Search engine optimization (SEO) has long been a digital marketing strategy that is critical for the success of a business that wishes to have any online presence. SEO strategies have evolved over the years as Google and other search engines have become wise to marketers leveraging loopholes in the process in order to improve their SEO ranking (remember typing keywords in a font that matched the background of your webpage?).
One important SEO strategy that still remains is that of link building, despite what some might think.
Linkbuilding isn’t dead! Don’t even think about not including it in your SEO strategy.
The fact is that search engines are savvy now, and just any old link back to your website won’t do. A link to your site that a search engine will consider legitimate comes from a site or page that has content relevant to your site.
Press releases are good.
Search engines still recognize traditional press releases as legitimate for link building. Take the right approach to write a press release by including your keywords and a link back to your website.
Guest blogging for others is good!
You want to guest blog on sites that have relevant content to your own. If you work for Two Degrees Food, for example, and make gluten-free, vegan snack bars, then requesting guest blogging spots on vegan and gluten-free blogs makes sense! They will allow you to link back to your website within your own blog post.
Build quality content on your own blog that people can share.
When your audience shares your blog posts, this creates links back to your site – and additional traffic. Make sure your blog post titles are killer (interesting!) and that you also have great photos (with captions!) to complement them.
Link to other high-quality sites that are not competitive.
Outbound linking is an important part of your link building strategy. It also shows Google’s ever-developing algorithm that your site is balanced in its receipt of quality links pointing to it, and in its giving of quality links (for your users). Google cares about the user’s experience, not your brand.
Some methods for communication are oldies but goodies – link building is one of them.
No-no’s in link building.
Don’t link to or be linked to from bad sites.
You can use Google’s Link Disavow Tool to help get rid of links to your site that are hurting its SEO chances. You can also simply ask those sites to make links to your site down (but if they don’t, Link Disavow is a great option for making that happen).
Don’t duplicate content on your website.
Don’t do it in plain sight OR in the font color that matches your site’s background color. Google is onto you if you do so, and you can actually be penalized for it and have your site’s SEO negatively impacted.
In short, link building is still a very important part of your SEO strategy. You can build high-quality content, but if no one ever sees it, what is the point of building it? You need links pointing to that content. Consider the link to your site a bit like any traditional marketing effort – it is building awareness about your site that wouldn’t exist if such links weren’t out there!