According to Google, links are the #1 ranking factor, alongside well-made content. They’re an important ranking factor if you’re looking for ways to reach the uppermost of results pages and a process that focuses entirely on quality rather than quantity.
Link building is a gradual process- at least if you do it right. Having the right backlink strategy is an important part of off-site SEO, but like many other aspects of search engine optimization, link building is not simple.
Throughout your link-building process, you will face good, great, and toxic backlinks where too much of the latter can harm your ranking.
In this post, we’ll discuss backlinks and how they can impact your ranking efforts.
Backlinks: What are they?
The process of backlinking refers to a scenario where a page on the internet references a page on your site and includes a clickable link for readers to land on that page. Naturally, websites that link to your website pages should be connected in a similar way (industry, similar content, or goal).
They can make or break your website’s reputation, and overall performance in search engine results which is why having the right link-building strategy is the most important part of SEO. Because Google determines a site’s ranking using a number of different factors, it’s important to employ all resources when trying to improve your website’s visibility on search results pages.
How can backlinks impact your SEO?
Good backlinks directed towards your site lead to good SEO, which in turn leads to greater visibility and more prospects.
According to Seeders, a website with a rich linking structure it’s usually popular or important for search engines – or both. If your website already has a large number of backlinks, Google or any other search engines will consider it more relevant than other websites with little to no backlinks.
Obviously, adding backlinks just for the sake of having them isn’t a viable option. Because they’re quite important to your business’s website and indicate a certain amount of popularity, you can also be tempted into throwing in backlinks that aren’t relevant or even connected to your specific niche. A linking strategy that pays is one where you can be intentional about the site you’re connecting to and the backlinks you procure.
Backlinking isn’t rocket science. If you need some help getting more traffic to your website but lack the expertise and experience to do so, you can always rely on a link building agency to create the right linking strategy for you.
However, if you’re eager to experiment with different link building strategies but don’t know which, we have you covered:
Resource Page Link Building
This is the most common link building strategy and starts by aligning your website content with linkable audiences. You can find linkable audiences among curators who are likely to link to recommend informative(academic) resources. Linkable audiences can be:
- Parents
- Job seekers
- Teachers
- PTSD patients
- People with disabilities
- Veterans
You can also find relatable audiences for link building by doing a quick Google search for a specific topic. After you’ve identified linkable audiences, you should then create content that appeals to that specific target audience.
Guest blogging
Guest blogging isn’t new. It has always been one of the most efficient strategies to add links to a website through given keyword-rich anchor texts. But the old ways of mass guest blogging don’t work anymore. Search engines are smart enough to see that you’re not guest blogging for the sake of adding value.
But if you want to enjoy the benefits of guest blogging, you need to be both authentic and strategic. That means creating unique pieces of content for other sites, content that’s relevant, authoritative and appeals to the modern reader.
Selective guest-posting will bring you the benefits of higher rankings, better traffic and qualitative leads.
Social media is your friend
Social media platforms have revolutionized marketing and can be massively advantageous for your guest post effort and link building strategy. If you’re not active on platforms such as Twitter, Facebook, Instagram, or even YouTube, you’re doing your online business a disservice.
Social channels let you share images, new posts, and updates, which can later help your audience find what they want to see.
Being active on social media will improve your engagement, even if you’re new to it. For example, if you get active on Facebook, you will expose your business and site to more people who could share your best content with their target audience.
Find trusted websites for your resource links
A resource link can be a guide that you find or compile for your target audience. These can be found on authority sites like Entrepreneur, Social Media Examiner or Forbes. If your resource links lead to a compiled list of blogs related to your niche, their visitors can more easily find what they’re looking for.
