What is Link Building?
Link building is a crucial yet often overlooked part of good SEO practices. So what is it exactly? Simply put, the value of link building means getting other websites to link to your website. These links can generate more referral traffic and increase the credibility and authority of your website to internet users and, most importantly, Google. Quality and relevancy is the name of the game here. Having diversity in relevant links is a plus, too, when it comes to getting a higher search engine ranking.
The Value of Link Building and Search Engines
Several years ago, Google made updates that essentially made Google more picky about what links were going to help in ranking or not. That’s why above, it is mentioned that the links need to be relevant and of high quality. Search engines evaluate links to help them determine how well a page should rank in search results while also helping them discover new pages. Search engines crawl pages on the internet, evaluate them, extract content from new pages, and add it to their indexes.
Link Building and the SEO Benefits
So what is the SEO value of link building? Like we mentioned above, it makes you more visible in search results. As Google crawls pages, it is also looking at how many relevant links are pointing to that particular page from other websites. The more high-quality links you have, the more likely it is that you will rank higher in searches because Google sees it as a valuable resource. As it is indexing content, more links to your pages mean your pages could get indexed into search results faster.
Other Link Building Benefits
Aside from SEO benefits, when you practice proper link building, your website is more likely to receive traffic from those websites that link to you, creating more organic leads and referrals. And since those links should be high-quality, the leads that you do get are more likely to be the kind that are most likely to visit your site longer and possibly request your services and/or purchase your products.
Dofollow vs. Nofollow Links
Like we mentioned, Google wants to see links that are high-quality and relevant. So what do you do if you need to add a link that you want Google to ignore? That’s where the “nofollow” HTML tag comes in. This can be applied to links to tell search engines to move past them so they won’t affect your search engine ranking negatively. A dofollow link is one that you want the search engines to find because they will help your ranking. To do this properly, you might need the help of a web expert.
Link Building Techniques
There are a handful of link building strategies that can be implemented. Here are just a few:
- Create great content: If you are creating incredible content that people naturally want to reference and link to, you are definitely doing something right.
- Guest blogging: Write blogs for another website that is then linked back to your website.
- Infographics: A well-designed infographic is more likely to get shared and linked on other relevant websites.
- Hire an experienced blogger: By hiring a blogger who is experienced in your niche, you not only get high-quality blog content that can help SEO, but there is a high likelihood that they can link to articles they’ve written for you on other websites where they publish blogs.
- Publish an eBook: A well written and designed eBook could become a sought after resource for others in your industry that they link to on their websites. So show off your expertise!
Quality Links for Quality Leads
Search engines like Google are continually making updates to the way they rank websites in SERPs. Keeping up with the techniques that are deemed acceptable by Google can be tricky, but when it’s done right, the results can be amazing. With a professional marketing agency like The Evoke Group, you can sit back, relax, and let our experts apply the best SEO practices for your business’s success. For more information about how we can help, click here.