the internet knows that your webpage exists. Unless your existence is known, no search engine will give you any ranking!
What Are Some Benefits Of Backlinks?
Any SEO expert would tell you that links are among Google’s primary ranking factors. They affect websites’ rankings and positions of SERPs. Moreover, these links are a major source of organic traffic. They pass on the “link juice” to your website and contribute to an increase in your PageRank.However, any backlink earned by following the standards and criteria set by Google and other search engines is known as whitehat link building.
Today, many companies offer whitehat link-building services for agencies and growing organizations to strengthen their backlink portfolio. Since these professionals assist you in promoting your content online, hiring them could be one of your best decisions for your business’s growth.
Other Benefits Of Backlinks Include:
- These links allow your website to acquire relevant audiences from trusted industry platforms.
- Backlinks can increase the credibility of your brand. Your reputation also undergoes improvement by getting better hyperlinks.
- Your company can outperform the competitors by “stealing” their backlinks. Since a brand with many links is more likely to attract the target audience than rivals.
- Links also give you access to a sustained and continuous stream of audiences called the “referral traffic.” This method is more effective than traditional marketing.
- You can easily climb the ladder of search engine rankings with more quality links. Notably, Google and other search engines tend to favor sites with a stronger backlink portfolio.
- You can also create new relationships with other brands and customers. The strategy would further allow you to get new followers on social media and create new connections with consumers through a single backlink.
- Through backlinks, your brand’s website may eventually gain authority in your niche. Since too many links indicate that your website offers indisputable information. As more customers will begin trusting your content, people will be attracted to your brand simply by association.
How Do You Acquire Quality Hyperlinks?
Not all backlinks are the same! Links that come from spam/porn websites are poison for your platform’s ranking. Your brand requires credible and trustworthy sites to mention you as a source. So, companies are prone to reach out to different well-established website owners to give them a backlink. Different strategies let your content get linked by popular platforms. The trick involves producing high-quality content, so other sites would have a reason to mention yours. Some well-known link building strategies are:
1. Write Guest Posts:
There’s no deficiency of platforms where you can contribute as a guest writer and, in exchange, are allowed to insert hyperlinks of your choice. Such websites often express their readiness for guest articles by displaying “write for us” ads on their homepage.
2. Create Unique Infographics:
Sites link back to platforms that have the latest information/statistics. So, try creating unique infographics based on updated and relevant data. This information will motivate more websites to mention yours as a source, and you’ll get quality links.
3. Try Internal Linking:
When you link one webpage on your domain to another webpage on the same domain, it’s called internal linking. It resembles voting for yourself! Internal linking helps distribute the link juice evenly throughout your website. It also contributes to a better user experience since visitors can navigate your platform easily.
4. Write Some Testimonials:
Many online buyers rely on testimonials before making a purchase decision. So, you may avail this opportunity to write testimonials for different brands. In return, they’ll let you add your link. Many marketers write online reviews for self-promotion. And this method isn’t as embarrassing or awkward as many other link-building tactics.
5. Build Broken Links:
You can find certain websites linking back to broken platforms or sources that are currently not available. It often happens when the webmaster forgets to update the site after many years. These “page not found” messages lead to a poor user experience. So, you can contact the webmaster and offer to fix that link by replacing it with relevant content.
6. Spy On Your Rivals:
You can use online competitor analysis tools to investigate your competitors’ link-building strategies. Maybe some websites are linking back to your rival’s website. So, you can ask these sites to link back to your platform instead. You need – of course – better content than your competitors are producing.
In the current time of digitization, many companies still struggle to attract significant traffic to their websites. It is worth mentioning that links are similar to votes and, the more votes you get, the more traffic you get from Google. That’s why brands establish a link-building strategy to acquire better backlinks for content promotion. These links help them contact their target audience and perform better at marketing.