Google today considers the number of backlinks a website possesses in determining the rank it deserves. Search Engine Optimisation strategies have always involved link building, and experts believe it is one of the most important strategies in digital marketing.
What is Link Building?
Link building is often done to place your website’s backlinks in external websites of a higher authority. Think of it as a recommendation of your website by these other websites. Getting your site many backlinks means the big players recognise your contributions in the industry and are willing to refer you to their audience. This rationale is what informs Google ranking; a website with more quality backlinks is of higher value than one that isn’t.
There are two types of backlinks:
- Do-Follow links are backlinks that improve search rankings and site metrics for a website. They help to direct traffic to your website and raise your SEO scores. These types of links improve how well your website fares on Google’s rank list.
- No-Follow links are backlinks that only ensure your web traffic increases but do not improve your website metric or SEO scores.
Despite these definitions, No-Follow links have been observed to improve rankings of smaller websites when they originate from big social media sites. It is good to take those wins, whether do-follow or no-follow, en-route to better SEO scores. More traffic will eventually lead to high-quality backlinks, with a good marketing strategy.
Benefits of building backlinks:
1. Premium content – At the heart of every content writer’s mind is a desire to disseminate quality content to their readers. This is the most important way to keep your audience coming back for more. Link building ensures you aren’t just smiling to yourself in a dark room; it makes certain that your community is better informed and that anyone else who is interested in learning can get the very best information out there.
2. Search ranking improvement – When someone searches for any keyword or subject, the search rank of your website determines what page your link will appear on. Search Engine Optimisation experts will tell you that building backlinks will improve this ranking score. To move from page 2 to the top of page 1, you need to garner more backlinks than the websites above you.
3. Improved website metrics – Link building improves your website metrics, such as Domain Rating (DR), Domain Authority (DA), and Page Rank (PR). Google has an SEO score for each website. Building your backlinks ensures that your rank and ratings increase, and give you a bigger podium to reach your target audience.
4. Wider reach – One of the signs that your website is healthy is the number of visitors that visit. Making use of a professional link building service will drive traffic to your website and increase your visibility amongst your target audience. Sites with high traffic are often one article away from a top-quality backlink.
5. Improved revenue – Link building drives more sales from your website. When you have goods and services for sale, the growth of your reading audience improves your chances of patronage and finding buyers for your products. Exposing your work to more industry players opens you up to partnerships and consultancy gigs, not to mention paid promotions for other companies.
6. Recognition – The higher the number of backlinks you have, the higher your credibility in your niche community. This generally means that the bigger players recognise your content and endorse it. The frequency with which your site pops up on bigger websites ingrains the perception that you can be trusted, and more people are likely to take the word of your articles before checking other opinions.
7. Relevance in your niche – An effective link building strategy will improve your chances of being invited to stakeholder meetings, whether as a result of your contributions in your industry or for the reach you possess with your online audience. You also stand to benefit from networking with industry players and parallel industries in your niche. All because of your backlinks. Pay attention to your marketing strategy, or better still, hire a link building agency.
8. Uninterrupted traffic – One very important advantage of continuously building backlinks is that for as long as the reciprocal website is operational, you will continue to receive traffic from there. Writers outside your industry may also come in contact with your website as a result. The continued building of backlinks ensures you are not left behind in the race for relevance and better SEO scores.
9. Brand clout – Maintaining your relevance as a brand requires you to continue to execute and improve your strategy. Enlisting the services of a link building agency affords you the very best execution of your strategy in an ever-changing ecosystem. Maintaining consumer trust using the advantages of link building means even a new product/service has better chances of acceptance from your audience.
10. Improved geographical reach – Most Search Engine Optimisation strategies focus on improving your Google ranks, Domain ratings (DR), and so on, but implementing a good link-building strategy could also help you connect with people outside your geographical location. You can break new ground in countries on a far-away continent through link building. With such benefits also come improved sales and tapping into a global market for your brand, products, and services.
Summary
All websites are bound by a code of ethics in how we go about building backlinks. Use of link directories or a private network of blogs to influence search rankings and domain ratings are illegal. The benefits of link-building are evident, but the strategy to get there might differ from one person to another. If you need help creating the right strategy, or you can’t figure out how to go about planning and execution, then you need a link building agency. Your business will be better for it.
If you need help with your link building strategy, we’d love to hear from you. Please get in touch today.