The Most Effective Link Building Tactics To Get You Started

Most Effective Link Building Tactics To Get You Started

If the internet is a city, backlinks are the streets that connect your site to any and all sites you want to communicate with in the virtual city.  Is your site looking to be heard and understood by more sites and users on the internet?  Then backlinking is the route you need to take.

Link building, also known as backlinking, is fundamental to search engine optimization.  Along with the appropriate use of keywords and phrases, effective site architecture (including site links and strong hierarchy), and unique content creation specific to your niche, forging an effective link building infrastructure is a key step in developing your SEO strategy.

Changes to Link Building Measurement

Google has always put strong emphasis on backlinking in their algorithmic measurements.  In the early days of SEO, Google developers created PageRank, the measurement algorithm that instigated rudimentary measurement of organic search ranking.  One of the key principles of the first iteration of PageRank was that a link should be considered a social vote, and as such the most authoritative sites should have the most external links.  Google was focused on volume of backlinks instead of relevance, and before too long they were overwhelmed with ‘backlink stuffing’.  Those keen on getting to page 1 of organic search quickly jumped on this loophole and began purchasing (or building) bulk orders of irrelevant backlinks to propel their site upward.  As the complexity and popularity of digital marketing developed over the years, it became clear that Google’s system of measurement was incomplete – especially when it came to backlinking.

Many changes have since come about, as Google developers work continuously to refine search ranking metrics.  Today, backlink measurement is one of 200 or so different metrics Google uses in their ranking measurement system.  Link building is still one of the most important metrics in the Google hierarchy – as Google developer Andrew Lipattsev stated in a recent Q&A – but they are measured in a more sophisticated way.

Today, Google puts focus on a variety of ‘link signals’ that focus on:

• Relevance
• Authority
• Quality of your backlinks

All of these approaches involve complex metrics that track and assign value to the variety of backlinking content (a competitor, user reviews, social media shares) and the quality (internal or external).  The underlying focus is on trust and popularity.

That means that not all links are created equal.  So what can an SEO analyst do to ensure your site is following Google webmaster best practices circa 2017?

Most Effective Backlinking Strategies

Here are 3 strategies that SEO experts use to generate high quality backlinks for your site:

A Natural Strategy

 The first thing an SEO analyst will do is to ensure your site architecture is as strong as possible.  Any missing or improper technical aspects of your site will harm your link building equity – which is to say that if your site is poorly organized (or links to non-relevant internal pages), Google will not be impressed.

An Outreach Strategy

The second thing an SEO analyst will do is undergo a number of keyword queries to check the relevance of the backlinks on your website.  This includes a general search of all backlinks related to your homepage, plus the social profiles of those connected to your business.  All the backlinks to all the pages of your site need to be refreshed.  This general search will also include finding any business databases you are absent from – because the larger the site, and the more authoritative the purpose of the site, the better a backlink it is for you.  Databases have strong website authority which your business is well-placed to take advantage of.

A Broken Link Strategy

Broken links are a relatively common occurrence for anyone managing a website.  While an SEO analyst takes a number of steps to ensure your broken links are re-directed, they should also being researching broken links on competitor websites.  An SEO analyst will use a variety of research tools – like Broken Link Check – to scan the internet for broken links that can be used to bolster your portfolio.  For example, one strategy is to contact webmasters with a broken link and offer your site as an alternative.  Offering your site as an alternative is an effective way to gain a large volume of backlinks.

Work With An SEO Expert

These backlink techniques are in the purview of a link building expert like Paul Teitelman.  With years of experience tracking the most recent changes to Google algorithms, Paul has developed a number of methods to keep your backlinks authoritative and popular.