Have you ever heard of link building in the context of search engine optimization? There’s a good chance that you’re left scratching your head because you’re not exactly sure. Granted, not everyone is a master at SEO, and for good reason. SEO is another playing field in digital marketing that will take hours and hours, if not days, to discuss and even skim the surface. Link building is just one part of it.
If your SEO strategy included hiring a link building agency to take care of this aspect of search engine optimization for you, it would be good for you because you’ve taken the right steps. The next part is to understand what link building is and how it optimizes your business’ website. Let’s dive deeper. . .
This is essentially a strategy in SEO that looks at the links in your webpage that come from other sites, also known as backlinks. Google looks at these links as endorsements or votes of confidence. The higher the quantity and quality of these links pointing to your web pages, the more trustworthy your web pages will seem to your target niche.
It sounds simple enough, but this is where Google levels the playing field for everybody. You can’t just have a dozen or so links from random websites leading to specific web pages on your website. Google looks at the quality of those links, quality and overall SEO performance of those websites and considers all of those factors when rating your web pages’ ranking.
Link building isn’t about putting as many external links as possible but building your content from the ground up and developing holistic relationships with other websites through links.
Take our word for it when we say you’re better off outsourcing with a link-building agency to do the nitty gritty stuff. Let them handle the hard part while you watch your website’s rankings increase and stay there. Link building is an arena for experts, and so is website design and development. As for link building, specific links can contribute to your ranking based on the following factors:
If websites get more external links from various sources worldwide, this usually lands them at the top of search results. This is why Wikipedia typically appears at the top of searches, as many subjects are linked from various internationally-based websites. When link building, it’s important to consider where those external websites are from or where they’re based because location matters greatly.
Websites should also feature links from external sites coming from the same community because this upgrades the trustworthiness of any website. For example, a shoe store has links coming from popular fashion bloggers in the area, so a search engine like Google will pay more attention to that shoe store site because there are trustworthy local links leading to it.
Search engines put more weight on a link if the subject of that link is directly related or similar to the content it’s leading to. This means that the topic of your content should correlate or complement all the links leading to it; otherwise, it will be flagged by Google.
It’s important to remember that link-building works both ways. Your website could have links leading from it or to it. It’s the external links that are harder to obtain because these come from other websites. It’s challenging to get websites to link to yours, especially if you’re still new to the game.
On the other side of the spectrum, internal links are easier because they’re within your control. As long as you stay within the bounds of your target niche, you’re good. External linking is the challenge, and this is where a link-building agency comes in to help you.
Social media plays quite a vital role in link-building strategies these days. Link building is one of the biggest aspects of SEO, where the main aim is to get high-quality backlinks from websites to improve the quality of the website and improve the overall visibility of search engines. There are different ways social media contributes to modern-day link-building.
You can share your content, such as videos, blog posts, infographics, articles, and much more, on different social media platforms. If your followers share your content with their connections and like it, then it will grab the attention of a lot of other bloggers, content creators, and websites and get organic backlinks.
Social media lets you connect with other website owners, bloggers, industry professionals, and influencers. When you engage with their content and build genuine relationships, you have the chance to increase the number of genuine backlinks to your content in the near future.
If you share relevant and valuable content on different social media platforms, it can generate engagement and interest in your content. If you share compelling content, your followers will also share your content, and other industry members will also share it, resulting in potential backlinks and more visibility.
Thought leaders and influencers have a strong social media presence. Building successful relationships with these influencers can lead to collaborations where they will share your content and link to your websites from other platforms, as well as improve your link profile.
You have to be active on all the social media platforms. This provides you with a chance to engage with the audience directly. When you respond to your followers or reply to their messages and comments, you increase the chance to link it from their websites.
When you hit activities like likes, shares, and comments, it helps you a lot and is also a big symbol that the profile is going strong. Social engagement is connected to the search engine rankings indirectly. Content that has higher social engagement has a chance to attract more organic backlinks over time.
Creating user-generated content with the help of social media contests, campaigns, or challenges can increase the visibility and potential backlinks of those who share their contributions on their platforms.
Platforms like Pinterest, Reddit, and numerous others allow users to share good content. If you can grab attention with the help of these contents, it will help you get good traffic and get generate potential backlinks.
The answer to our question above is, “No, link building is not for everyone.” It’s a strategy that requires an expert hand if you also want top-notch results for your website. Creating relationships with your users and followers in your industry can help you get more organic backlinks with time. Genuine engagement and networking are good for your website ranking, and social media plays a major role in the process.
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A self-proclaimed Swiftian, Instagram-holic, and blogger, Subhasree eats, breathes, and sleeps pop culture. When she is not imagining dates with Iron Man on Stark Tower (yes, she has the biggest crush on RDJ, which she won’t admit), she can be seen tweeting about the latest trends. Always the first one to break viral news, Subhasree is addicted to social media, and leaves out no opportunity of blogging about the same. She is our go-to source for the latest algorithm updates and our resident editor.
