Building Links

To build high‐quality links to your site, there are a few things to avoid. First are link exchanges, which is simply exchanging your link on another site for their link to be placed on your site. There are times where this may be acceptable, such as a local network or related industry. However, as a regular practice it will gain little and may send your customers to other places!

Avoid any link‐building tactics or link‐building offers that are automated. Of course, some software sends out millions of emails with link‐building efforts, and many people will sell link‐building services. If I can see that the service or the offer are automated, I recommend deleting the offer and moving on. I can’t stress enough how dangerous it is to use an automated software to build links.

Avoid buying links on other websites without using the rel=nofollow or rel=sponsored link. Purchasing links for the purpose of increasing rankings can get you caught up in a quality update and possibly demote your site in the rankings.

Avoid any offers of developing hundreds or thousands of backlinks. Remember, this is a quality game, not a quantity. One great link is worth more than thousands of low‐quality links. This leads to the downside or the risk of responding to low‐quality offers or participating in link‐building schemes. The downside is a penalization of your website, which can reduce your rankings and visibility. Or, at worst, being de‐listed from the search results completely. Once this happens, you can recover, but not without a lot of work to clean up and regain your reputation!

Another popular technique is guest blogging, which has its advantages and disadvantages. It’s been abused over the years and has created some penalties. I personally do not like this form of link building, as people offer to write for your website or blog to get a link from your website. However, if you pay them for the article, the link needs to be attributed as a sponsored link!

As an opinion, I simply find guest blogging offers to be off‐target and mass marketed. I see too many offers going to businesses, agencies, and other companies, simply because they have an established blog with a high trust factor. Guest blogging pitches typically do not present a relevant offer that shows their value, or why my readers would even care. In addition, most guest bloggers attempt to get as many links back to their site in a single article as they can. To me, writing for a media site and gaining an author link is going to carry more weight and provide better return than pursuing hundreds or thousands of blogs. As I mentioned, this is only my opinion, and you’ll easily find people who disagree with my assessment, but that’s the beauty of SEO. You don’t have to do everything, just the things that are the most effective and the things that work for you and fit your approach.

Verify Your Name, Address, Phone, and URL  One of the first link‐building methods is to search for websites that mention or list your business or organization on their page. First, verify that your business or organization’s name, address, phone number, and website URL are accurate. Second, ensure that they are consistent! These primary fields need to be consistently formatted across every listing, entry, mention, and directory. This includes your website URL. Inconsistency in the business name, the address, or the URL may cause search engines to create duplicate entries or confusion about which version is the actual one. Machines may not process the different formats as a human would understand them.

Once you’ve verified that the information is accurate and consistent, then see if there is a link. If your business is listed, but it does not contain a link, ask for one. You may have to complete a form or contact the website manager. These are typically the easiest links to gain and provide a good foundation.

Directories and Associations  The next level of links focuses on Internet directories, industry directories, business listings, and local associations. These are benefits of joining organizations or finding industry resources. In the early days of SEO, directory links were the primary place to start, and I still find them to be an overlooked method of establishing a good link base. Search for relevant directories and ask any membership organizations if they publish a directory of members. Many times, the link and listing are a benefit of this membership.

Prospecting Competitor Links  This is where SEO software tools became valuable. You can use these tools to track your competitors and see the websites that are linking to them. I like to look for the links from articles or resources that are publishing lists of vendors or businesses. These are easy to get into, and many times there is a link to the author of the article where you can approach and ask for inclusion in the page or in the next article. Sometimes, this tactic simply uncovers many links that you can’t replicate, such as a media link where the story is specifically about that business.

Prospecting Podcasters  One place that is growing in popularity is to be a guest on a podcast, or even start your own! Podcasters create pages on their website for each show and link to the guest’s website. The podcast also promotes the guest interview through email and social media. In response, guests will also reach out to their audience and promote their interview on the podcast. Multiple links are developed and created based on one event, which benefits all involved.

Create Amazing Content  I’ll admit, it sounds like I am jumping ahead here. But this is what drives most high‐quality links! Original content such as research, studies, analysis, articles, stories, and videos naturally attract attention and people link to them, curate them, and republish them. I work with a company that specializes in developing original research. They partner with companies in a specific industry and use the content to attract leads by registering to access the research. They also find many media and industry influencers who will use the research to create articles and additional content, which provide links back to the original source.

Digital Public Relations  Finally, I have found the most effective method of develop high‐quality, popular, and relevant links is to develop a public relations (PR) campaign. Using press releases, compelling stories that are developing with video and images, and a clear pitch is an effective method of gaining links in news search, search results, media sites, industry news, and beyond.

This method takes work, as you develop an appropriate pitch to take your story to reporters, editors, podcasters, bloggers, and others. The pitch is what attracts attention and makes the case to publish your article, information, research, or story to the wide world. However, the work is worth it, as a great PR campaign can create valuable links, gain immediate visibility in search and news results, increase visits, and make a significant economic impact.

The Pitch  The pitch is how you approach others to persuade them to act, in this case, to include a link to your site through any of these means. Remember that no one is under any obligation to give you a link! It is on you and your ability to present a compelling reason to publish your article or to give you a link. How you approach and ask for this largely determines if it is read and considered or deleted without a thought.

Your pitch should first show familiarity with the person or source that you are approaching. Have you read their material? Find a unique perspective that they have given, or a recent article, and quote it. Showing that you have done the most basic research first will provide a good first impression. Second, how will your information or link help their audience? You need to focus on their benefits, not yours. Third, realize that most editors, writers, and website owners receive dozens of pitches like this a day. Usually, they send it to spam without a thought. How will you stand out and make an impression?