As search engine algorithms have started favoring high-quality links over links from spammy websites, link building has become an important part of SEO. This blog will teach you everything you need to know about link building, from the basics of what it is to the more advanced techniques that can be used to improve your ranking.
Through detailed explanations and illustrative examples, you'll be able to understand link building and start building healthy links that will help your website ranking. So let's get started!
The Definition of Link Building
Link building is the process of acquiring links from high-quality websites to improve your website's visibility and ranking. There are many link-building techniques, but all of them have one common goal - bringing you more traffic and leads.
When it comes to link building, it's important to keep the "three Cs" in mind - credibility, consistency, and consciousness. Make sure your content is valuable and interesting, and that you're targeting the right keywords. Finally, ensure you conduct keyword research and track your progress monthly to see if your link-building efforts are paying off.
The Anatomy of a Hyperlink
Hyperlinks are one of the most important elements of web design. They allow you to take users to other websites or documents, making your content more accessible and search engine friendly.
For example, a hyperlink will be automatically created when text is highlighted and selected in an email. To create a link that will work in email, text, or any other text-based document, simply highlight the text and click Format > Hyperlink. The hyperlink will appear in the document with a crosshair cursor. To activate the link, simply click on the hyperlink.
This is how the code of a hyperlink looks on the inside;
<a href= “https://www.scalenut.com/”> The Scalenut Plaform </a>
What Links Mean for Search Engines
Not only do they help people find the right information, but they play a big role in search engine rankings and traffic. When building links, make sure you're are creating high-quality pages and content. Links are an important ranking factor, you can refer to our complete list of Google ranking factors.
Additionally, avoid creating automated links - this can lower your site's ranking and traffic with search engines. Keep in mind that links are how search engines calculate a website’s worth - so make sure you're targeting the right ones!
Different Types of Links
You need to be aware of two main types of links when building your blog content: internal links and external links.
Internal links are links that take you back to another part of the same website. External links are links that take you to another website. Anchor text is the keyword that was used to hyperlink.
So, for example, if I were to post a blog post about shoes, if I link back to this post from another web page on my website it is called an internal link. However, if I link back to my blog post about shoes from a different website it is called an external link.
Understanding these two types of links will help you plan an effective strategy that includes creating search engine-friendly content and linking back to it both internally and externally.
Link building is an important part of SEO, and links are one of the most important factors in ranking a website.
While internal links help visitors navigate to different parts of your website they do not contribute to SERP rankings. It is the external links that bring in visitors and increase your rankings.
From an SEO perspective, there are two different types of external links that you can request from other websites: nofollow and dofollow links. Let’s understand both.
Nofollow
Nofollow links are anchor text links that do not pass on any SEO juice to your website. This means they will not help your site rank better on search engine results pages (SERPs).
Links from users are the most popular type of nofollow link building out there. They are usually found in micro-blog posts, community forums, and Q&A, or comments from users of a platform.
These links help anchor your page and provide backlinks that can lead to organic traffic. However, use them sparingly so that you don't negatively impact your website's Page Rank.
Dofollow
Dofollow links are the next most important link type as they give your website credibility and SEO juice. However, it is comparatively difficult to get dofollow links from good websites because they share page rank with the linking site.
Produce good quality content that adds value to people that link back to you. It could be statistics, facts, or a unique take on something common. Dofollow linkbacks are given to bloggers who produce high-quality content and develop a relationship with website owners based on similar interests.
When building links to your site, it is important to consider getting links inside the body of content from other websites or blogs in your industry. These links are considered natural and are highly respected because of the trust between URL owners and the linking website.
How to Find High-Quality Links
Links are among the most important factors in ranking a site high on search engine results pages (SERPs). Not only do high-quality links help your site rank higher, but they also result in increased traffic and conversions. So, how do you find high-quality links?
There are various methods, but some are more effective than others. Some good sources of high-quality links include building links from high-authority websites, submitting your site to link-building directories, and influencer outreach.
Whether you are looking for links back to your website or want to find credible sources of information to link to your content, the following are a few key points to keep in mind while link-building.
Authority of a Page
Link building is one of the most important facets of SEO, and it's essential to find sources of high-quality links. To achieve this, you need to do your research and find pages that have high page authority. You can use a tool like SEMRUSH, Moz, or aHref, simply enter a URL to check its page authority.
If you’re a Chrome user, you can download the Mozbar Chrom Extension and use it on the go to check Page Authority every time your open a link in Chrome.
As you can see the Page Authority for Scalenut’s Local SEO blog is 27, which is decent. You would want to start with such pages and work your way up to above 50 PA.
Once you've identified high-quality links, it's important to ensure they align with your business. Make sure you're using the right link-building strategies to help you reach your target audience quickly and easily.
Authority of a Site
Link building is one of the most important aspects of SEO. It gives your site an edge over your competitors and helps you rank higher on search engine results pages.
To build high-quality linking relationships, ensure you are providing value to find genuine website owners with a good Domain Authority.
Source: SEMRUSH Domain Overview
Use the Google Webmaster Tools or SEMRUSH to check the domain authority of a website before approaching to get a link from it.
For example, if you get links from a website with low domain authority, your site may suffer from decreased search engine ranking and traffic. In order to find high-quality links, look for websites with high domain authority in your field.
Relevancy of the Site
Link building is an essential part of any online marketing campaign. By building links from high-quality, relevant sites, you can drive traffic back to your website and increase your search engine ranking.
To ensure that you are building SEO-worthy links 100% relevant to your business, it is important to check for keywords and phrases specific to your industry or topic.
Additionally, always approach the website owner with value addition and then ask them to link back to your web page. Make sure the site linking to you meets all of the following standards: high-quality content, well-designed layout, and relevant to your niche.
Links Position on the Page
In order to improve the ranking of your site and get more organic traffic, you need quality links. This means that all links should be natural, and should be inside the main content of the web page.
Links that are higher up in the content are more important than the ones in the sidebars and footers of a web page.
Additionally, ensure that your site's content is interesting and keyword-relevant so that search engine crawlers can easily index it and bring more traffic your way!
Is the Link Editorially Placed?
Link building is an important part of SEO, and one of the first steps you need to take is to check the authenticity of links. If a link is placed by publishing a blog/article or a web page it is called an editorially placed link.
However, if you had to create an account to get a link, it is an unnatural link and considered to be against Google’s webmaster guidelines.
Before submitting a link, make sure it is editorially placed. This means that it should not be submitted just for the sake of having links, but should instead be used to help further the content or provide extra information.
Always use proper spelling and grammar when submitting links, as these are two important factors that help search engine owners identify quality content. Finally, avoid links from sidebars and footers that will damage your ranking in search engines and tarnish your online reputation.
Link Anchor Text
Anchor text is the text used to create a hyperlink to your website. When building links for your website, targeting the right keywords and using correct spelling is important.
To make sure you are link-building at a high-quality level, use tracking tools to monitor the progress of your link-building campaign. If you notice any links that are not performing as expected, make necessary changes to your anchor text or keyword content to ensure better ranking and traffic flow on your website.
Link Co-occurrences
Link building is an important part of SEO, and it’s something that you should continue to work on even after your website has started ranking high.
Link Co-occurrence is the term used to describe value-adding keywords in proximity and frequency of keywords such as brand names, technical specifications, and common uses appearing on a website near your anchor text.
Google uses Link Co-occurrences to understand the context of links.
For instance, if you’re a car parts manufacturer and there are words that mention the car types and specifications your parts support, Google will correlate your parts with the car types using co-occurrences.
Is the Link From a Guest Post?
Link building is one of the most important aspects of website optimization. Quality links are essential for ranking high on search engines, and guest blogging is a great way to build relationships with other bloggers and get quality links in return.
Backlinks from high-authority websites in your industry will help you get maximum value from these links.
A popular fashion magazine is a good guest post opportunity for a fashion designer, similarly, a popular tech website is a good guest post target for a SaaS product company.
Nofollow vs. Dofollow
Finding high-quality links is important for any website, especially for new websites. This is because links are one of the main ranking factors used by search engines.
If a link is nofollow it will not have any impact on your SEO score except bring organic traffic. However, if you get a dofollow link that is considered a good quality backlink it will help you increase your SEO score and get referral traffic to your website.
Tips to Get High-Quality Links
Link building is an important part of content marketing and it’s something that you must continue doing to stay ranking high on search engine results pages. To get high-quality links, start by creating evergreen content for your audience, not for search engines or other bloggers.
Be sure to optimize your content for SEO so that as many people can find it as possible. Remember, quality links are key to ranking high on search engine results pages - so make sure you're creating quality content that your audience will love.
Following are a few vital factors that increase the chances of getting world-class links with content marketing.
#1: Visual Assets
Visual assets are essential for blog content. Not only do they add an extra layer of quality, but they also help to showcase your style and personality.
So, be sure to include visual assets in your content, and caption each photo or video briefly explaining the content. Furthermore, use social media platforms like Pinterest, Instagram, and Facebook to share your content.
Not only will this help reach a wider audience, but it will also help you showcase your work in a more personal way. Pictures and videos are great ways to show off your style and personality and can help engage your readers on a deeper level. So, don't be afraid to experiment with visuals - they can make a difference!
What it is:
Visual assets are images, charts, infographics, videos, and other visual media files that help visitors in understanding the concepts discussed in your content. They can be used to create a brand identity, engage visitors, and attract customers.
Whether you're new to graphics or photography, there are many different ways to create great visuals for your business without having to be an expert in Photoshop or Illustrator.
All you need is creativity and an understanding of the best marketing strategies for your niche. So why not give it a shot? You might be surprised by the results!
Why it Works:
Images are one of the most powerful tools to convey your message. They can be used on your website, social media accounts, and marketing materials.
By using high-quality images relevant to your business, you can set yourself apart from the competition and attract more customers.
Make sure all your images are high-quality and keyword-rich so that search engine optimization (SEO) is easy. Incorporating good images will help you engage with your audience, build trust, and credibility and make your content link-worthy.
#2: List Posts
If you want to rank high in search engine results, you need to include list posts in your blog content strategy. List posts are an effective way to drive traffic back to your website and increase reader engagement rates.
By including a list post in your blog, you're giving readers a way to find and follow your content easily. Use bullet points and images to break up the text, so it's easy to read on mobile devices too!
What it is:
List posts are tips, tricks, reasons, trends, myths, and top sources for a topic. They are an effective way to generate leads and drive traffic to your website.
Make sure your list post is high-quality content so that it will be ranked well by Google. List posts are great for building links back to your site and building authority within your niche.
Why it Works:
There's no doubt that publishing quality content is one of the best ways to improve your website's ranking and traffic. By providing helpful information to your readers, you can help them solve their problems, learn new things, and develop relationships with you.
List-posts are an easy-to-scan way of displaying information in blog posts. In addition, by sharing your knowledge and insights engagingly, you can build trust and credibility with your audience. All of this results in more website traffic for you!
#3: Original Research and Data
When writing articles or blog posts, it's important to use qualitative research and data. This will help your blog be more credible, and readers will trust you more.
By including a mix of primary and secondary data, you can ensure that the information is reliable and accurate. This will help you write informative and engaging content for your readers and ultimately get backlinks.
What it is:
Original research is conducting independent, original investigations that generate new knowledge.
Accurate data can help you better understand how people behave and how they respond to different aspects of the topic. Armed with this information, your visitors will create content for themselves and link back to your website as its source.
Why it Works:
When it comes to marketing, original research and data are two important tools that you can't afford to ignore. This is because they help you understand your customer better, allowing you to create offers tailored to their needs.
Moreover, it gives you a competitive edge as you can be the first to market new products or services. As an entrepreneur, getting hold of original research and data is essential for building a strong marketing foundation. Therefore, including original data in your content will get your good-quality backlinks from a number of visitors.
#4: In-depth Ultimate Guides
Everyone is different, which is why you should offer a variety of in-depth guides that cater to everyone.
Whether they’re beginners looking to learn more about a specific topic, or an experienced individual who wants to find new and innovative ways to improve, they should find something useful in detailed guides on your website.
What it is:
Guides are comprehensive blogs packed with information and can be read in one sitting or over time. They provide an easy way to up your knowledge base and stay ahead of the competition.
In addition, they make great shareable for anyone who wants to know more about something specific.
So if anyone is looking for an ingenious way to sharpen your skills, or help someone else do the same, then an in-depth guide is definitely what they will link back to.
Why it Works:
Guides are an essential part of the internet’s online library and can help you get links from others. They are useful not only for businesses but also for individuals who want to learn more about a particular topic.
By delivering valuable, comprehensive information in an easy-to-read format, guides help you target your audience and motivate them to link back to your website.
In-depth guides also work well as building blocks of a successful link-building strategy – they can act as a starting point for promoting your content, reaching out to websites, and getting backlinks.
Three Favourite Link Building Strategies
Building great links isn't as hard as you might think. Once you have a good link-building strategy in place, it's time to put it into action!
Social media outreach is a common way to connect with other bloggers and build relationships. Writing guest blog posts is another way you can introduce your content and link back to the original blog post.
Article marketing is a great way to get your content seen by a wider audience. By submitting your content to high-quality blog directories, you can increase your link popularity and visibility.
Link building is an important part of SEO, but it can be a long and tedious process. That’s why it’s important to find an approach that works well and which you can track to measure the results over time.
When building a link-building strategy, start small and work your way up. There are many different techniques available, so find the one that works best for you and your website. Remember, link-building takes time, so be patient and keep at it!
Let’s take a look at a few comprehensive link-building strategies below.
Resource Page Link Building
There are many websites that have resource pages for people looking for products and services. These websites have a list of the top 5/6/7/10 or even 100 resources for a given topic. When you build links from these websites it’s called resource page link building.
Find Resource Pages
The first step in building quality links is to find good resource pages. You must look at resource pages from your industry niche since they have a relevant audience for your product/service.
To find a resource page simply add the following terms to your target keyword and search:
- inurl: resources
- “best resources”
- “Useful resources”
- Intitile: links
- “Helpful links”
For instance, suppose you are a smart home products company looking to build backlinks. To find resource pages for this all you need to do is add one of the above phrases to your keyword and search.
A search for “smart homes inurl: resources” will give you a comprehensive list of resource pages you can start working with.
Size Up the Page
Link building is the foundation that allows search engines to rank your website. By sizing up your page, you can gauge the link quality and determine where to focus your link-building efforts.
Size up the page based on its page authority, domain authority, and link profile. A website with high domain authority is ideal. Additionally, make sure you create valuable content that people will want to share!
Find “Best Fit” Content
When it comes to link building, the key is to find "best fit" content. This means writing articles or creating videos based on the best interests of your audience.
Once you've identified the types of content that are relevant to your audience, it's important to research which topics are being talked about online – this will give you a good idea of where to start writing or filming.
To get your content in front of the right people, you will need to use outreach techniques like emails, social media shares, link exchanges, interviews, etc.
Broken Link Building
Broken links are a common issue that can affect a blog's ranking and traffic. They are also an excellent link-building strategy.
With the broke link strategy, you are helping website owners by informing them about a broken link of their website and suggesting that your blog/e-book/website is an ideal replacement. Here is how you can do this.
Install Check My Links or LinkMiner
A broken link can cost your website traffic and rankings, so it is important for website owners to correct any errors and ensure all links are working properly.
To help with this, you can use either of the popular tools - Check My Links or LinkMiner. Both tools will check all links on a site for errors and broken links, so you can quickly identify link-building opportunities.
Broken link building is one of the most important aspects of SEO; make sure you do it correctly using one of these great tools!
Find Pages With Lots of Outbound Links
Broken link building is a great way to improve your visibility and ranking in search engine results pages (SERPs). The key is to find pages with high authority and high traffic - this makes it easier for you to rank higher in the SERPs.
Creating links from high-quality websites can help boost your site's visibility and ranking. You can also promote your content on these pages to generate more links to your site.
Check for Broken Links
Broken links are one of the most common web spammy tactics, and they can seriously damage the SEO rankings and website traffic. Website owners are looking for broken links and you are helping them by pointing out a few.
Use a link checker (Link Miner or Check My Links) to identify any broken links on your site. Broken links can potentially result in lost traffic and ranking losses for your site. Check for broken links on all the relevant blogs on the website. If you find any broken links, please don’t hesitate to contact the website owner and suggest that they replace the broken link with a link to your content.
Email the Site Owner About Their Broken Link
If you happen to come across a broken link on a website, you must take action and email the site owner as soon as possible. Doing this will help them fix the link and improve the site's SEO.
For example:
Subject: Broken Link on [Their Site’s Name]
—
Hello [Name],
Hope you’re doing well.
I was researching on [Topic] when I saw your web page: [Page Title or URL].
I find your content extremely informative and insightful.
However, I found a few links that are not working:
[URLs of broken links]
It turns out, My latest blog is about [Brief Content Pitch]. It might be a good replacement for the [Point Out a Specific Broken Link].
Either way, I hope this helps 🙂
Keep publishing awesome content.
Thanks,
[Your Name]
Include a brief explanation of how you came across the broken link and what it does to your browsing experience. Thank them for their time, and tell them you will follow up with them soon.
The Skyscraper Technique
Skyscrapers are an amazing piece of infrastructure piercing through the sky. But wait how does that relate to link building?
Well, just like building skyscrapers requires your construction to be higher than most, the Skyscraper link building strategy requires your content to be more valuable than most pieces of content on the internet.
For instance, let’s assume you want to rank for the keyword “building a smart home”. If you were to apply the skyscraper technique here, it would involve three major steps.
- Find top-ranking content for the keyword “building a smart home.”
- Create something that includes the insights from top-ranking content and goes even further in providing value.
- Promote your content.
If you follow these simple steps and promote your content regularly, the skyscraper technique will definitely bring results.
Conclusion
In this blog post, you have learned the basics of link-building. By understanding a hyperlink's anatomy, different link types, and effective link-building strategies, you are on your way to building links that will improve your ranking on search engine results pages. At Scalenut we love content and SEO. If you love it too, you may find valuable resources on the Scalenut blog page.
Frequently Asked Questions
Q1. Should I use paid or organic link-building strategies to build links to my website?
Ans: There is no definitive answer to this question as it depends on the individual link-building strategy being used. However, one of the most common techniques for building links is through the use of paid link-building campaigns.
Q2. What are the benefits of using social media for link building?
Ans: Social Media is a fun platform where people come with an open mind to entertain themselves. Link-building activities on social media have a dual effect. First, they make your feed more engaging as it has more info to offer followers. Second, it gives your organic traffic an extra push since most of the links on social media websites are nofollow.
Q3. Is there a difference between on-page and off-page link-building strategies?
Ans: There is no definitive answer to this question, as link-building strategies may vary depending on the search engine optimization (SEO) tactics being used. Some off-page link-building strategies, such as guest blogging and article marketing, may be more effective when done off-page. In contrast, on-page link-building strategies, such as promoting content through social media accounts and linking to internal site content, can be more effective when done on-page.
Q4. How can I improve my link-building efforts?
Ans: You can improve your link-building efforts by creating great content that ranks high in search results. Ensure that your content has high relevance to get maximum referral traffic.
Q5. What is link-building?
Ans: Link-building is a term used to describe the process of building links to other websites in an attempt to increase web traffic.
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