One of the primary goals of SEO (Search Engine Optimization) is to increase quality organic traffic to your website by improving its ranking in search engine results. This is done to attract visitors who can potentially convert. In this article, our experts, Blas Giffuni and Camilo Ramírez, discuss link building, a strategy within the SEO universe that, when used effectively, can help your business or brand improve its positioning.
In this article, we cover:
What is link building?
How to move from using it as a tactic to making it a strategy.
How valuable content can help you acquire more backlinks to your website.
What the business of paid links is about and why it's not a good investment.
What affiliate marketing is and how it differs from the paid link business.
Keep reading to discover how to use link building to your advantage!
What is Link Building?
Link building is a process that allows you to increase the quantity and quality of links from external domains pointing to your website's content. In other words, it involves other websites placing links to your pages within their own content. It's important to note that link building is an off-page SEO technique, meaning it belongs to external positioning strategies applied outside your website.
Some benefits of link building include:
Helps your website gain reputation and trustworthiness.
Generates more traffic to your website.
Improves your ranking in search engines.
Transcend from Tactical to Strategic Link Building!
It's important to understand that not all links are relevant or beneficial. In other words, not all links are equal or have the same value; some are of higher quality than others. Therefore, beyond using link building tactically to generate links to your website regardless of their source and the type of traffic they bring, you should aim to do it strategically.
This strategy goes beyond paying other websites to include links to your pages and is a process that cannot be achieved through a quick or easy solution. Firstly, think about what type of websites you want to link to your URLs. They should be websites in the same industry as your business and cover similar topics to those on your website, creating a relationship, connection, and coherence. This helps Google identify that the backlink truly provides value to the user and enhances their experience.
Having a backlink from a website whose content is unrelated or irrelevant to your brand won't be very useful and might even harm you. Additionally, you should develop a content plan that adds value, offers novelty, and is distinctive so that other websites want to send traffic your way by linking to your content.
How to Establish a Link Building Strategy to Strengthen SEO?
Online PR or Digital Public Relations: This involves getting mentions in articles published in digital media such as newspapers or specialized blogs to influence your website's positioning. This can be achieved by negotiating agreements or paying a fee to be mentioned in high-quality publications in recognized and reputable media or websites.
It's important for these links to be:
Relevant within the context where they are published.
Related to your business's theme.
High-quality, bringing traffic from your target audience.
Feel natural and not forced within the content where they are published.
Generating Valuable Content for Others to Reference: First, identify the websites where you would like your business to be mentioned or linked. Ideally, these should cover similar topics to your website and belong to the same industry. Once you've identified them, analyze their content and identify any broken links (404 errors) or links to old or outdated content.
This way, you can contact the webmasters, present your content as a better option, and explain how it provides more value to their visitors. Therefore, to succeed with this strategy, you must develop a content plan on your website that:
Is distinctive.
Adds value.
Offers novelty.
Is of high quality.
Ultimately, if you create really good content on your website, other websites will naturally see your content as a reference and want to share it. Once you've created your content, make sure to promote it through your various channels to increase its visibility. For example, share it on your social media to amplify its reach.
Guest Blogging: This involves writing as a guest author on other websites that preferably cover the same topics as yours. This allows you to naturally place some links to your domain and position yourself as a trustworthy authority.
What Not to Do in a Link Building Strategy: Buying links from low-reputation and irrelevant sites to your core business.
There are some websites that monetize their content by selling links, promising better positioning for your website in return. They even offer packages at very low costs. Although this option may seem attractive due to its simplicity, it's not a good practice and, therefore, not recommended because:
Many of these sites are irrelevant to your business's industry or the topics your brand addresses, so the traffic they generate is unlikely to be of quality or lead to conversions or position your brand in front of the right audience.
Financially, it's problematic because you'd be paying for links that you don't know for sure will improve your website's positioning or rank better for some of your keywords, making it a poor investment.
Google and other search engines have the technological capability to identify when a website is paying for links that aren't organically generated as a result of high-quality content. This could lead to your website being penalized and its positioning severely affected.
What About Affiliate Marketing? Is it a Good Practice or Not?
There are also other scenarios where it's made clear upfront that the creators of a website receive commissions for sales generated through a link or backlink. This is known as affiliate marketing, a promotional tactic in which a business, usually online, rewards creators of other websites with a commission for each customer who completes a purchase as a result of clicking on one of the backlinks mentioned in the pages' content.
If done correctly, many of these links have a special tag that categorizes them as affiliate links, allowing the search engine to recognize this backlink as part of this practice, without diminishing the value or relevance of the link. In fact, many of these links are mentioned within high-quality editorial content, such as informative reviews.
Conclusion
A link building strategy should also be linked to a strong content strategy. We must strive and consciously create high-quality content that helps us position ourselves as an authority in our industry and a reliable source of reference. It may be tempting to buy links that promise a high flow of traffic in a short time. However, even though content generation may seem like a longer and more complex path that will require more effort and time dedication, we can confidently say that the benefits are greater, and in the long run, we will reap its rewards without being penalized by search engines and attracting quality audiences to our website who may become customers.
In conclusion, prioritize content! Be proud of it, showcase it, and promote it through your brand's channels.
