With a constantly shifting search engine optimization (SEO) landscape and new trends rising up into consciousness all the time, people sometimes start to question the fundamentals. For years, link building has been one of the core pillars of SEO, probably second only to content in building a successful, high-ranking website. However, important new trends and ranking factors including mobile search, voice-assisted search and site speed, have become more prominent, taking some of the emphasis away from link building in the modern SEO conversation.
Despite all of this, SEO link building remains as important as ever, and fully understanding what it is and how to do it successfully is still central to the success of your website. To help you better understand link building, we’re sharing this quick guide to basics and best practices.
SEO link building — the fundamentals are still important
According to Google itself, link building is still an important aspect of SEO. Recent core updates to the algorithm have not changed the prominent place that links hold as a ranking factor. Additionally, their latest webmaster resources also emphasize the importance of making links crawlable for the search engine and properly qualified if necessary.
As always, a solid link building strategy, of both internal and external links, as well as outbound and inbound links, helps establish and build authority for your domain in the eyes of Google and other search engines. If reputable websites are linking to your content, it’s generally a sign that your website is trustworthy and has quality content. From the standpoint of internal links, if internal pages are pointing to a particular page on your site, it tells a search engine that it’s probably important and should be emphasized in rankings.
While a targeted SEO link building strategy is important, what Google and other search engines really want SEO marketers and webmasters to do is focus on organic links that are actually useful. Here are some practical tips to ensure you are doing just that:
- Create high-quality content that other websites want to link to.
- Emphasize quality over quantity when pursuing backlinks to your site.
- Promote your content on channels including email and social media.
- Don’t be spammy with your outbound and internal links; limit it to the most useful or necessary cases.
- Utilize a sitemap to ensure your internal links are all crawlable.
- Follow guidelines for tagging and formatting links.
- Avoid unethical practices such as building personal blog networks (PBNs) or comment spamming on other sites.
If you’re trying to get an SEO link building campaign off the ground and don’t know where to start, do what other successful organizations do and turn to the expertise of a digital marketing partner.
Burg & Co. brings years of SEO link building experience
Our team of digital marketing professionals has extensive experience in the full range of channels, with a particular emphasis on SEO. We utilize highly ethical and individualized link building practices to help build authority and improve user experience for your site visitors. Get started with a free consultation when you contact us today.
