Link building is such an important factor when it comes to actually showing up when people search for your type of services or products online. People think it’s a technical tactic when in reality, it’s just networking.
The number of links that link back to your site are the second most important thing in the SEO world (the first is keywords.) Having said that, people link to things worth sharing so you have to create something that people will want to link to. People want to share it with their friends, networks, and audiences; hence the term “networking.”
Create Valuable Content
Creating valuable (and SEO rich) content that leads to link building will help you rank higher on search engines and hopefully help you outrank your competition. It’s worth mentioning that you want to keep your competitors close. Whether it’s locally or nationally, keeping an eye out on who’s out-ranking you and who’s reading your competition can put you in the lead. This is as easy as just searching for important terms in your industry and finding who are the high authority sites. If you want to dig deeper and have the money to do so, you can use tools such as Ahrefs. Another option is to hire a digital marketing agency and they’ll do all the research and work for you.
Build Relationships
Once you figure out who or what websites would be the ideal for your link building strategy, start networking. Practice an elevator pitch to have different websites, bloggers, or writers link back to you. If your content is good, they won’t have a problem doing so. Digital marketing agencies also usually already have these types of connections and relationships with many different content creators. Other potential strategic partners are local businesses, especially for new business owners that want to get their name out there. Think of ways you can collaborate and benefit from each other such as writing testimonials about both services.
Be Careful
There are many so-called SEO experts that charge a lot of money and “cheat” under the eyes of Google, or other search engines, to generate links. Overtime, Google eliminates poor quality content and elevates the good stuff which is when the penalties kick in. There are different ways you can find out if your site has been penalized such as if your site is not ranking at all on Google with your brand name. If your site has been penalized, there is little to nothing you can do. This is why it’s crucial to hire a real expert on this and your best chances are reaching out to a digital marketing agency.