With 40% of website traffic coming from organic search, increasing organic visibility has become an incredibly important part of modern small business marketing.

The best way to do that is through SEO (search engine optimization). SEO can feel like a big, complicated thing, but it can be broken down into three main concepts — keyword research, content marketing and link building.

In this blog, we are going to focus on link building, including what it is, why it’s important and how to master it for your business.

What is link building?

Link building, simply put, is the process of getting other websites to link back to your website.

This is important because when Google or other search engines are determining how to rank websites, one of the main things they look at is the number and quality of inbound links (links from other websites).

The logic behind this is that if other websites are linking to you, it must mean that you have good, valuable content — and that is the kind of content that should be appearing at the top of search engine results pages (SERPs).

So, link building is a way to increase your website’s organic visibility by improving your link profile.

Why is link building important?

Link building is important for two main reasons:

1. It can help you rank higher in search engines

As we mentioned, link building is a way to improve your link profile. And, as we also mentioned, one of the things that search engines look at when determining how to rank websites is the number and quality of inbound links.

Google sees websites with high-quality inbound links as more authoritative, which is one of its top ranking factors.

So, by building links to your website, you are essentially giving search engines a signal that your website is worth ranking higher.

2. It can help you drive traffic to your website

In addition to helping you rank higher in search engines, link building can also help you drive traffic to your website.

How? Well, when people see that other websites are linking to your website, they may be more likely to visit your website themselves.

Plus, the more links there are pointing to your website, the more opportunities people have to find and click on them.

And, of course, the more traffic you can drive to your website, the better — because that means more potential customers and more opportunities to convert those visitors into leads and sales.

How to master link building

 

There are multiple ways you can go about link building for your business. Here are a few different link-building strategies to consider:

Internal link building

Internal link building is the process of linking to your own content from other pages on your website.

This is a good link-building strategy to start with because it’s relatively simple and easy to do. Plus, it can help improve the user experience on your website, which is always a good thing.

To do internal link building, all you need to do is add links to your own content on other pages of your website, whenever it makes sense to do so. For example, if you have a blog post that’s relevant to a piece of content on your website, you can link to the blog post from the other piece of content.

Not only will this help people who are already on your website find other relevant content, but it will also help search engines crawl and index your website more effectively.

Here are a few internal link-building rules to keep in mind:

• Don’t link for the sake of linking – Only link to other pieces of content on your website when it actually makes sense to do so.
• Use keyword-rich anchor text – When you’re adding a link, be sure to use relevant keywords in the anchor text (the actual words that are linked). This will help improve the link quality.
• Vary your link text – Don’t use the same link text every time you link to a certain page on your website. Not only does this look unnatural, but it can also hurt your link quality.
• Nofollow internal links – By default, all internal links should be set to “nofollow.” This tells search engines not to count the link as a vote for the linked-to page. If you’re not sure how to do this, you can use a plugin like Yoast SEO, which will automatically add “nofollow” tags to all your internal links.

External link building

External link building is the process of link building from other websites. This means that you’ll be reaching out to other website owners and asking them to link to your content.

External link building can be a bit more time-consuming than internal link building, but it’s typically more effective because it’s coming from a different website.

When it comes to external link building, there are a few different strategies you can use, including:

Guest blogging

Guest blogging is when you write a blog post for another website in your industry. This is a great link-building strategy because it allows you to get your name and your website in front of a whole new audience.

To guest blog, simply reach out to other websites in your industry and see if they’re open to accepting guest blog posts. If they are, then pitch them a few ideas for blog posts that you think would be a good fit.

Keep in mind that most guest blogging opportunities will require you to link back to your website in your author bio. So, make sure you include a link to your website when you’re pitching guest blog post ideas.

Broken link building

Broken link building is a link-building strategy that involves finding broken links on other websites and then replacing them with links to your own content.

This is a great strategy because it allows you to take advantage of opportunities that other people have missed. Plus, it’s usually pretty easy to do.

Here’s how broken link building works:

First, find a website in your industry that has broken links. You can use a tool like Screaming Frog to help with this.

Next, reach out to the website owner and let them know about the broken link. Then, suggest your own content as a replacement.

For example, let’s say you find a broken link to a blog post about “How to Start a Business.” You could then reach out to the website owner and let them know about the broken link. Then, you could suggest your own blog post on the same topic as a replacement.

Resource page link building

Resource page link building is a link-building strategy that involves finding websites that have lists of resources (such as a list of blog posts or a list of tools) and then getting your website added to those lists.

This is a great strategy because it allows you to get links from high-quality websites. Plus, it’s usually pretty easy to do.

Here’s how resource page link building works:

First, find websites that have lists of resources in your industry. You can use a Google search operator, like “keyword + inurl:resources” to help with this.

Next, reach out to the website owner and let them know about a resource that they’re missing. Then, suggest your own content as a replacement.

For example, let’s say you find a website that has a list of blog posts about “content marketing.” You could then reach out to the website owner and let them know about a resource that they’re missing. Then, you could suggest your own blog post on the same topic as a replacement.

Link reclamation

Link reclamation is a link-building strategy that involves finding websites that have linked to your content in the past but are now linking to a broken link.

This is a great strategy because it allows you to take advantage of opportunities that other people have missed. And much like broken link building, it’s usually pretty easy to do.

Here’s how link reclamation works:

First, find websites that have linked to your content in the past but are now linking to a broken link. You can use a tool, like Ahrefs, to help with this.

Next, reach out to the website owner and let them know about the broken link. Then, suggest your own content as a replacement.

For example, let’s say you find a website that has linked to your blog post about “content marketing” in the past but is now linking to a broken link. You could then reach out to the website owner and let them know about the broken link. Then, you could suggest your own blog post on the same topic as a replacement.

Link baiting

Link baiting is a link-building strategy that involves creating content that is so link-worthy, people can’t help but link to it.

This is a great strategy because it allows you to get high-quality links without having to reach out to website owners and ask for them.

Here’s how link baiting works:

First, come up with an idea for link-worthy content. This could be something like an infographic, a blog post or a video.

Next, create the content and make sure it’s high quality.

Finally, promote the content and wait for people to link to it.

For example, let’s say you create an infographic about “content marketing.” You could then promote the infographic on social media and other websites. And then, people would link to it because it’s a high-quality piece of content that’s valuable to them.

Black-hat link building

Black-hat link building is a link-building strategy that involves using shady tactics to get links from low-quality websites.

As tempting as it may be to take advantage of buying links and other black-hat strategies, this is NOT a good idea. Here are a few reasons to avoid black-hat link building:

• Google’s algorithm is getting better and better at identifying link schemes. If you’re using black-hat link-building tactics, there’s a good chance that your website will be penalized by Google.
• Black-hat link building is a shortcut that doesn’t last. If you’re using shady tactics to get links, it’s only a matter of time until you get caught.
• Black-hat link building is unethical. If you’re using link-building tactics that are against Google’s guidelines, you’re being unethical. And if you’re being unethical, there’s a good chance that your website will be penalized by Google.

While it can take time and energy to build links the legitimate way, it’s well worth your efforts.

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Link building is an important part of SEO and content marketing. By building links, you can improve your website’s search engine ranking and traffic.

And by using link-building strategies, like link reclamation and link baiting, you can get high-quality links without having to buy them.