If you want to improve your SEO rankings, you need a winning link building campaign.
Link building is a form of off-page SEO that helps to improve the credibility of your website. Getting links to your site placed on other reputable sites establishes your authenticity and boosts your rankings.
While the premise behind link building sounds simple enough, a successful campaign can be tricky to execute. If you want to get on the first page of Google, take a look at this step by step guide and start building your link building strategy today…
1. Look at domain authorities
Every website has a domain authority (DA). The DA is a number between 1-100 and, the higher the DA is, the more authority the site has. A website’s domain authority indicates how highly it’s likely to rank on search engine results pages (SERPs). Essentially, the higher a website’s DA; the better.
Having your linked placed on high domain authority sites will give your own webpages more credibility and have a greater impact on your own rankings. Getting a link on a site with a DA of 70 will have much more effect than having a link on a site with a DA of 30, for example.
2. Assess the audience
Even if a site has a high domain authority, you won’t necessarily want to target it for you link building campaign. The most effective way to build links to your site is to target other webpages that are relevant to your audience.
If you’re an online clothing retailer, for example, you may want to target fashion blogs and websites of well-known publications, providing they’re reaching your intended demographic. This means that your links are more likely to be relevant to the users who are seeing them on the target page. As well as getting more clicks, the relevancy of your content will increase your conversion rate.
Here, you can see why link building is so powerful. By securing a link on a relevant site, you can boost your rankings on Google. By securing link placements on sites that target the same audience, you can organically grow your reach and increase your sales.
3. Build a network
Contacting site owners or editors and asking them to feature your links is one way to start your campaign. However, high DA sites receive numerous link requests every day, so don’t hold out too much hope that you’ll get a positive response (or any response!).
Most sites that accept link placements have an established eligibility criteria and proposal formats. Be sure to read these thoroughly and submit any requests in accordance with the site’s requirements.
Of course, sending out random requests is time-consuming and doesn’t guarantee results. Cultivating a professional network can be a far more effective way to secure link placements, particularly when you’re running an on-going campaign.
If you don’t currently have a network that can provide the assistance and introductions you need, don’t panic. Get involved in industry events, attend exhibitions and trade shows and sign up to online seminars. With the right approach and attitude, you can build a strong network in no time.
4. Write great guest posts
If a website owner agrees to feature your link on their site, they won’t simply display your link randomly. Instead, you’ll need to supply guest content that contains the link you want them to feature. Crucially, this guest content needs to appeal to their users and meet their criteria.
In many cases, your guest content will be displayed with your name and your company name, so it’s a great way to promote your business. If your content is good enough, you might even find that site owners contact you and ask to display your links on their site!
Becoming well-known in your industry or establishing your credentials can transform your business, so it’s well worth honing your writing skills or creating content that prompts discussion. When your guest content is being actively sought out by other site owners, you’ll find it’s much easier to secure link building opportunities.
5. Prioritise quality over quantity
Many people assume that the more backlinks you have, the higher your rankings will be. Unfortunately, that’s not the case. Google is savvy when it comes to figuring out whether backlinks are genuine or whether they’re simply being used for SEO purposes.
Securing backlinks to less-than-reputable sites won’t have a good impact on your rankings. In fact, it will cause you to drop down the rankings on SERPs. Similarly, featuring your link on sites that aren’t relevant to your content is likely to have a negative effect on your rankings.
Instead of focusing on how many backlinks you can get, spend your time securing high-quality backlinks. This will enhance your site’s credibility and have the biggest impact on your rankings.
Start Link Building Today
If you don’t already have a link building strategy in place, it’s time to create one. Backlinks are a major ranking factor, so it’s one aspect of SEO that you really need to focus on. Remember – link building isn’t a one-off activity. You’ll need to ensure that existing links remain active and continuously secure new backlink opportunities if you want to maintain your rankings.
As many SMEs don’t have the time or resources to devise, create, execute and monitor a successful link building campaign, they struggle to achieve good SEO rankings. At ClickSlice, we understand the difficulties SMEs face, which is why we offer dedicated link building packages.
Managed by experienced SEO specialists, our link building services are unique to every client and designed to deliver measurable results. To find out more or to launch your link building campaign today, contact ClickSlice now on 020 3287 3638.
