SEO Link Building can be thought of as the main and the most important factor in gaining credible rankings in the SERPs. When we mean credible rankings we mean at least page 1 or one of the top five positions for the targeted keywords.
You will find that from the latest ranking study that has been conducted searchmetrics.com that backlinks are certainly one of the major ranking factors that determine the position of the website in the SERPs.
But What Are Backlinks?
In simple terms a backlink is a link from another website, linking back to your website. So for instance, if you have a website about training Labradors in the winter and you wrote an article on another website (that website being an important website about dogs) about why it is important to keep your Labradors coat clean throughout the winter with a hyperlink in the text with your domain in it, that would be classed as a relevant backlink in Google’s eyes.
Google’s algorithm is predominantly based on links to a website, that is how they have created their masterpiece that generates over $60 Billion of revenue a year.
But backlinks to your website are not all the same, there are different types and also the strength and trust defined by Google play in the ranking factors – here is a list of the types of links and the top being most important:
- The total number of backlinks – this still massively influences the SERPs and is the reason why spam and black hat ranking techniques will appear to work for a limited time before they are penalised.
- The URL in the back linking – gone are the days when you were able to use the keyword to spam the backlinking profile of a website. For instance, there is software that can create thousands of links directly to your website with the main targeted keyword. This is no longer acceptable and viable practice in Google's eyes for link building.
- ‘NoFollow’ Backlinks – A ‘Nofollow’ back link tells the search engines NOT to count this link as a ranking factor. To have ‘Nofollow’ links is a way to have the search engines see your site as a naturally growing site.
- New Backlinks – Google and the other search engines want to see consistent links being sent to a website. Think of it this way, if people naturally like the content that is on that website they will automatically link back to that website, so links have to be continually added over time to maintaining their rankings.
- Back Links from New Domains – When new domains are built search engines want to see that they are linking to your main website, so it is therefore seen as an authority.
- A % of backlinks with keywords as the Anchor text – now this really helps, say, for instance, that the target keyword was ‘Best hotel in Chelmsford’ then there should a link with that term in it linking back to the main website.
Where Do Backlinks Come From?
Social Networks – The power and need for social integration into any web marketing strategy in the past year has increased dramatically. From the above Link, you will see that social factors heavily influence the rankings of websites.
Blog Comments – There used to be a time when thousands of blog comments sent with the main targeted keywords in the anchor texts used to be able to rank a website highly in the SERPs. Not any more, as they are the most spammy types of links and search engines are aware of this. Nowadays they can be used to increase the Domain Authority of a Web 2.0 property.
Press Releases – These links are still useful and can effectively isolate the money keyword backlinks by using the URL in the anchor text.
Web 2.0s – These utilise the high Domain Authority of huge sites and allow people to create useful and helpful information that provides links back to your site.
Paid Links – You would contact the owner of a website that is a similar niche and then request to have a link added to their homepage or other significant pages that are in relation to your website.
Guest Posts – Here you can write about your topic and then contact the owner of a related website to see if they would like a post and offer financial compensation for that link on their website.
Reverse Engineer Links – Oversee what the profile your competition has and essentially copy them their link profile as much as possible.
Not All Back links Are The Same?
Try to understand that there are different strengths of links that can be pointed back to your website and that I will use each of them accordingly to give your website higher rankings in the search engines. 500 blog comments on related niche websites will have little effect when compared to a single link from a relevant website that holds great strength in Google's eyes.
Overall, link building is an essential SEO tactic that any credible and reliable SEO consultant should be implemented in their strategy to increase the traffic to their client's websites.
If you are still unsure about contacting me and seeing the benefits of my services then I suggest you take a look at the proof of the financial benefits of other companies have seen on their net worth when they have undertaken a solid SEO campaign in their overall marketing strategy.
OR you may contact me directly on the contact details listed below.
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