The importance of link building
One of the most important SEO tools on the Internet today is Link Building. It is an extremely effective method of getting your site good exposure across the web, by letting people know what your website has to offer. The thing is, to take full advantage of this Internet resource, you have to know what it’s all about and how to do it right to get maximum benefit.
Why is link building so important?
The easy answer is an increase in traffic. The links that you create are doors that lead others to your website and the services you have to offer. The information on your site is your call to action so it’s very important that the links you forge are with sites of similar content, this helps you to target traffic that may be looking for services like yours.
This works on a very simple premise, if you sell dog whistles and you build links with websites in the cake baking sector, it’s unlikely that much of the traffic that comes through will have much interest in what you do.
Improving your search rankings
Links and traffic are taken into account by search engines and the relevance of the incoming links help to boost your rankings. If the visitors coming into your site are being directed to you from sites with related content, then this builds your reputation as a trusted resource on your subject.
Which links are best?
There are two types of links, two way links (also known as reciprocal links) and one way links. Two way links are traditional and are based upon you linking with a site and agreeing to link to each other. This is still valid and of some value, but the better situation is to have one way links coming in to your site with no return link. What this does is show the search engines that others agree with the content you are publishing on your site, once again helping to boost your reputation as an expert in your field and more relevant than your competitors.
Which pages should incoming links go to?
The old fashioned method of link building is to send all the traffic to your homepage. The problem with this is that the content on your homepage won’t be relevant to all your incoming links and leaves visitors with the task of finding the information they came for. They won’t! They’ll just move on! With the use of social media sites, SEO services and a web blog or constantly updated content on your site, you can build incoming links that land directly on the page the visitors want to absorb. Always link to the page that has the most relevance to the site you are linking from, this is rarely your homepage!
Things to remember for a successful linking campaign are:
Be sure that your content is relevant and easy to understand By doing this you can be sure that your readers will appreciate and approve of your offerings, employ the services of a copywriter to get the balance between information and promotion just right. Check your content for spelling and grammatical errors Always proof read your content, this small but often overlooked task helps to remove any signs of non-professionalism and helps to build confidence. You should always have a ‘Privacy Policy’ and ‘About Us’ on your website Remember these are two of the few tools you have to introduce yourself and your business on a more personal level. Make them easy to find so if visitors want to learn more, they can!