ShareFor those of you who aren’t familiar with how search engines rank websites, one of the driving factors behind getting good natural listings are the links from other websites pointing to your domain.
If you are thinking of starting a link building campaign here are a few pearls of wisdom…
Should I consider paying for 100’s of links?
There are many companies offering to sell hundreds of links for very little cost. But ask yourself, if you were Google crawling a website and you recorded 10 inbound links on Monday and then 250 by Friday, wouldn’t you be suspicious?
Link building is about building the reputation of a domain naturally (and sometimes slowly). You need to convince Google that you’re an authority on your subject.
When links are purchased on mass the quality is generally very poor and usually unrelated to the subject you’re promoting.
What is a linking neighbourhood?
Crawlers assess the links to and from your website. The neighbourhood your website is sitting in will be assessed for quality and relevance.
For example, if your website promotes services in the travel industry it’s considered best practice for it to be linked to and from travel-related websites, blogs and forums.
And if your website is linked to by an authority in your sector this will go some way to strengthening your bid for higher natural search positions.
How can I build free links to my website?
If you are considering how to manage your link building ethically (as we do) some of the best results can come from building relationships with your industry partners.
Building backlinks can take time so you will have to be patient whilst the number grows. And hand-picking who links to your website will help you gain a greater understanding as to what factors propel you up the listings.
You will also find as your brand name grows, links to your website will grow naturally, as users discuss and post links on blogs and forums.
What should I look for in a good quality link?
Review the page or website in question and ask yourself if you were a visitor would you find value in a link to your website being present – the search engine crawlers will evaluate it in the same way.
The majority of crawlers are looking for quality (as this in turn helps keep the quality of their results pages high) so it’s in their interest to find you in a quality neighbourhood.
Other factors which help evaluate the quality of a page include:
- the text-to-link-content-ratio
- the number of outlinks (pointing elsewhere)
- Google Page Rank, which helps determine how established a web page is
Talk to us today if you are interested in discussing bespoke link building strategies for your website.