SEO is not just about content strategy and on-page optimization – it goes much deeper than that. Search Engine Optimization covers intricate processes such as keyword research, rank checking, off-site optimization and last but not least, link building.
What is Link Building?
Link building is an SEO process where you get other websites relevant to your business to link back to your very own website. This process helps create credibility for your online business’ website as it enables you to gain credit scores based on where your link is found. Putting it simply, it is like getting a shout out from a celebrity. The bigger the brand you build links with, the faster your business will become famous.
However, don’t think you’re in for a smooth ride – link building is hard to pull off effectively. The SEO landscape and the process of link building are continually changing. It’s essential to understand and strictly implement high-quality SEO campaigns for your businesses to thrive in the harsh online world. Whether you are new to link building or have been actively doing the process for a while now, we hope that you find something useful within this article. With that said, here are the fundamental do’s and don’ts of link building.
The Do’s and Don’ts of Link Building
Link Building Dos
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List Your Website In Trustworthy Directories
There are many directories online that provide little to no value for their users. These ones are not worth being listed on. What you should do is to find the best directories that not only give you a chance to post a link to your website but are also allow you to add extra information that may be used by your potential consumers.
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Research Your Competitors’ Common Backlinks
Research your competitors’ backlinks. Chances are you’ll notice that they will have backlinks you haven’t thought of yet.
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Turn Your Mentions Into Favorable Backlinks
This tip is one of the easiest ways to gain new backlinks but definitely among the very best in terms of effectiveness. Someone might already have written something about you and your brand, but did not link such to your website. In situations like that, you should contact the webmaster of the site where you got mentioned on and then ask them to convert that into a backlink. After all, it was the name of your brand, your product, or yourself that they used, it is only right that you get some credit for that.
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Revive Dead Backlinks
Some links to your website may die and get broken. This may be because the webmaster from that other site you tried to link to misspelled your url or the location of your web page has changed. If that’s the case, such backlinks will eventually return a 404 error. Do your best to recover your backlinks from such instances.
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Find And Take The Most Relevant Opportunities
There are tons and tons of opportunities for link building on the World Wide Web. There are an overwhelming number of active forums, blogs, and actual websites where you could build connections with by backlinking. However, it is not ideal for you to go out there and just start spreading links. What you should be doing is to find the most relevant sites or blogs with regards to your brand or products, and take that opportunity to build links with them.
Link Building Don’ts
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Linking Your Site To Those With Bad Reputation
Quality will always be so much better than quantity – even on link building. Do not just go around and linking your website to everything you see. Segregate those that are worth it to those that are just bad news. Never link to a website that has a bad reputation, such as auto-blogging sites, porn sites, and illegal sites. Search engines despise such sites, and it’s not worth the negative backlash connecting to those sites.
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Not Linking your Targeted Keywords In Anchor Text
Anchor texts play a significant role in a website’s online presence more than we give it credit for. Having your targeted keyword as your anchor text instead of the name of your actual website will help you rank better for that particular keyword. This tip is in high contrast to those techniques that you see often used by many sites. Using the words “click here,” “check this,” “click the link,” and more are not ideal anchor texts for great link building.
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Purchasing or Selling Links
Although tempting, it is not worth it to spend money on buying links that are offered by other sites to get some backlinks. Such transactions will get your website in trouble on various search engines. Worse; you might get banned for doing so. Moreover, Google made it very clear that such practices will be considered spam and should be avoided. Hire yourself a company who will do the backlinking for you instead of wasting your money buying links.
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Having Nofollow Links
Unless Bing is the search engine you want to penetrate, then go ahead and build more no-follow links. Google has made it exceptionally clear that they disregard no-follow tags and links with regards to their rankings.
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Having Backlinks on Unrelated Websites
Getting backlinks from websites that has little to no relevance with the brand, product, or services you are offering is a waste of time. Remember that it is not how many backlinks you can get from various sites, what’s important is to build high-quality, relevant backlinks that are indeed useful. Find such websites that are trustworthy, has a good reputation, and has the same niche as yours, and then build your links with them.
In search of a digital marketing agency that can help you with your link building strategies? Get in touch with us today for a free consultation!
