Link building is a very ambiguous term that describes all of the actions that are directed towards linking to a site (also known as backlink building). This can be done by posting comments on forums, posting articles, providing links to directories, posting links on social media, etc. Building links for your website is a key factor in good search engine optimization (SEO). Your page rank is largely based on the quality of the sites that link to your page. Building a good set of links takes a lot of time, effort, and potentially money, but it can dramatically improve your site's performance. See Step 1 below for how to do this.
Steps
Part 1 of 3: Weaving a web of links
Step 1. Understand how link building works
Link building is the process of creating backlinks to your website. This happens naturally with good content, but the process can be accelerated in several ways. Backlinks are important because they affect your site's position in search results. Many factors are taken into account, including:
- Trust - This is the level of trust between linked sites. Links to a trustworthy site weigh a lot more.
- Link Neighborhood - This is the level of sites that link to you and that you link to. For example, a spam site will often link to other spam sites, making the link neighborhoods lower.
- Anchor text - This is the text that appears instead of the link address. The anchor text should be meaningfully related to the content it links to, as search engines compare this text to the site it links to.
- Freshness - As pages become less popular over time, link relevance tends to decrease gradually. Fresh links are a sign that the content they are linking to is still relevant and help improve your rankings.
Step 2. Find blogs and forums related to your site's content
Both blogs and forums usually have a place in the profile you create and in the signature to it, where you can post a link to your site. Every time you leave a comment, your signature will also be added, which will be visible to everyone, including search engines.
To build a good network of links, you should find sites related to the same topic. Don't be afraid of competition. On the contrary, as you work with other sites in your field, you will notice how you grow yourself
Step 3. Publish articles
Publishing articles takes a little longer in link building technique, but can also increase your page rank if you publish articles on the right sites. Start by writing small articles dealing with issues related to the content of your site. Then publish them on sites that will host those articles for their readers. Do not forget to add a link to your site in the sources section for writing an article. Thus, crawlers (search robots) will find your link when they crawl that site.
This method is no longer as effective as it once was, due to the update of the "Panda" algorithm of the Google search engine
Step 4. Try using RSS feed posting
RSS ("Really Simple Syndication") is a family of web formats used to publish frequently updated information in a standard format such as websites, blogs, news. RSS documents are called feeds, which include text and metadata that are published when a site or blog is updated. This is a big plus because RSS publishing allows webmasters to automatically publish their sites or blogs. The more sites you publish to RSS feeds, the more times your content will be published for search engines. As with most other building techniques, there are many sites where you can publish RSS feeds for your site or blog.
Step 5. Answer the questions
Answering questions can also be an effective link building technique, but can be time consuming. There are many visited sites where people post their questions and wait for answers. This can be very useful, as most of these sites also allow you to post a link to the source along with the answer to the question. This allows crawlers (search robots) to find your links, and other people who are looking for an answer to a question - go to your site using this link.
- Placing links on such sites that allow you to answer questions leads to a significant increase in the ranking of your site, because such sites themselves are highly ranked.
- Don't waste your entire day answering questions. This method is best used by simply answering a few questions a week. Over time, the number of backlinks will start to grow.
Step 6. Write about it in the blog
Blogging is another link building technique that can help your site tremendously, but it can also be time-consuming. Done properly, a blog can not only help build backlinks to your site, but it can increase the credibility of your site, attract new visitors, and advertise new pages and new information on your site. Remember to always add a link to your posts so that crawlers (search robots) and visitors can use this link to get to your site.
Step 7. Add your site to directories
Site directories are one of the oldest and simplest ways to build links. Directories are large collections of links to resources with a common theme. These directories can be viewed by crawlers and general readers.
- Popular directories include: Open Directory Project, Yahoo! other. There are directories directly related to your site's topic, so search and add your site there.
- Many directories require manual sites to be added, but many are edited by volunteers. This means that there may be a large time delay until your site is published there.
- Adding a site to directories can be time-consuming, so this work is often outsourced to save time and money.
Step 8. Link directly to other sites
If you have a site that can complement another site, contact its webmaster and offer to make a link. Backlinks and backlinks to related content will increase credibility on both sites and can be mutually beneficial.
For example, if you have a website with jewelry care tips, contact the marketplace jewelry store websites
Step 9. Comment on related content
A quick way to spread links is to comment on other blogs and articles with related content. There are several points of view on how to do this. Some suggest placing contextual links to your site in your response, others advise placing links in your signature or profile.
- Place links in natural places. Links that are surrounded by at least some context are more likely to be considered "good".
- Try not to place links on sidebars and footers. The crawler will most likely not find them in such places.
Step 10. Create direct links
In addition to building backlinks to your page, you should create links to other sites that you trust. This will help increase the credibility of your site and improve your Link Neighborhood Score. The webmasters of another site will definitely notice the influx of visitors through your link, which can lead to partnerships and link exchanges.
As with other link building techniques, make sure you link to content with relevant content
Step 11. Link not only to your home page
When you link articles and comments to your site, link to the relevant page or article, not the home page. This will help boost the ranking of the rest of your pages, which will generally have a positive effect on your search engine rankings.
Step 12. Leave guest messages
Many sites and blogs allow guests to post messages. If you have a few samples of these posts prepared, contact your webmaster about guest posts. Your post is a good place to post multiple links to your site, as well as add a link to your signature.
- Make sure your links are relevant.
- do not use too many links, otherwise your message will be considered spam.
- Some webmasters may be unhappy with too much self-promotion, so make sure your guest post is easy to read.
Step 13. Use RSS feeds
Make sure that all your articles have been submitted to RSS feeds and that this feed is published in the appropriate RSS directory. This will lead to more readership of your articles, which in turn will increase the number of natural backlinks.
Part 2 of 3: Creating Quality Content
Step 1. Write original content
The number one way to create natural backlinks is to write useful content. People will do your linking work for you if your content is truly useful and interesting to them. Creating good content is like an art, and this skill comes with practice.
- Use alternative ways to present your content. Try comics, podcasts, videos, or any other form of communication to make your brand recognizable.
- Interviews are a good way to create interesting content, as are networks. Interviews are factual and usually show multiple points of view.
Step 2. Raise your authority
If you are an expert in some issue, use this experience and raise your authority on this topic. If you provide unique and useful content in a question, you will see people start linking to you. These are the most important links because they significantly affect your credibility.
If you can raise your authority, you will see that there are links to you in articles and other important publications. This can lead to a significant influx of site visitors and rankings
Step 3. Stay up to date with the latest news and developments
The topics of discussion on the Internet are constantly changing, and at the top of the discussion is always what's really popular. Update your content to keep up with new trends and you will see links to you everywhere.
Step 4. Make sure there are no mistakes in your articles
Nobody wants to read an article that is poorly written or riddled with errors. Take some time to tweak your texts. A lot of this will come with practice and patience.
Step 5. Write "evergreen" content
Evergreen content is content that always stays relevant. Such content is good for consistent links as it will be re-read from time to time. A good set of links includes a few evergreen links. Topics for such evergreen content include romance, nutrition, parenting, weight loss, animal care, and more. The simplest formats for such content are:
- Lists
- Reviews
- Instructions
Step 6. Make sure your site is well thought out and useful
Because an ugly useless site will kill the whole idea of backlinks even before it comes to fruition. The visual appeal of a site has never been very important, as readers quickly begin to ignore sites that are difficult to read or difficult to use.
Part 3 of 3: Using social media
Social networks usually use "NoFollow" links, which means they don't count towards your ranking. But they are still good for attracting new site visitors, and there is nothing wrong with increasing the number of views. This can indirectly build your links, as readers themselves will start linking to your site.
Step 1. Maintain your presence on as many social networks as possible
Use as many different social networks as it makes sense to use for your site. Twitter, Facebook, Google+, Tumblr, and more are a potential place to exchange links. Make sure you have as many of these sites as your budget and time allow. It only takes a few minutes to create a simple social media page, but it will be of immense benefit because it allows you to post a ton of information and links that will increase the credibility of your site and at the same time attract new visitors. Every day, millions of people search for something on these social networks to then share this information with friends and family.
Step 2. Create social media pages that reflect your content
Make sure that visitors to your social media page can see the latest content. This will result in them visiting your site regularly and possibly linking to your articles.
Step 3. Use the power of social bookmarking sites
Bookmarking (collection) is a way for Internet users to organize, post, manage, search, and share online resources such as websites. Digg, Reddit, Pinterest, Stumbleupon, and other sites are good ways to showcase your articles to new readers. Many of these sites allow you to publish your own article, although they may have restrictions on how often you can do this. Ideally, your readers will add your site to these bookmarks themselves, increasing your popularity and credibility.
Many blogging platforms have plugins to allow your readers to easily publish your articles to social bookmarking sites
Advice
- Diversify the set of your links. Google changes its algorithms frequently, and a technique that has worked well recently may be blocked or ineffective. Better to have a good ratio of natural and artificial backlinks.
- Always check what type of links published on the website are received: "follow" (which you can follow) or "no follow" (which you cannot follow).