Link building is a crucial element of SEO and needs to be given high priority. Link building is essentially the process of acquiring links to your website from other websites, letting Google know that your website is a credible resource within your niche. Building links needs to be done properly and can take some time; however, it is a very important step as part of your overall SEO strategy. When other credible websites online and high-traffic websites within your niche link back to your site, this tells Google that your website has valuable information that searchers need to see.
These links that you are building from other websites back to your site are known as backlinks, and it’s important to be aware that not all backlinks are the same. A link back from a major online publication can carry a lot more link juice or link equity than a website that has very little traffic, or that is not well-established.
When you enter into the process of link building, you need to ensure that you not only acquire links but that you build them in the right way and that you get them from the right sources. Failing to keep this in mind could result in your backlinks not being of as much value as you had hoped, or in some cases, you could even be penalised by Google or have your website removed completely from the rankings.
Let’s look at just a few of the basics of link building so you can start acquiring links that will boost your position in the search rankings moving forward.
Follow Vs. No-follow
Not all links are created equally. External links back to your website can either be a “follow” or a “no-follow” link. When you are building links back to your website, you need to ensure that they are “follow”, sometimes called “do-follow”, links.
This means that the link juice or link equity from the website that is linking to you will be passed onto your site. If a link has the “no-follow” attribute attached to it, it is essentially instructing Google not to follow the link, and therefore, none of that precious link equity will be passed on. Since you are building backlinks to gain more of that link juice and bump up the profile of your website, you need to ensure that the links you build are “follow” or “do-follow” backlinks.
Create Quality Content
If you want other websites to link back to your content, then it’s important that you give them a good reason to do so. Publishing well-written, useful, informative content on your site is a great place to start. If you are regularly publishing high-quality blogs and articles on your site that are useful resources, you can be sure there will be a much better chance that other websites will link back to your website.
If you feel like you have created a blog post on a particular topic or published a resource on a specific subject that is miles ahead of anything else online, make sure that you let people know. Reach out to other blogs in your niche, influencers in your industry or even educational or government sources that might want to share or link to your content. The more notoriety your content gets over time, the better your chance of being linked to organically by these other online publications.
Use The Right Anchor Text
If another website is linking back to you, it will be much more beneficial if the anchor text they use for the hyperlink is a keyword or phrase that you have been trying to rank for. This helps to show Google that you are a reputable resource for content related to this specific type of material.
For example, instead of acquiring a backlink such as “check out this article for more information about backlinking”, you should aim for anchor text like “…these backlinking tips can help you to grow your business…”. Using anchor text that is related to the content you are linking for, will give the link more credibility in the eyes of Google.
Start Acquiring Quality Backlinks To Your Website Right Away
Building backlinks is critically vital to the success of an SEO campaign. However, it can be a lot of work, and it can be very time-consuming. Here at Trafficon, we can help you to build high-quality backlinks that will help your website and your content climb the rankings. Get in touch with our link-building experts at Trafficon today to find out how you can get started building backlinks to your site and start reaping the rewards of a well-executed SEO strategy.
