Introduction
A Link Building Strategy is the most important component of any SEO strategy. Without a proper link building plan of action no website can expect to rank on search engines. The World Wide Web has over 1 billion websites. Out of these, there are only 200 odd million, which are active.
Ranking for keywords, improving metrics and driving traffic are some of the highest rated KPIs of an SEO strategy. In other words, if you want to have a strong and high performing website, you will need a strategic link building strategy to fuel it.
Link building strategy - Meaning & Definition
Link building is the process of acquiring backlinks in high authority industry specific websites. You might ask me as to why this is important. Securing your website’s backlinks in other websites is important for a number of reasons.
For starters, backlinks are one of the top three ranking factors on search, according to Google. In addition to quality content and mobile optimization, backlinks continue to enjoy an eminence unlike anything else.
A link building strategy aims to create high quality backlinks for a brand’s website. They do this in relevant industry and niche related high authority sites.
For Google, backlinks are like recommendations, which are given by others to your site. This can be because of the quality of your content, the information, which you are putting out, or the usefulness of your website.
Every business has a set of search query volumes that are made by users every month. The goal is to rank higher than any other business in the industry for the industry related keywords. This in turn will encourage more clicks, which in turn will drive more sales and revenues.
Digital Marketing as a field of expertise is governed by many conflicting success theories and formulas. However, if there is unanimity on something, it is the power and influence of backlinks!
Advantages of Link building
I have already discussed some of the advantages of link building in the previous sections. In this section, we will discuss the major benefits of link building in details.
1. Helps climb the Search rankings
The purpose of any SEO strategy is to make a brand website rank for relevant keywords in their industry. If this is the aim, then link building is the strategy, which will help a brand website rank right at the top. This is the top priority of over 90% websites, which employ a SEO strategy.
2. Drives website traffic
By linking to high authority sites, a link building strategy aims to redirect traffic from the host website to the brand website. By prioritizing the quality of content, placing in-content links and targeted publishers, you can drive a significant volume of traffic to your brand website. Website traffic is a critical indicator of the health and well-being of any website.
3. Improves metrics & website health
Certain markers or parameters can understand how optimum your website is. In addition to Google Search Console, there are independent metrics that can define the health of your website. Domain Authority (DA), Domain Rating (DR), Alexa Rank, etc. are some of the most followed global parameters.
4. Increase Sales & Revenue generation oppurtunities
Higher search rankings, better website traffic and improved metrics lead to more queries and sales. The more clicks your website gets, the better are your chances of consumers connecting with your brand and enquiring about your products and services. This also helps you in data collection, exploring monetizing options from the website itself, among other things.
5. Enhances credibility & build reputation
Just like a physical business, a website that performs well is a credible, respected and reputed platform. If the content, information and products on your website is sought after, Google declares you as an authority site. Once you reach the level, organic search, higher visibility and natural SEO becomes the order of the day.
It would be worthwhile to look at some of the top link building strategies dominating the SEO industry currently.
The best Link building Strategies
In the last few years, link-building strategies have undergone a major change. This is because Google has come down heavily on manipulative practices adopted by SEOs to rank websites. Such strategies, collectively labelled as ‘Black Hat’ or ‘Grey Hat’ fall outside Google’s Quality Guidelines.
We look at the top three White Hat Link Building Strategies, which are followed by the best SEO experts in the industry.
1. Guest posting services
While guest posting for spammy link building is dead, quality guest posting is very much alive and kicking. High quality original, informative and engaging content forms the bedrock of a successful guest posting services strategy. The perfect guest posting involves securing links in the author bio section.
2. Blogger outreach services
Bloggers are industry experts, which influence high website traffic because of their specialization of a discipline. By aligning with them in terms of product collaborations, bloggers place a brand’s links on their platforms. This is also a great strategy for running high performance Lead Generation campaigns.
3. Quora & Reddit marketing
While the first two strategies direct their attention towards attaining ‘Do-Follow Links’, Quora and Reddit Marketing help with regard to ‘Inbound Links’. I have always argued that there is a certain level of ambiguity in terms of the importance assigned to such links by Google. No-follow Links, which drive high volumes of traffic, are great for a website’s health.
Conclusion
Apart from the above three, there are several other link building strategies, which are followed. Broken Link Building, Directory Listings, Link Reclamations, Ego Baiting and Testimonials are some of the most famous ones.
The idea behind this article was to give you a detailed viewpoint regarding the importance of building links in digital marketing. Without links, there are very few milestones, which a digital marketing strategy hope to achieve.
What is the bet Link Building Strategy according to you? Do let me know in the comments section below.
