if you are building an SEO strategy to help your business thrive and climb to the next level, then it is imperative that you understand the basics of link building and the ways in which this can boost and benefit your business.
Whether you are internally linking pages within your site, or looking to boost your external links and overall ranking, read on for all you need to know about the benefits of link building, why it matters for your business, and how you can get started. Then, get in touch with us to benefit directly from our SEO website audit service!
What is link building?
Link building is a process by which you build relationships with other websites, blogs, and webmasters, and ask them to create backlinks (or “inbound links”) to your website. These links will be placed on other sites across the Internet, and they allow search engines like Google to see that those pages are relevant to your content and therefore rank your page higher in the search results.
Why should I care about link building?
You may be wondering why you should care about link building, and the answer is simple: it is one of the most effective ways to increase traffic to your website. When people visit your website, they will want to find what they’re looking for as quickly as possible, so if they have to click through multiple pages before they find what they are looking for, they may leave your site and look elsewhere.
By creating high-quality backlinks to your website, you are giving visitors more reasons to stay on your site and hopefully convert into customers.
How can I start link building?
There are many different ways to start building links to your website, from guest posting to outreach campaigns. You can also use tools such as BuzzStream to automate some of these processes, but there are still plenty of manual tasks involved.
The key thing to remember when starting out is that every single link counts, so don’t worry too much about getting caught up in the hype around paid advertising or social media marketing. It’s important to focus on the long-term goal of building links that are genuinely beneficial to your business.
- Create content that people want to share
This sounds obvious, but it’s easy to forget that not everyone wants to share your content. For example, if you write a blog post about how great your new product is, the chances are that only a small percentage of your audience will actually want to share it with their friends. So, make sure that your content is valuable enough to others that they would want to share it with others.
- Focus on quality over quantity
It might seem tempting to try and get as many backlinks as possible, but this isn’t always the best approach. Instead, focus on creating high-quality links that are relevant to your niche, and that will drive traffic to your website. This means ensuring that the websites that link to you are ones your target audience would actually want to visit.
- Make sure your links are relevant
If you’re trying to build links to your website, then you probably already know that the majority of the time, you won’t be able to just send someone an email asking them to link to you.
But there are exceptions to this rule, and one of them is when the person who receives your request has something in common with your target audience. If you’ve ever been to a restaurant or supermarket where you saw a sign saying that they were offering a special deal for students, then you’d likely go ahead and follow the link to check it out.
- Don’t be afraid to ask
If you really want to build links to your site, then you need to be willing to ask for them. There’s nothing wrong with reaching out to other businesses and asking them to link to your website. In fact, it’s often a good idea to do this anyway, even if you aren’t targeting them specifically. After all, if you’re doing any type of online marketing, then you should be aware of what types of links are available to you, and which ones could help your SEO efforts.
- Build relationships with other online marketers
One of the easiest ways to build links to your own website is by joining groups related to your industry. These groups usually consist of other marketers who are interested in similar topics and would be happy to add you to their group discussions. Once you join their group, you’ll be able to see what kinds of questions they have and offer answers to those questions. By answering those questions, you’ll be able to build relationships with other members of the group, and eventually, you may find yourself receiving a link to your website.
What are the advantages of link building?
When you think about link building, one of the first things that come to mind is SEO. While this is certainly a benefit of linking, there are several other advantages that you can gain by building links to your website. Here are five benefits of link building:
- Increased traffic
One of the biggest benefits of link building is that it helps drive traffic to your website, which is obviously very useful. When people find your website through search engines, they typically click on the top results, and those results usually include your website. As more people land on your page, you’ll see an increase in traffic.
- Brand awareness
Another advantage of link building is that you’re helping to spread awareness of your brand. By having other sites mention your company name, you’re increasing the likelihood that potential customers will hear about your business.
- More sales
The third reason why you should consider link building is because it can lead to increased sales. When people find your products or services mentioned on other websites, they may decide to purchase from you instead of a competitor.
- Better search rankings
Link building can also improve your search rankings. Google uses links to determine how important a particular website is, so the more times your website appears on other pages, the higher it will likely rank – as long as the linking websites are of high quality, of course.
- Increase domain authority
Domain authority is a metric used by Google to determine how trustworthy a website is. The more authoritative a website is, the better chance it has of ranking well in search engine results. One way to raise your domain authority is to have other high-authority domains link back to yours.
Final thoughts
Link building is an important element of any business’s digital marketing strategy, and following our top five tips will help ensure that your brand’s reach is extended, and you boost your business to the next level.
