5 Link Building Strategies to Help Your SEO Efforts

Link building has become an extremely important element of Search Engine Optimization (SEO). The more sites that link to yours, the higher your search engine rankings will be. If you’re wondering how to build these important links, here are five strategies you can use to get the job done right.

What is link building and why is it so important for SEO?

Link building is one of, if not the most important part of search engine optimization. Most search engines today use links from other websites as a metric for determining how valuable a given website is (aka. where it should appear in search results). And for good reason: being linked to by reputable sites tells Google that you’re an authoritative source on your subject, and people trust websites they know or have heard of before.

Additionally, it should be remembered that the quality and number of links are ranking factors for Google. They are checked by two algorithms – PageRank and the Penguin algorithm, so you need to pay special attention to where you get the links from.

That said, there are several different ways to go about getting links. This post will focus on five link-building strategies—all of which are proven effective—to help you bolster your efforts.

What does link rating depend on?

It’s important to know what influences link rating because that helps guide your efforts. There are three key factors:

• page popularity,
• domain authority,
• anchor text.

Page popularity is how many other sites link back to yours, domain authority is a measure of trust with Google and anchor text is how your site shows up in links on other sites. It’s important that you build up all three of these factors if you want your website or business page ranking well on search engines like Google.

The more links you have pointing to your site, and from authoritative domains, using relevant keywords as anchor text, then the higher your page will rank. That said, it’s worth noting that although links are vital for rankings, they don’t determine them entirely; there are lots of different signals at play when Google decides where to place your pages in its results.

How to get valuable links?

Depending on your needs, you have several options:

Step 1: Create high quality content

It’s no secret that Google’s algorithm is geared towards pages that provide high-quality content. Before you can even think about link building, it’s crucial to produce quality content so your web pages rank highly in search engines and keep visitors on your site. Once you’ve written some top-notch articles, take a few moments to identify reputable blogs or websites within your niche and see if they would be interested in featuring them.

Step 2: Use the guest posting method

Guest posting is a link building method that uses influencers within your niche as a way to get backlinks and boost your search engine rankings. Here’s how it works: you publish a piece of content on another website and write an original piece, not just a reprint of some old content. The influencer writes something related to your post, mentions you in their piece, and links back to you. You then use your guest post as a reference for future posts—and for getting more backlinks. It’s a great strategy for building traffic and increasing awareness about your brand.

Step 3: Don’t forget about social media

Most businesses have a presence on Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, LinkedIn and Google+. These are often neglected by new business owners who want to get straight into making sales. However, if you want your business to stand out from others in your field, you need people talking about it. What better way is there than social media? It can help you grow your customer base by bringing new ones together with similar interests. It’s also a great tool for networking, helping you meet like-minded individuals who may be able to help grow your business further down the line. So don’t forget about these platforms when building up your website—they could be just as important as everything else!

Step 4: Reach online forums

Forums are a great place to learn, grow and connect with people who share your interest. If you want real feedback on your content then hit up some discussion boards. Just make sure you’re authentic and contribute more than just promotional posts. Start a discussion and lead a link to your website!

Step 5: Create a business card

If you don’t have a Google My Business account yet, go here and sign up. It’s free, and it’s required if you want to take advantage of local search. In addition to adding your business address and hours on your GMB page, consider adding some specialties or keywords that are relevant to your niche. Once you create an account for your business on Google My Business, you can create custom cards that display contact information like name, address, phone number, website URL, and more.

Conclusion

Backlinks are a good way to get more visitors and can help improve your rankings. But just making a lot of backlinks isn’t going to help you—you need quality backlinks. This is why it’s important to focus on building relationships with other sites, so that they will want to link back to yours. You also want your content to be valuable, which will make people want to share it with others, including linking sites. By focusing on creating great content and building relationships with other sites, you should see an increase in traffic from these sources over time.