Before online became the most significant thing in the business world, media used to act as backlinks, providing endorsement for products and services (it still does). The more a brand was recommended, the popular it became. Well, the same applies when it comes to the ranking of websites on Google search results. The more a website with higher authority refer your site, the popular it becomes and the higher it ranks. If you are just starting link-building or you just heard it can improve your ranking but you don't know how to go about it, this article is for you.
Why does link building matter?
To explain this, I will use an example. Have you noticed that Wikipedia always rank on the first page of google? Have you ever asked yourself why? Well, the reason is simple, Wikipedia has been able to accrue millions of links over the years. Links and brands are the main reasons why most people visit a website. Links impacts your visibility in Google Algorithm and the more the links the more your website will be visible and the more it will be exposed to many people.
Important Link Terms
Backlinks
Backlinks are links that have their origin from a referring domain and they point to one or more webpages of yours. For example, if your website links to Wikipedia, Wikipedia will have a backlink from your website. Your website will be the referring domain and Wikipedia will be the referent. Backlinks are also referred to as incoming links or inbound links. In Search Console, Google calls these links, "links to your site." It is in the SEO world (marketing) that these links are referred to as backlinks. Try to build high-quality backlinks from relevant sites. Never create backlinks from low quality and irrelevant sites, it is considered as search engine manipulation. So focus on natural link building process.
Also, Read guidelines for write for us digital marketing
Internal Links
Internal links are links that point from one webpage of your site to another. Internal links are also referred to as website navigation. Internal links help direct users to various materials within your website. The links also play a significant role when it comes to improving your Google search results ranking.
What is the difference between Link Building and Link Earning?
Getting links organically will increase the authority of your website which will in turn increase traffic towards your website and expose it to many people. Link earning is creating trustworthy and wonderful content and promote it like it is the last time you are promoting content. The links occur naturally and you cannot build them manually. But to get the links, you will have to earn them. To earn the links you will need to create high-quality content. There are also other ways of earning the links which include guest blogging, data-driven content, and outreach.
Below are some of the good links and the links you should avoid
Natural, Editorial Links
Getting links naturally is no easy. You need to work extra hard or be a trusted authority in your niche. Natural links improve the ranking of a site and it might be the reason why many companies nowadays are hiring influencers to help them earn natural links. Influencers can help your site acquire natural links directly or indirectly.
Manually Created Links
Manually created links are the most common and they are mostly generated through outreach. The outreach process can be either manual or automated. Manual outreach is the best of two as it gives you a chance to interact with bloggers, journalist, and influencers. You will build a great relationship with them as you build links for your site. However, manually created links take time and they need you to be patient.
Automated outreach, on the other hand, involves sending the same template to bloggers. You will need to work hard first to gather a substantial list of emails and from there you can send the emails with a single click on a button. The method is fast but there is a possibility of hitting the inbox of a person not interested.
Self-Created, Non-editorial Links
Sell-created links are among the bad links. They are considered of low quality and you should avoid them as much as possible. In the past, the self-created links were highly abused by many SEO Expert and because of this, Google started devaluing them and you can even be penalized for trying to build links of that kind. Some of the self-created links include user profiles, advertorials, guest posts, blog comments that are not moderated, press releases with specific keywords and embedded infographics.
Paid Links
Paid links are another type of links you should avoid. Paid links involve paying another site to share your site or agreeing to be paid to link a site. This is considered unethical and Google does not respond nicely to people who try to cheat the system.
The Most Valuable Inbound Links
The best inbound links are the ones which have the potential of generating traffic. Link building aims to increase your visibility so that you can get new clients and customers, so the most important links are ones with the potential of driving traffic. Quora and Reddit are regarded as the best platforms to share links. But to do that you will need to be a member and participate actively trying to help people solve some problems within your niche. Once you answer as many questions as possible, the members will trust you and they will be happy to get more information from your website.
Quality is better than Quantity
It is might be easy to acquire easy-to-get links but it will be better you have few quality links from credible websites than lots of links from many small websites. However, the quantity still matters because there is no way you will have like 5 credible links while another has 3 credible links and many other links and you rank higher. Best advice, try to balance between quality and quantity. For the best results make sure to analyze links, make use of the current relationships, narrow down the target list and build more relationships so that you can expand your outreach.
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