Link building leads you to getting better search engine placements. If you have links pointing to you from quality and relevant sites, then according to search engines, you can be trusted for the relevant content. Link popularity is not just measured by the number of links alone. The other essential factors are- quality of links and the context (relevance) of links. In other words, if you are a medicine retailer, then links from a .gov health site, and from a prominent medicine manufacturer will mean quality and relevant links to you.
If you manage to get these, here are the benefits your site is looking at (apart from higher ranks):
Nurture A Relationship- If you are not link spamming, and going about it the natural way, you will find yourself establishing relationships with people who are directly effected by and related to what your site is all about. Try speaking to or interviewing industry experts, and see how far this gets you.
Build A Reputation- When you have authoritative sites linking to you, you obviously become someone they trust, and thus can also be trusted.
Get Targeted Traffic- When your links are at the right places, instead of being helter skelter, then you will get traffic that is what you aim for- and will lead to conversions. For instance an informative and related comment on a blog about cancer medicine, will bring traffic to your medical retail site. And the people coming in will be from your niche.
Research and More Research- To get links from authoritative sites, you must find the sites that have top search engine placement or that are linked to prominent sites. Look for the top sites in your niche. Or relevant to your work. For instance, we are carrying on with the medical supplies retailer site here, then your relevant sites will be a hospital equipment manufacturer. A medical college will be the best authority site for you.
Some Spying Too- It is a good thing to see what your competitors are doing, and if they are faring well, then do not hesitate in following them. See the sites they are linking too, and make a note to approach them yourself.
Plan The Approach- You should contact the site owner directly to ask for a link. Every mail should have a personal touch, and not a part of the bulk mailing program. You can explain why you think your site should be added to the site in question. You must convince the authority or niche site owner that why you think your site would be a great resource for the visitors on their sites. Remember to include your top keywords in the description, which is helpful for the relevancy issue.
Aim For One Way Links- Post the Panda, it is pretty clear that the mutual link exchange factor is much weaker for ranking purposes, than the one way links. So, your entire approach must be to get one way links from these sites. If you want one way incoming links then try to offer something other than a reciprocal link to encourage the webmaster to link to your site (eg-offer an affiliate program).
Write Quality Content- Search engines have laid a huge emphasis on quality content, and if you have relevant and informative content on your site, then you stand a good chance of better ranks and links. The authority sites will link to you if you have a good article related to your niche. Something that is highly useful to visitors. For example, a write up of the latest medicine for liver cysts will get you links from authority sites. Or if there’s a news story that’s affected your industry, then you could generate some incoming links by writing about it with a fresh perspective. Content related ideas include:
- Writing Guest blogs for niche sites
- Article Marketing
- Forum Posting
Use Anchor Text- When you write guest posts, or do article submissions, then you must use anchor texts. And you must have keywords in them. Only then will you get the maximum benefits.
Go Social- It is the latest trend- SEO is shifting to social, search results feature social networking sites very prominently. That is why, you must get links from these sites too. Search engines take social sites seriously, as they have real users engaged in real sharing, that is why, if your link is shared on a social platform, you will get better rankings.
The bottom line: Link building is an ongoing process, you have to on the watch all the time. Review your traffic to see if it was redirected from a particular site, and if you can build further links with them. Make sure to link to different pages of your site and not just the home page. Make a note of all the sites you have contacted for link building and keep working on more. The most essential thing is to make your site’s content high quality for relevant and authority sites to trust you enough to link with you.
