Link-building is the process of obtaining links from third-party websites that refer to your website. The more relevant websites refer to your website, the more confidence search engines like Google will derive from this that your website is an authority on the subject related to your website.
To answer the question of what is link-building: it is about obtaining quality links from third-party websites that are related in terms of subject to your website. Obtaining these links (if done correctly) will eventually get you higher in Google search results.
A link is a reference from one page to another page. A link can refer to a page within your own website as well as to a link from the website of a third party and thus to another domain. When you click on the link you go to another page.
To give you a concrete answer to “what is link-building for SEO?” it is important to know which parts of link-building are more important than others within SEO.
Link-building is one of the most important parts of your SEO online marketing strategy. In addition to optimizing your website for search engines, links or referring domains are a decisive factor for Google to determine your place in the page rankings. See it as recommendations. The more recommendations you get, the likelier that Google notices you. Do you get recommendations from your industry market leaders (think NASA in astronomy or Booking.com in the travel industry), even better!
If your website doesn’t have enough relevant links yet, it is important that you ensure that you focus on your link profile for your company. Make your website look good, provide relevant info, make it attractive to link to for other websites.
Compare link-building to getting more clients for a hair salon through the recommendation of other clients. However, you can only start the hair salon if you have the salon in order, otherwise, the reviews will be predominantly negative. This also applies to a website. To start, create a well-organized website with valuable, relevant, and keyword-optimized content. Chances are that people will want to refer to your website if the information you provide is relevant and adds value to the reader.
When many websites refer to your website, you have a popular website in the eyes of Google. However, one backlink is not like the other, and it is important to take this into account in link-building. The value of a link depends on several factors.
Firstly, it is important that the website where the backlink is placed is a reliable and preferably popular site. Backlinks on unknown websites or sites with a bad reputation are of no use. In addition, there are a number of characteristics that make a link a qualitative backlink.
Secondly, the anchor text. This is the piece of text that you click to open the external page. This is often part of a sentence related to the page to which the text refers. For example, ‘cheap laminate installation’ can serve as anchor text for the link to your page about having laminate installed. The anchor text preferably contains a popular keyword or part of your page title, so that the backlink is of added value and increases in value. So, if anyone is ever going to link to you, ask them to use an anchor text and not just paste the URL.
For example, linking from a number of web directories (like BOTW or AboutUs) to your website cannot be labeled as quality. You have probably paid for the link and the webpage itself is most likely not relevant to your industry. The quality of the link is measured on the basis of the relevance in comparison to your website, the website visit, and the number of qualitative backlinks of the link that refer to your website.
Other links that are not great for your SEO are links that are tagged as nofollow. This tag tells the Google crawlers NOT to follow that link. So it’s nice that you are mentioned on a website with a link, yet to Google the link is useless. A lot of forums work with nofollow links to protect themselves from SEO spammers 😉
You better focus on writing your own articles and promote that to peers in your industry.
Simply put, the website that has more relevant backlinks is the website with better content compared to the competition. This is the reason that websites with many links also rank higher in the search results than websites with few links. But how do you get those links and how to get people linking to you?
There are various link-building techniques including the skycrapping technique, guest blogging, link reclamation, and ABC link exchange. I will write complete blog articles about all these techniques soon!
Link-building is a challenge for any company. And YES it takes a relatively long time to get backlinks, you are depending on other website owners after all. If you want to do link-building correctly, you first have to create valuable content. Then you have to search for websites that might be interested in linking to your content. You probably have to write them an email and share your link in it and ask them nicely if they want to link to your article. I will share the email template that I use for this later on this blog. The results of link-building can take a day, months, or a year depending on how much competition there is and how busy the website owners are.
Remember the example of the hair salon? Your company stands or falls with recommendations from customers.
It works the same way on the internet. You can have a website that is fully optimized for search engines, but as long as others don’t visit and/or recommend your website, Google will not take it seriously. The more qualitatively strong websites refer to your website (backlinks), the higher Google will rate your website. And a positive rating automatically leads to a higher page rank. That is why link-building is the key to achieving a higher page rank.
A backlink is valuable when there is a relevant relationship between the backlink and the page it refers to. A backlink in a text about the purchase of a new bicycle should actually refer to relevant information for the reader who is looking for a new bicycle and not to a car shop. When there is no logical connection, the link decreases in value. Search engines are very smart nowadays that they pick up on this form of link-building and include it in their judgment. Therefore you should never pay for a link and stay away from web directories.
Does a webpage refer to dozens of other websites? Then Google scales these backlinks lower than when only two or three websites are linked. A backlink, therefore, has a greater value when it only refers to your website. It is even better when your website is referred to several times in 1 text, without exaggerating this of course. Especially when several websites do this, Google will appreciate your website higher and higher.
Keep in mind that you write for your visitors, not for Google. If your blog article contains tons of links, people will leave your webpage soon. So does Google.
With link-building, not only the popularity of the website is important, the activity and traffic on the website are also important. For example, a backlink on a website that is constantly kept up to date is of greater value than a link on an outdated site. Popular websites that are up to date and visited more often are a good place to place backlinks to your site. Google qualifies this and places your website higher in the ranking.
Link-building does not only have a positive effect on the ranking of your website in the Google search engine. In addition to search engine optimization, good backlinks also provide more traffic to your website. More traffic makes it possible to generate more sales. For example, by generating more leads or realizing more purchases on your webshop. Also, backlinks ensure that your reputation within your field is increased. The more sites link to your website, the more value is attached to your expertise. That makes link-building an indispensable part of your marketing strategy.
You speak of natural link behavior when people spontaneously share your content because it is interesting. You can take this into account when writing your texts. Most people search the Internet for information because they are looking for a solution to their problems. You can offer this solution with relevant valuable content. Is the content relevant, valuable, and original? Then you have a good chance that it will be shared spontaneously, which will yield you valuable backlinks. This way you work on link building without having to put in the extra effort.
There are ways to boost natural backlinks. You use your content to attract people to your site. This works best on Social Media where people are used to sharing content at the touch of a button. There are various perspectives on which you can use this form of link-building. This method stands or falls with the quality of your content.
Three ways to generate natural backlinks within your link-building strategy:
People always want to win something. It is not without reason that you see so often share, like & win promotions on Social Media. Just make sure you remain credible. Choose great prices and keep your promises. Only if people see that you are actually giving away prizes, are they willing to participate in your promotions more often. In this way, they work unnoticed not only on your brand awareness but also on your ranking in the search engines.
When it’s free, people often can’t refuse it. Therefore, offer your knowledge in a free e-book or give away samples of your product. In this way, potential customers can get to know your products or services in an accessible and non-committal way. Once their interest is piqued, it will lead to leads more quickly. Do not be afraid that people will no longer want to pay for your services or products if you give something away for free, in most cases, it tastes like more. You can also opt for a “wallet opener” with which you ask your target audience to deposit a relatively modest amount to receive a free product. Consider the shipping or handling costs. In any case, it is always good for your link-building and link profile when they share your promotion with their network.
Whether it concerns films or images: humor is always good, although taste can sometimes be disputed. People often like and share humorous content before they even look at its origin. However, always choose humorous content that is harmless and does not detract from your professionalism. In the best case, you choose a video or image that can be linked to your product or service to give it the added value of placement.
In most cases, you have to take action to realize backlinks and yes, a link-building strategy is required. There are several ways in which you can start link-building today. Below I provide an overview of the most commonly used methods. Take it slow, though. Anyone who suddenly generates a lot of backlinks in a short period of time is viewed with suspicion by Google. This can affect your link profile, causing you to fall in the ranking of the search engines.
If you have generated a lot of spammy or unnatural backlinks, read this guide on how to disavow a backlink.
Until now, we have only talked about backlinks within link-building, but internal links are also part of the link-building strategy. Internal links are meant to refer from one page to another within your website. For example, from your landing page, you can link to a relevant blog, your rates, or a contact page. You can also point the reader to another interesting article in a blog by placing a link. When you make this part of your link-building strategy, the internal link structure has a positive effect on your page ranking.
As an example: for a crypto blogger from the USA I created an internal link-building structure in 2021. I saw he had 8 main categories that he wrote about and created pillar content pages for those 8 subjects. From there I linked every blog post to one or two of the pillar content pages. Within 6 months his bounce rate dropped from 95% to 65% and he got a 13% increase in organic traffic.
If you are looking for an SEO Specialist with experience in the crypto, blockchain or web3 industry? Look no further 😉 I’m happy to talk about your website and how to get you more organic traffic too!
