Link building is aimed at boosting the “authority” of a web page so that it ranks higher on Google and other search engines. It’s the process of getting other websites to link to pages on yours. The links send a signal to the search engines that tells them your site is a quality resource, helping it to rank higher so that you’ll get more traffic.
Any business owner should be looking into building links to drive traffic and increase the authority of their site. While Google’s algorithms are always evolving and complex, links that are vital factor in how every search engine determines which sites rank for particular keywords. Therefore, those that have more quality backlinks, earn higher rankings.
The “key” word is quality – more traffic is directly related to the quality of the links, which can be hard to get, as an article by Entrepreneur.com notes.
The Basic Ways Search Engines Use Links
To understand the importance of link building, you’ll want to know the basic ways search ingines use links: to discover new web pages that can be used in search results ad to help determine how high a page should rank in those results.
Once a search engine has crawled pages on the web, they extract the content and add the pages to their indexes. This way to allows them to determine whether the page is of high enough quality to be ranked well for relevant keywords. In addition to the content, they look at the number of links that point to the page from external websites, and what the quality of those websites are.
Natural Linkbuilding is a Must
If you care about the long-term viability of your business and its site, natural linkbuilding is a must. There is a right and wrong way to build links, which is why so many organizations are turning to link building services to ensure the best results. With the expertise and necessary training behind these experts, your site will have more credibility and a higher ranking that provides big benefits for the buck.
Links can come naturally as a result of activities where the central goal may not be to generate links. For example, if you create an outstanding, compelling piece of content meant to be the top guide in your industry and it’s seen by others that way, then you’re likely to get links as a result.
Or if you launch a revolutionary new product that’s never been seen before, the odds are good that you’ll get many links back to your site.
While some may tell you that you can buy links or achieve them through manipulative tactics, it will hurt your site and its traffic in the long run. Natural, organic link building is essential, but it’s also a time-consuming and challenging process.
Relationship Building
Links from authoritative sites such as LinkedIn and the Wall Street Journal will have more of an impact on rankings than a link from a recently built or small website without much traffic, but they’re harder to come by.
Link building often involves reaching out to the owners of relevant blogs and sites within your industry, perhaps related to promoting something you’ve created, like a helpful infographic. Not only might you get a link, but it can help you to build long-term relationships with influencers that are key in your industry. In turn, that can make your business one that’s trusted and highly regarded.