Mastering effective link building in 2016 and beyond
Receiving quality, educational and timely links to your website positively impacts your search engine rank and helps to build trust with influential bloggers and online marketers. Similarly, including links to relevant outside sources within your website’s content also helps to build value for your own site. Link building is a tricky process and, when it’s done incorrectly, can negatively impact your website’s visibility on major search engines like Google. Therefore, it’s imperative to navigate the link building process strategically and very carefully.
"Google considers links valuable in its ranking algorithm because they're an indication of trust, credibility, and authority. When another website links to yours, it means they found something valuable on your site, and that makes you more valuable by proxy."
The basics of constructive link building:
First and foremost, link building should be used in tandem with your company’s overarching content strategy, and not viewed as a stand-alone marketing tactic. Ultimately, the best way to encourage others to link to your website is by providing them with valuable information.
“If the outbound links on your site tend to be beneficial to the people who visit it, they are actually going to help improve your rankings,”
When including outbound links within your content, it’s important to ask yourself the following questions:
- Does the link provide relevant, helpful, or timely information on an applicable subject?
- Is the website I’m linking to a trusted source?
- Does the information within the link add significant value to my content?
Also, keep in mind that “link stuffing” simply does not work. By cramming various outbound links throughout your content, users will find it awkward to read and, most likely, they won’t want to share your information. Furthermore, search engine bots will “ding” your website and drop its rank.
The bottom line: make sure you’ve done your homework before linking to other websites and absolutely avoid “link stuffing.”
Create quality content and they will come.
It may feel as though you have no control over whether or not other websites link to your content, but that’s not entirely true. Remember, “content is king,” and you have complete control over what types of content you produce. The more valuable content you publish, the more likely it will be shared on other websites, social media, and blogs. The goal is to have your content shared by authoritative sources that are highly respected.
"Earning links from highly-trusted domains can result in a significant boost to this scoring metric. Universities, government websites and non-profit organizations represent examples of high-trust domains."
(moz.com)
To bring additional awareness to your website, try some of the following:
- Seek out guest blogging opportunities for influential members of your industry.
- Offer valuable information for free in the form of a value exchange on your website or through an email newsletter.
- Offer to cross promote on-brand businesses in your field on social media in exchange for mentions on their websites, which include your company’s URL.
Remember, link building is about building quality relationships, through quality content.
Ask us how we can help you with your link building strategy through inbound marketing techniques by emailing us at info@mixmainemarketing.com or calling (207) 622-0110.
