Link building plays a key role in search engine optimisation (SEO) campaigns. There is more than one way you can build links – the strategy you choose will depend on your SEO marketing goals.
Link building isn’t easy – and it’s essential that you know what works for your site and your content. We have created this quick guide to talk you though our highly recommending link building strategies.
By following one or more of these tips – you should be able to drive more traffic to your site and increase revenue for your business.
What is link building?
Before we get started – what does link building really mean? Well, it is a term for digital marketers and in particular SEO professionals – used to define how we acquire links to our content. It is the process of getting other authoritative sites to link back to your content.
Why would you benefit from building links?
As with any SEO tactic – you will be aiming to signal to Google that your site is high-quality and worthy of a top position on search engine results pages (SERP). Links are essentially a way of showing that your site is trustworthy, useful and is going to benefit users who click.
Our recommended link building strategies:
1. Use Strategic Guest Blogging
As more and more companies are starting to utilise guest blogging – it is important that you are using it to your full advantage. So, how can you make sure your guest blogging is valuable and strategic?
Being strategic means that you have set your objectives right from the start of a campaign or project. A solid guest blogging strategy will generate more authority links.
So, what is your SEO goal? Before you start looking for a blog to post on, know exactly what you really want to achieve following your pitch.
The main thing to consider is where you are targeting your guest blogging efforts. If you want to drive traffic to your blogs – then you need to be targeting blogs that will send that traffic.
How can you find the highest performing blogs?
The aim to drive more links – so the first step is looking out for blogs that are happy to accept guest posts. Another important step is looking for sites that are likely to be shared on social media platforms. For example – are the site readers typically sharing posts on their social media pages? Are they interacting?
If this is the case, your linked page will be exposed to even more people than those who click on the site. The aim is to have your guest post ranking in Google’s top 10 results. So, if you want the best results – then you should only really be considering publishing your content on blogs that are already ranking highly and driving a lot of engagement.
The simplest way to do this would be by searching on Google. Plug in the headline of what you want to write about and see which sites are ranking the highest. Then, consider pitching your guest blogging idea to these companies. For example, we might search “SEO top tips” or “SEO marketing strategies”.
Although guest blogging has its benefits – if it is done in the wrong way, it can result in your site being penalised by Google. That is why it is so important to consider the following when choosing where to guest blog:
- Analyse the blogs audience and user interaction.
- Look at the blogs user experience.
- Study their most popular posts to gage an idea of the types of content that are driving traffic on their site.
Understanding the target audience that you are writing for is key to a successful SEO or content campaign. Remember, when guest blogging you are writing for two audience – yours and the site you are posting on. It’s likely these will be the same or similar.
As long as you are creating content that is likely to earn you links from that audience – you will notice the benefits of guest blogging.
2. Create your own Infographics
The most successful guest blogging strategies will go beyond text. Infographics are a prime example how a visual can play a crucial role in your link building strategy.
The best thing about infographics is that they can continually drive traffic to your blog, past their publish date. So, why not make your own?
Creating your own infographic is a way of earning quality links each time another site references your image. Most readers will find a blog with images and other visuals much more appealing than text alone. When bloggers are searching for images to add to their next post – they might use your infographic and link back to your site.
3. Be more active on social media
If you’re not using social media already – then it is likely you are missing out on some potential traffic. Social media platforms have become a huge aspect of SEO and paid marketing campaigns. We suggest getting more active on your own pages if you’re not already.
- Share more posts
- Reply to comments and messages
- Link to your blogs
- Get creative with visuals
- Share images and company updates
Sharing more on social media is a way of helping your audience access what they want to see. How does this relate to link building?
The more you boost your engagement, the more you are exposing your brand and site URL. This means there is a higher change that people will share your best posts – which improves your link profile and overall visibility.
5. Use the broken links strategy
The broken link strategy is a particularly good way to go if you are struggling to find the time for guest blogging or regular content production. With less time, it’s likely you’ll be producing content that isn’t as engaging or strategic – so it might be best to opt for a different tactic.
How does broken link building work?
You will be finding pages on blogs that contain dead links. A dead link is a link that no longer works:
Then, you can request that the blogger or site owner replaces this broken link with a similar page on your site. This is a way of helping them to fix an issue – while building links for your page.
If you’re interested in finding out a bit more about this, click here to read a more in-depth guide from Search Engine Journal that should help you get to grips with the concept.
If you have any questions or want to speak to our SEO London experts– don’t hesitate to get in touch.