Link
building tactics come and go. Tactics that used to work, and work really
well,
are now irrelevant or even dangerous to the health of your website! But while
the specific activities may evolve over time, there are a few fundamentals of
link building that can help you build/earn the right kinds of links and develop
your online presence.
Quality over quantity.
A few
years ago, the only thing that mattered was how big your link profile was. So
of course everyone took advantage of that loophole and built links from all
kinds of junk websites; blog networks, generic directories, site-wide links
from footers and blog rolls, and more. More links, more better! But Google
quickly realized that scummy websites with more links were doing better than
they deserved, so the introduced Penguin into the mix, which took down sites
with spammy link profiles. Links still count though, even with Penguin working
its way through the SERPs. Earlier this year, Matt Cutts came out and said that without
backlinks the SERPs would actually be worse off!
It turns
out backlinks, even though there’s some noise and certainly a lot of spam, for
the most part are still a really, really big win in terms of quality for search
results,” says Cutts. Google runs internal tests all the time and once turned
off backlinks as a ranking signal to see what would happen. According to Cutts,
excluding backlink relevancy resulted in “much worse” search quality.
While
links still have a strong impact on your SEO, you need to have the right kind
of links, not just more.
Relevancy matters.
One of
the most important questions to ask yourself when building links is “Is this
site relevant to mine or my customers?” For instance, a local pet store should
be looking to build links from local veterinarians, groomers, breeders, dog
walking services, and so forth. They should not be looking to build links from
construction companies, IT support websites, or the local dentist. While those
may be good companies and great websites, they don’t have any relevancy to
offer the pet store’s site. And while there may be some cross-over in terms of
target audience, it’s still not the right ballpark.
A link for link’s sake is a dangerous road to walk
down.
Just
because you CAN get a link from XYZ website that doesn’t mean you should. And
just because a competitor has a link from a website that doesn’t mean you
automatically need to have it as well. Building links for the sake of building
a link, or hitting some arbitrary quota, is a slippery slope and can often lead
you into the land of spam links. While your manager might love to see never
ending spreadsheets of new links, how many of those provide real value? How
many of those links can drive real visitors to your site? How many of those
links come from sites that are well-respected and trusted in your industry?
Getting a link for the sake adding another line item to your link profile is a
dangerous path to tread.
Focus on earning, not on building.
This
might seem counterproductive. After all, isn’t is called link building?
But when you focus more on doing things that can earn you links as a bonus,
like creating great content that people want to share and link to because it’s
informational and useful, as opposed to always looking for the next link you
grab, you tend to earn better quality links over time. Look at links as the
side effect of your overall online marketing efforts, not as the primary goal.
This helps keep you away from the dangerous, yet easy to build, links that
Google is penalizing sites for.
Source:http://goo.gl/nSLGmf
Link
building tactics come and go. Tactics that used to work, and work
really well, are now irrelevant or even dangerous to the health of your
website! But while the specific activities may evolve over time, there
are a few fundamentals of link building that can help you build/earn the
right kinds of links and develop your online presence.
It turns out backlinks, even though there’s some noise and certainly a lot of spam, for the most part are still a really, really big win in terms of quality for search results,” says Cutts. Google runs internal tests all the time and once turned off backlinks as a ranking signal to see what would happen. According to Cutts, excluding backlink relevancy resulted in “much worse” search quality.
While links still have a strong impact on your SEO, you need to have the right kind of links, not just more.
- See more at: http://www.brickmarketing.com/blog/link-building-fundamentals.htm#sthash.WYzh8MyW.dpuf
Quality over quantity.
A few years ago, the only thing that mattered was how big your link profile was. So of course everyone took advantage of that loophole and built links from all kinds of junk websites; blog networks, generic directories, site-wide links from footers and blog rolls, and more. More links, more better! But Google quickly realized that scummy websites with more links were doing better than they deserved, so the introduced Penguin into the mix, which took down sites with spammy link profiles. Links still count though, even with Penguin working its way through the SERPs. Earlier this year, Matt Cutts came out and said that without backlinks the SERPs would actually be worse off!It turns out backlinks, even though there’s some noise and certainly a lot of spam, for the most part are still a really, really big win in terms of quality for search results,” says Cutts. Google runs internal tests all the time and once turned off backlinks as a ranking signal to see what would happen. According to Cutts, excluding backlink relevancy resulted in “much worse” search quality.
While links still have a strong impact on your SEO, you need to have the right kind of links, not just more.
Relevancy matters.
One of the most important questions to ask yourself when building links is “Is this site relevant to mine or my customers?” For instance, a local pet store should be looking to build links from local veterinarians, groomers, breeders, dog walking services, and so forth. They should not be looking to build links from construction companies, IT support websites, or the local dentist. While those may be good companies and great websites, they don’t have any relevancy to offer the pet store’s site. And while there may be some cross-over in terms of target audience, it’s still not the right ballpark.A link for link’s sake is a dangerous road to walk down.
Just because you CAN get a link from XYZ website that doesn’t mean you should. And just because a competitor has a link from a website that doesn’t mean you automatically need to have it as well. Building links for the sake of building a link, or hitting some arbitrary quota, is a slippery slope and can often lead you into the land of spam links. While your manager might love to see never ending spreadsheets of new links, how many of those provide real value? How many of those links can drive real visitors to your site? How many of those links come from sites that are well-respected and trusted in your industry? Getting a link for the sake adding another line item to your link profile is a dangerous path to tread.Focus on earning, not on building.
This might seem counterproductive. After all, isn’t is called link building? But when you focus more on doing things that can earn you links as a bonus, like creating great content that people want to share and link to because it’s informational and useful, as opposed to always looking for the next link you grab, you tend to earn better quality links over time. Look at links as the side effect of your overall online marketing efforts, not as the primary goal. This helps keep you away from the dangerous, yet easy to build, links that Google is penalizing sites for.- See more at: http://www.brickmarketing.com/blog/link-building-fundamentals.htm#sthash.WYzh8MyW.dpuf
