In 2019, everything seems to run through the internet. Whether it’s a cruise booking or a tax return, people use the internet to make their life better. Due to the volume of traffic and the copious amounts of information available online, navigating the web is a complicated process that takes specificity and narrow focus. Links are the material that the internet is built from, and these links are also a precious resource when it comes to Search Engine Optimization (SEO). Businesses want to get found in major search databases, and one proven way to enhance visibility is through the acquisition of links.
When done naturally and with good intentions, link building makes the internet a better place by increasing the experience of navigation for the end-user while simultaneously achieving search engine ranking for targeted domains.
The goal of the internet is to provide a pool of information and resources that is accessible to those connected to the service. The web shouldn’t be designed with the intention of tricking people. It should provide people from all walks of life the ability to find the information they desire. While nothing is perfect, the dream is to have the internet be an open-source pool of information that is completely accurate and accessible to everyone around the world. Below I list the ways that link building makes the internet a better place in modern-day society, and why it matters.
1. Usability:
It’s easy to see why some people are overwhelmed by the internet. The seemingly endless avenues of information are enough to give the average person a headache just thinking about it. Links can either make the web more usable, when used correctly, or much more difficult to use when used incorrectly. By correctly, I mean relevant and organic.
If someone is reading a guest article on a jewelry distribution website, and there are links within the content pointing to the website of a local chocolatier in Denver, everyone’s time is wasted.
Links on the internet need to be relevant and make sense.
If the same hypothetical person is reading the same guest article on a jewelry site and there are appropriate links within the content that point towards other relevant articles, the end-user benefits. The person reading the article has additional information available that could potentially help serve them better. The wealth of information expands in this case, thus making the experience of the end-user much more efficient and comprehensive.
If you’re link building: Acquiring links that lead to your website are much more useful to the world if they are pertinent to the ideas, services or products presented on your webpage. Navigation is compromised when links point towards extraneous information.
2. Business visibility:
With millions upon millions of people shopping on the internet, businesses depend on the web to advance operations, outreach, and sales. SEO helps people do this by exposing information in the results pages of major search engines.
SEO firms and professionals from all corners of the planet try and keep up with the big guys at Google and figure out their algorithms. Unless you have anti-spam guru Matt Cutts’ phone number, you probably aren’t the only one other than the man himself that knows exactly how Google ranks domains. However, it’s common knowledge within the industry that SEO link building enhances both business visibility and website traffic.
It’s shared knowledge that links achieve rankings, but they need to be (and should be) legitimate.
As Google continues to release updates like Panda and Penguin, high-quality links are getting more attention than those spewed out of a SPAM canon from black-hat SEO companies. Because of this, true link building is coming to the forefront of SEO across all industries. Link building with good intentions not only achieves rankings that every business leader desires, but it also satisfies on a moral level. Is business really worth tricking fellow users of the World Wide Web? Is it really worth it to be deceitful when it comes to acquiring links?
If a hypothetical ticket distributor acquires an incoming link on a sports-related domain in the form of a guest post, business visibility is advanced and Google is happy. Why? Well, for one, Google will reward your business for linking to relevant entities. Search engines favor this type of link building because not only do you provide a quality link that represents a bridge to new information, you also further satisfy the end-user.
Business visibility skyrockets because interested people will be exposed to the link. For instance, this ticket distributor wants traffic that might actually attend a sporting event. It doesn’t make sense to have a link to this domain on the front page of a cat food website. This doesn’t help the average person and confuses Google’s robots.
If you’re link building for business: Adding links to your business domain portfolio can really help your products and services reach the audience you desire. However, a well-intentioned link building needs to be the source of these links. Tricking the world’s internet users with black-hat links will not only upset Google, but it represents a major disservice to fellow humans around the world. If you want people to support and see your business, it’s important to do things the right way. You’ll be rewarded, even if patience is required along the way. Good business should be rewarded, and it will be.
Link building is an interesting subject. It can be done poorly and add to the complexity of the web or it can be done properly and make the system a more user-friendly experience. While it’s understandable that businesses have utilized black-hat SPAM strategies in the past to achieve immediate rankings, Google has caught on in 2019. Additionally, the world deserves better. Link building should be an open-source strategy for connecting relevant information. Business goals can still be met with good intentions, it just requires additional creativity and a wider depth of knowledge.