Link building is the process of acquiring hyperlinks from other websites to your own. Search engines follow links on sites to crawl pages and estimate rankings through various algorithms. The more links you have coming into your site, the more it suggests people are recommending you or ‘voting’ for you – and Google takes these into account when determining the search results. Today, the importance of building high-quality links has never been higher.
Links should be acquired by high-quality websites and be relevant to your business. These might be websites that share the same audience, sell similar products/services to yours, or they might share the same geographic audience.
Here are 5 surefire ways to build credible links to your website in order to improve your visibility in search engines:
1. CONTENT
I’ve said it before and I’ll say it again (and again) content is KING.
Write an article that’s credible, authentic and has an interesting angle, but is not self-promotional, and pitch it to a website relevant to your industry who accepts guest articles. This also enables you to expose your brand with their audience and benefit from qualified traffic.
It is getting harder to get content published on third party websites, but the key is to approach them first with an interesting angle – something that they may not have covered before – and that is relevant to their audience.
2. TELL A STORY
You don’t need a PR Consultant to get press coverage these days, but what you do need is an interesting story. Each and every one of us has our own story to tell (how we set up our business, switched careers, juggled family and career, raised finance etc.). The best stories involve characters (you!), not boring mundane business stuff.
When pitching a story to the press, ask yourself:
– Is this a story that people will want to share with others?
– Is it something they will actually care about or have an opinion on?
Most journalists receive hundreds of story ideas each week, so writing a compelling “pitch” is key. Summarise your ideas to them in 15-20 words in an email, or if your story is time-sensitive, pick up the phone. Don’t be too disappointed if your story is not accepted. Often this can be down to factors such as other news stories that need to take priority. Keep building that relationship with the journalist and don’t give up pitching your idea.
3. CASE STUDIES
One of the most effective link building techniques is creating a case study with an existing client, supplier or business partner. Case studies are just another way of telling a story (your client had a problem or issue they needed addressing, looked for a solution, found yours and is now reaping the benefits).
In my experience, it’s best to write the case study for the client and get them to approve it, rather than ask them to write it from scratch. Ask whether they would be happy to feature the case study on their website and share it on their social media.
You could also approach a supplier or business partner to ask whether they would mind you writing a few words about why you chose them, and feature this on their website with a link. Essentially, you are providing them with content that promotes their business, but you’re also getting some benefit from it too.
4. INFOGRAPHICS
Infographics are great for displaying statistics and complex information that might otherwise be difficult to communicate with words – and they’re great for acquiring links too. A great infographic starts with a great idea and title. Think about how you might display the information and have a creative designer translate everything into a visually compelling infographic.
Submitting your infographic to third party websites is a bit like internet dating; you have to put yourself out there and hope that something sticks! Here’s some of the infographic websites that I’ve had success on:
• Visual.ly
• Infographic Reviews
• Infographics Showcase
• Reddit
• Daily Infographic
• We love Infographics
5. INFLUENCERS
Influencers help you build relationships and raise awareness of your product through their vast network. They have a large following, particularly on Twitter or Instagram, and they usually operate at least one blog.
An influencer has to be a contextual fit for your brand, otherwise they will not have the right audience for you. They are particularly useful if you are marketing products and you want to get them to market quicker. Ask whether they would be happy to receive your product for free in return for a review/article on their blog with social media posts. Many of them charge a small fee to do so, others do it in return of a free product.
Now that you know the real secrets of building credible links to your website, do you need help putting them into action? I’ve successfully helped a number of brands build credible links and seen their search engine rankings rocket, but it can take a great deal of time, resilience and persistence. Contact me today to find out how to manifest these secrets and see your own search engines rankings rocket.