Link building – or the process of acquiring hyperlinks from other websites to your own web pages – is often made into a complicated and intimidating subject. However, the truth is that, deep down, it’s really rather simple. For businesses that are willing to put in the work and avoid spammy practices, there are tremendous gains to be enjoyed.
Why Link Building?
Link building is highly misunderstood. There’s a certain segment of business owners and marketers who believe link building is the secret sauce to building a successful business. If they could just get a link building campaign off and running – they think to themselves – their entire business would fall into place. Then there’s another group on the opposite end of the spectrum that believes link building is spammy and not worth the effort. Ironically, neither group is correct in their thinking.
Link building – on its own – won’t make or break a business. Done well, it can provide a serious boost. Done poorly, it can have negative ramifications. The right approach is to invest in link building, but to follow the rules.
When done correctly, link building produces a number of powerful benefits. It increases exposure, expands reach, establishes authority, and drives traffic to specific web pages. Few other areas of marketing can boast the same yield.
6 Types of Links to Pursue
Most business owners and marketers understand the concept of building SEO links – but few are aware of just how many linking opportunities exist. To simplify things, we’re providing a list of some of the most common/valuable types of links to pursue:
- Natural Links
The most valuable type of link is a natural link – which is essentially a way of saying a link that’s obtained without any effort on your behalf.
Natural links come in a variety of shapes and forms –often from the unlikeliest of sources – and are an indication that you’re doing something right. They’re the direct result of producing quality, relevant content that others can benefit from.
When it comes to natural links, you’ll find that a few pieces of content lead to the majority of your backlinks. Most find that the 80-20 rule applies here. In other words, 80 percent of your natural backlinks will come from 20 percent of your content.
- Guest Blogging Links
Guest blogging is a method by which you offer to publish a piece of content on someone else’s blog in exchange for a backlink to your own site. These links are typically acquired in a manual fashion (you have to go out and find them), though there are situations in which other bloggers will approach you.
- Profile/Directory Links
This is the low hanging fruit of link building. If you own a business, you can claim a business profile on sites like Yelp, YP.com, Google My Business, BBB, and other websites that provide customers with contact information, reviews, and ratings. You won’t see a huge boost with these links, but there’s no sense ignoring them.
- Social Links
We’ve all heard the term “going viral.” Well, in the link building world, going viral can provide a huge boost to a website’s SEO rankings in the form of hundreds or thousands of social media shares. Facebook is by far the most useful platform, but Twitter and LinkedIn also provide an opportunity to earn social links.
- Comment Links
Plugging links into the comment section of blog posts is typically frowned up and viewed as spammy. However, there are situations in which you can benefit from the presence of a backlink in a comment section (particularly if it’s clicked a lot and/or extremely relevant to the conversation).
- Paid Links
Google is very outspoken against paying for links; however, there are scenarios in which paid links can yield tremendous SEO benefit. The key with these links is to create authentic and engaging copy that’s intended for the reading audience. Furthermore, links should be inserted in an organic fashion (not with overly optimized anchor text).
Buckle Up and Remain Seated
Link building isn’t a get-rich-quick strategy. While there are people who will try to sell you on the notion that you can sprint and get some fast results, the reality is that quality, white hat link building is a marathon. If you want to do it right (and well), patience and discipline are necessary.