Link building is an essential SEO tactic when you are trying to increase your company’s ranking in the search results. However, it can be difficult to achieve especially when you have to adhere to Google’s policies on linking. Violate those and you could face a manual or algorithmic penalty which will set you back even further.
Starting an SEO campaign from scratch is a necessary yet also daunting prospect but with a basic understanding of the key components and lots of determination it’s possible to develop a good link building strategy that will benefit your company.
Differences between Links
Most links are either classed as ‘natural’ or ‘unnatural’ and Google’s penalty system only distinguishes between the two. Unnatural links are often irrelevant and don’t serve any purpose, they are purely there for rank manipulation. Natural links have a specific purpose, such as providing relevant information, therefore adding value to the article.
Authority
Domain and page authority acts as a marker of credibility to Google. So, if you want your website to rank high in the search engines, you need to build your site’s authority. Links are therefore important because they pass authority to your domain and also to the individual page they point to.
Guest Posts
Publishing articles on external websites is the best way to build links. Publishing excellent content gives you the chance to boost your online exposure and reputation within your target market’s audience. It also means you have complete control over the sources linking back to you.
The Perfect Link
The perfect link shouldn’t be alone, there needs to be other links within the article. It also needs to have relevant anchor text (this is the text that contains the hyperlink back to your website). According to SeoGuruAtlanta (http://seoguruatlanta.com/), you must ensure that the chosen link is an article or page of your site which provides extra information to the reader, supports a claim that has been made or otherwise adds to the value of the piece. The link must appear naturally and the surrounding content has to be suitable for the target audience.
Ask for Help
If you’re still struggling to get your head around all the different terminology and don’t have a clue where to start there are lots of different websites that can give you more in depth advice and talk you through the process step by step. However, if your website’s really struggling and you need help fast it might be a good idea to consider getting help from an SEO company that specializes in link building will analyze your website and work with you in developing a proper SEO campaign.
With sites like Google bringing out new policies every second (or so it feels) it’s easy to feel a bit overwhelmed and the idea of having to build links for your website to succeed suddenly becomes an incredibly technical process which you feel you require a degree to navigate through, but this really isn’t the case. The most important thing to remember when tackling link building and search engine optimization is to rely on your intuition because as long as you understand the basics then you’re bound to go in the right direction.
