You want your website to rank on search engine results, and there’s no question that Search Engine Optimization can be a great investment. Just because your website is online, doesn’t mean that you are going to automatically show up when people are searching for related keywords. You must put in the time and effort to show Google the relevancy of your website, through on-page optimization, link building, and more.
Even though SEO takes a lot of strategy and work, it’s an effective long-term strategy to keep customers coming to your website. In the beginning, you need to research keywords and change the nuances on your site to make it relevant to these target keyword phrases. Then, you can start working on off-site optimization, such as link building.
What is Link Building?
Website backlinks are when other websites are linking to your site with anchor text. An example is if you are reading an article on another website, and there is a link within the article that leads back to a page on your site.
These links are also known as inbound links, one-way links, or incoming links. They are like “votes” in Google’s eyes – showing that other websites view your site as relevant and an authority in the industry. Pages with more backlinks coming in have more “votes,” which tends to help with boosting organic search engine rankings.
Why Do You Need Backlinks?
It’s no surprise that building backlinks requires a lot of time and effort. But it’s worth the work if you want to rank in the search engines.
When you have a lot of backlinks, it shows Google that there are many other websites that trust your site. These votes are telling Google that you have content that is credible, valuable, and useful. The more backlinks (votes) you have, the easier it is to rank those pages in the search engines for your target keyword phrases.
Backlinking has been around for a long time. In the original days of SEO, link building was the foundation of showing Google the relevancy of your website. Now, the algorithms are more complicated But, backlinking is still a necessary part of an effective SEO strategy. Even though the algorithms are constantly changing, backlinking continues to be a key ranking signal.
According to Google, link building is one of the top 3 factors that impacts search engine rankings.
Different Types of Link Building for Your Website
Now that you can see the value of link building, the next question is about how you get the best quality backlinks coming to your website. Not all backlinks are created equal. If you focus on quantity, then you will need a lot of low-quality backlinks. But you can also focus on quality link building, which brings more SEO ranking power with a few strategic links.
You want to rank higher in the search results, and the best solution is to prioritize quality link building over a large quantity of lower quality links. To put it into perspective: one quality backlink can be more effective than building 500 lower quality links,
Here are a few ways to tell if it is a quality backlink:
- The backlink is coming from a website with high domain authority
- Your target keyword phrases are in the anchor text of the backlink
- There is relevancy between the two sites that are linking together
- The link is set as “Dofollow” so the search engines count it in the algorithms
- The link is coming from a website that hasn’t linked to your site in the past
Tips for an Effective Backlinking Campaign
If you are going to invest time and money into link building, then make sure you are getting backlinks that will be most effective for your SEO campaign.
Here are a few best practices that will improve the results of your link building:
- Research Competitor Backlinks: Look at the top-ranking websites for the keywords you are targeting, then reverse-engineer their SEO strategies by seeing which websites are linking to those competitors. You can use tools to analyze the links, then look for ways to get backlinks from those websites as well.
- Find Broken Backlinks: The “broken backlink strategy” involves research to find backlinks that are no longer working. If the link is pointing to a page with a 404 error, then you can contact that site and ask them to direct the backlink to your website instead. There are tools that can help you find these broken links.
- Fix Your Own Broken Backlinks: If you’ve done any backlinking in the past, then there is a possibility that your own backlinks need some improvements. Figure out the backlinks that were previously pointing to your site and are broken now. Then, work through them one at a time to reestablish the links.
- Use Different Media Forms: Not only do you want to build text backlinks, but also think about other types of media forms that can be used to create backlinks. Variety is good to build out your backlink profile. For example, consider using images as backlinks because the images are bigger so there is a higher chance that people will click on them.
- Stick to Your Niche: Be sure that the backlinks are relevant to your website. For example, if you are selling laptops online, then the most effective backlinks will come from other websites about electronics, computers, and industry-specific topics.
- Add Variety in Your Backlinking Profile: Be proactive about getting a variety of backlinks. For example, you can get links by guest posting, networking online, collaborating with other websites, connecting with industry experts, and more.
Do You Need Help with Link Building?
Most business owners don’t have the time or expertise to implement a DIY link building campaign. If you want to improve your search engine rankings, then consider talking to an online marketing team for assistance.
At ARYU Advertising, we have many years of experience with Search Engine Optimization. Our team can help with the best practices to give you optimal results with your backlinking campaign. Contact us to book your consultation and learn more about the possibilities of improving your website rankings.
