Link building is a challenging and complicated.
It needs research, planning, lots of work and a good deal of perseverance. Google has proved that links and quality content are two of the three most important ranking factors for SEO. Google has proved that links and quality content are two of the three most important ranking factors for SEO. Trustworthy sites likely to link to other trustworthy sites, and suspicious sites tend to link to other suspicious sites.
But what is a link? How do you earn them from other websites?
Link
Backlinks or also known as inbound or external links are HTML hyperlinks that point from one website to another.
Internal links that connect internal pages of the same domain, work like your website. A high amount of internal links displaying to a page on the site will produce a signal to Google that the page is important, as long as it’s done normally and not in a suspicious way.
Why is it important?
Backlinks are an essential aspect in how every search engine conclude which sites rank for which keywords. Building links is one of the many tactics used in search engine optimization (SEO) because links are a signal to Google that the site is a trustworthy site. Thus, sites with more backlinks tend to earn higher rankings.
Link Building Strategies
1) Content Creation & Promotion
Create engaging, unique, high-quality content that people will naturally want to reference and link to, and tell people about it. You have to publicise the content before you can expect anyone to find and link to it.
2) Reviews & Mentions
Put your IT services, or site in front of influencers in your industry, such as popular bloggers or people with a large social media following.
3) Links from Friends & Partners
If the goal of your page is to keep readers engaged and take them to a next step, then pages per visit can be a valuable engagement metric. In another scenario, if the goal of your page is independent of other pages on the site—for example, go to your website, got what they needed, then left— then low pages per visit are okay.
Remember that building a lot of links takes time. Be patient and remember that buying links are against Google’s guidelines and can be devastating for your SEO.
Internal Link Building
If you’re looking for free, easy, underrated and a method you have total control over to build links, use internal link building.
Here’s some key factors to consider:
1. Anchor Text
A visible, clickable text in a hyperlink. In modern browsers, it is often blue and underlined, such as this link to Roc Pro homepage.
Here’s a few SEO-friendly anchor texts are:
- Succinct
- Relevant to the linked-to page
- Low keyword density (not overly keyword-heavy)
- Not generic
2. Quality of the Linking Page
The quality of the page is sending the link; search engines allow links from high-quality, trusted pages to count more in boosting rankings than dubious pages and sites.
3. Links send qualified traffic
Focus on gaining links that bring efficient traffic to the website.
Link profile
It’s the makeup of links directing to your site and overall assessment of all the inbound links that your site has earned.
Qualities of a healthy link profile
Note: Always try to maintain a healthy link profile.
- Quality
- Quantity
- Relevance
- Freshness
- Depth
- Naturalness
A healthy link profile indicates that the search engines are earning links and authority. Always strive to ensure link profile is honest and earned via good, old-fashioned hard work.
Editorial Links
It’s a link that results from a site having good content and marketing techniques. It is not paid or directly requested. Take note that, editorial links are elements of an effective link profile.
Characteristics of exceptional editorial links:
- Creative
- Controversial
- Funny
- Unique
- Timely
- Helpful
Do’s
1. Focus on “Natural” Links
Producing the best content is the best way to gain external links for your IT services company’s website.
2. Link out
Engage in community and charitable events, these organizations are willing to provide a link as a token of appreciation for your partnership.
3. Social Media Marketing
Build a page on social media networks like Facebook, Twitter, Instagram. Build a following, and interact with your followers. Encourage them to share your content and spread the word.
4. Competitive research
Identify relevant, trustworthy and valuable websites for your target audience. Research on what your competitors are planning.
5. Quality Over Quantity
Prioritise quality backlinks over quantity. Be careful about the links you chose to build.
Don’ts
1. Purchased links
Websites caught buying or selling followed links are liable to severe penalties that may cause severe drop rankings.
2. Link exchanges
Google’s guidelines caution against “excessive” link exchange for the sake of cross-linking and unaffiliated sites that can warrant penalties. However, it is acceptable on a smaller scale to link to people you work with, partner with, or have some other affiliation with and have them link back to you for this might not trigger any link spam alarms.
3. Low-quality directory links
This is a popular source of manipulation. A number of pay-for-placement web directories do exist to serve a market and pass themselves off as legitimate, with varying degrees of success. These sites look very similar to one another, with large lists of websites and their descriptions.
Link building is an essential part of an SEO strategy. Still, it’s important to not get too obsessed on the number of backlinks you are accumulating. Focus on quality rather than quantity and other links that promotes your site, like brand affinity, increased traffic and awareness.
Links should be valuable for the user of a website. Links are expected to be clicked on. Link building should be about establishing links that are useful for the audience of your website, so they will click! Be mindful, with these DON’Ts, and your link building strategies will be smooth sailing.
Take note that there are other ways that you can improve your site, too. Making sure it’s fast, has a great user experience and answers search queries effectively are as important as the link building. Link building is a long-term strategy, be patient and don’t let it interfere other important matters that also need your attention.
Contact us now for a free SEO audit.