How To Increase Your Search Engine Rankings With Link Building
It’s simple math, learn how to increase your search rankings with link building, because links equal trust, authority, relevance and ultimately ranking.
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Search engine optimization is one of the most critical processes that businesses focus on today. It is the process that companies use to make their websites better for search engines or rather to rank better in search engines.
Better website rankings mean increased website visits, engagements, and conversions, which translate to better profits.
The big problem is how to increase your search rankings?
One HUGE factor determining how well a website ranks on search engines is the amount and quality of links both in content and from other websites pointing to your website or page as a resource.
Websites with plenty of high-quality links are considered authoritative. Search engines then reward them with first-page rankings where they become most visible.
It is vital to understand how link building can contribute to good SEO. Every marketer also needs to know the best link-building tips and tricks that improve SEO. This article explores the basics of link building and how you can use it to increase your business’s SEO rankings.
Keep reading to find out more.
Understanding Link Building in SEO
A basic overview of what link building is can help build the foundation for your marketing strategy as a beginner. Using links in a marketing strategy ensures that a website ranks highly on search engines. This helps to create brand awareness and increase traffic to the website.
Search engines view backlinks as endorsements from other websites. The more the links in your web content, the more authoritative your website appears. But then, the linking should not be spammy but done in a natural way to attract the desired rewards from search engines.
Google ranking sites that link to websites that display the qualities of E-A-T in their content. This acronym means that a website shows expertise, authoritativeness, and is trustworthy. Search engines are evolving, and user intent matters to them. Therefore, websites need to craft content that satisfies user intent.
Link building should be among the first things to consider if looking for how to improve SEO. If you cannot research quality links, you can seek link building and other SEO services from experts. Then, you can head on to Google and choose an SEO company from various available choices.
A great way to approach this would follow this example;
Let’s say you’re starting a new eCommerce business in Milwaukee. The first thing you might do is to Google, Digital Marketing Milwaukee agencies, that can help you grow your SEO rankings. Agencies showing up at the top of search, maybe even with paid ads, would be a prime starting point to vet local pros. A key part of what they will help you do is find high-quality links for your website. Apart from SEO services, you can find a PPC agency to help with PPC management, PPC marketing, and PPC services.
How Link Building Works
There are two main types of links that you can include in your content; internal and external.
Internal linking is using links that point to different pages on your website. These links are easy to find as you do not need anyone’s approval to use them. You only need to take your time to plan how to use these links.
On the other hand, external links are harder to obtain and use for SEO. This is because you need to research reputable sites and ask to guest post on their sites. Alternatively, creating top-notch content can help you attract external links. External links are excellent for SEO as they make your site authoritative.
Deep linking produces the best SEO results. Many content creators link to homepages or contact pages. The truth is, you may not get the desired results by doing this. Instead, focus on linking to relevant articles in blog sections of websites. This ensures that the link you provide offers value to the customer.
One of the biggest mistakes that people make when building external links is trying to buy them. Links from legit websites that will earn you good rankings do not get sold. You risk losing more on search engine ranking if you resort to purchasing links or practicing black hat SEO, as it is commonly known.
Do I Need a Backlink Profile?
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One thing that many people are never sure about is whether they need a backlink profile. Well, the truth is that link building without building a solid backlink profile is not enough. A link profile is an assessment of all the links that your site has earned. It helps you know whether you are doing enough.
There are several things that a strong backlink profile needs to have. They include natural, authoritative, and follow links. It also needs to have links from related sites, varied anchor texts, and links from other relevant sites. A strong link profile is good for SEO, and it is a necessity for websites today.
It is your link profile that helps search engines understand how you relate to other websites. It also indicates to search engines that you are acquiring links with the correct procedure and not buying them. The best thing about link profiles is that you can analyze yours to know where you stand.
To succeed with SEO, especially on Google, you need always to maintain a healthy link profile. Google has terms of service that you need to stick to constantly as a website owner. Dangerous tactics like black hat SEO may get you first page rankings, but you won’t last in those positions for long.
Why is Link Building Important?
There are many reasons why businesses need to consider link building in their SEO strategy. It is vital that every content marketer understands the benefits of using link-building for SEO. Here are some reasons why you need to consider link building in your business today.
1. Link Building Affects SEO
As mentioned earlier, Google considers links when ranking websites. Suppose you run a business website and would like to attract high rankings on Google. Quality supersedes quantity when it comes to link building. The more the quality of your links, the higher the SEO rankings you achieve.
There are also a few practices that can affect your SEO score. We already mentioned how black hat SEO could affect your site’s rankings. Using links that aren’t credible or using too many links at one time is also not good for SEO.
2. Makes Content Relevant and Authoritative
Backlinks are like endorsements in real life, and that explains why they are essential. Having backlinks to authoritative sites helps to make your content look relevant. You need to show consistency in content creation and also focus on acquiring links from credible sites. This will help you establish yourself as an industry authority.
3. Help Increase Time Spent on Your Website
Links help increase the amount of time that people spend on a website. Internal links that provide more information on a subject keep your customers browsing your website for longer. This helps increase the chances of purchasing a product or requesting a service you offer. In short, backlinks are one of the best sources of loyal website traffic.
How To Get Links to Rank Your Content in Search
Taking on link building to improve your search engine rankings requires effort. The amount of effort usually correlates to the quality of the link. Let’s take a look at 10 highly relevant way to get great links.
1. The HARO Technique (Help A Reporter Out)
Ever been published? If not, Using HARO to provide journalists with timely information is a great way of getting valuable backlinks and building your authority.
All you have to do is register on the Help a Reporter website then receive emails for source requests. If you answer them — they will then list you as a source, linking your website.
2. Blog Often & Blog About Trending Topics
Building backlinks is all about creating shareable content. Hot trending topics tops the charts in terms of shareable content. Since these are new topics, people are hungry for more info and will want to link you as their hot source!
So if you’re able to be one of the first to report about such relevant content in fast-paced times, then this is a good strategy to follow. It can even get you both a large number of backlinks and new followers!
If you need a little help finding trending topics to blog about, check out this post.
3. Co-Author From High Authoritative Websites
Guest posting on various websites can also help you get backlinks, as long as your pitch includes you adding a link back to your website. You too can take advantage of this strategy, as long as you guest post on relevant and high authority websites and get your pitches accepted. This is a win-win situation for all because the website gets good content while you get high quality backlinks.
4. Utilize the Broken Link Technique
Many websites, yours included, has broken links.
Link building can be easy when you’re simply helping others fix out of date links.
You can use a lot of tools, like Ahrefs, who created that awesome video shown above, to help you find broken backlinks on your site, recovering and repurposing them. Furthermore, you can look for other websites’ broken links and notify the admins, asking if you can create content around those topics related to that broken link or page.
5. Build Excellent Link Relationships
Building high quality links requires quality relationships!
Have you ever heard that saying, “you have to give a little to get a little”?
It’s no different in link building, by partnering and helping others, you can be rewarded greatly in terms of links. Some great examples are answering questions on Twitter, Quora, and other forums.
Take note: It takes a little time to build an authority presence, but Quora and forums do work quickly to start getting traffic in!
Share people’s stuff: Building relationships is a selfless act. When you see a great piece of content, share it. This is a great way to get someone’s attention and they might even return the favor with a link down the road.
6. Create a Blog For Your Website
This is an old but gold link building strategy!
If you don’t have a blog for your website, it’s time to set one up and start creating content about niches and topics which are related to your website. Not only can this increase user engagement and traffic, but other websites would link you as authoritative content, too!
If you’re a small business owner who’s still wondering… does blogging help SEO?
You are going to want to read this post!
7. Turn Your Mentions to Backlinks
Link building is easy when somebody’s already mentioned you!
If ever someone mentions your website and what your business has to offer, contact them and ask if they can turn the mention to a backlink instead.
Here’s what you need to do:
- Sign up for BuzzSumo Alerts (or Google Alerts).
- Set up backlink alerts to receive daily digest.
- Set up brand mentions to receive daily digest.
- Email websites mentioning you by starting with a thank you, offer help or advice, then ask if they wouldn’t mind linking to you as it would make it easy for readers.
Email Template:
Hey, [name]!
I hope you’re doing well. I see you’ve [mentioned a post I’ve worked on].
Thank You!
I was doing some research this morning and noticed you [that your readers might benefit from a link to this post].
Include [URL].
If you don’t have the time no worries, but let me know if there’s any other content I might be able to contribute to your site or readers.
Either way, keep up the great work!
Cheers,
[your name and title]
While this is pretty easy, take note that this strategy only works if the websites haven’t linked back to your website from the said piece.
8. Try the Skyscraper Technique
The Skyscraper technique is a tough strategy but very effective when link building. This is a link building technique developed by master link builder and content creator Brian Dean.
You will need to write up amazing and informative content related to specific issues about your industry or niche, offering solutions and call-to-actions around your piece. If you have the right solution or information, then you can get authoritative backlinks, though it takes time!
Check out Brian’s Case Study; where After executing “The Skyscraper Technique“, the number of backlinks to his page shot up like a rocket:
More importantly, organic search traffic to his entire site — not just that post — doubled in just 14 days!
9. Check Out Local Influencers and Directories
Interviewing or collaborating with influencers can give you a lot of local links, with more fans and people sharing them. You can find local influencers through connections and contact details, or through online tools and websites.
Furthermore, you can check out your local directories as sources for local links. This can help you create strong relationships for future link building collaborations as well.
10. Finding Linkable Websites and Creating a Good Pitch
Fortunately, there are now great tools and websites that can help you find authoritative websites related to your niche. Once you have your list of potential blogs and websites you can write or collaborate with, it’s time to make a pitch!
Check out the Top 10 Branding Tools and Strategies to Boost Your Business
Ensure that your pitch is personalized, straight to the point, including what you can offer for them, as well as your appreciation.
We’ve talked about 10 great methods of building quality backlinks, but if you’re want to dive into every technique to link building for better rankings, you’ll want to check out these massively underrated link building tactics that work surprisingly well.
Click here to read the full post and get the highly useful infographic.
Conclusion
This article has explained everything that you need to know about building backlinks for higher rankings. There may be a lot that goes into SEO, but backlinks are the driving force behind ranking your content.
Stick to the best practices of link building if you want to increase your SEO score and rankings on search engine result pages. Following the tips in this article can help you grow your organic traffic and boost your returns.
