In the vast and intricate world of digital marketing , there is a fundamental technique to improve the visibility and authority of a website: Link Building .
In this article, we will explore what link building means in the context of SEO ( Search Engine Optimization ), the importance of Domain Authority , the measurable impact of a link building strategy, Google's guidelines, best practices for acquiring organic links, and finally, we will look at link-building services like Rankister (which we often use for these tasks).
Summary
Link Building and SEO: A Perfect Marriage
Link Building is the art of acquiring external links that point to your website.
Think of each link as a vote of confidence : the more quality links you have, the more authoritative and relevant search engines believe your site is. This process positively impacts your search rankings.
Domain Authority and the Effect of Inbound Links
Domain Authority (DA) is a score that predicts how well a site will rank on search engines.
Inbound links ( backlinks ) from high DA sites can significantly improve your domain authority. Think of it like a real-world recommendation: a recommendation from an expert in your field carries more weight than one from a novice.
This data on some SEO analysis software such as SeoZoom is used to understand for which keywords you can hope that the pages of your website will rank.
Let's take an example
If you wanted to rank a page on your website for the keyword "web agency Bergamo", you would find that the keyword difficulty (the counterpart of Domain Authority) is 22👇🏼:
To have any hope of ranking your page, your DA (Domain Authority) must be greater than or equal to the Keyword Difficulty.
If this is not the case, a quick way to increase DA is incoming follow links.
Not all links are created equal
In the vast universe of SEO, links are distinguished not only by their origin but also by the type of relationship they establish with the destination site. Two key terms in this context are "DoFollow" and "NoFollow", terms that define the behavior of search engines with respect to links.
DoFollowLinks
These are the superheroes of SEO. When a website includes a DoFollow link, it is essentially telling search engines, "I trust this link. Consider it an endorsement for the destination site."
These links pass what is known as "link juice", significantly contributing to the ranking of the target site. In terms of SEO, a DoFollow link from a high authority site can be extremely valuable, increasing the visibility and authority of your site in search results.
No Follow Links
Think of NoFollow links as stop signs for search engines. When a site includes a NoFollow link, it is saying:
I link to this site, but I don't want to influence its search engine rankings.
In other words, a NoFollow link doesn't pass "link juice." Originally introduced to combat blog comment spam, NoFollow links tell search engines not to consider that link for ranking purposes.
However, even if they don’t directly contribute to SEO in terms of passing on authority, NoFollow links can still be valuable in driving traffic to your site and reaching a wider audience.
In summary, while DoFollow links are crucial for improving your SEO and increasing your site’s authority, NoFollow links are important for diversifying your link profile and gaining indirect benefits like increased traffic and brand recognition.
Both play unique roles in building an effective and balanced link building strategy.
The Measurable Impact of Link Building
Numerous statistics demonstrate the effectiveness of Link Building. For example, sites with a high number of quality backlinks tend to get better positions in search results. Sites like Moz and Ahrefs offer tools to analyze these links and evaluate the impact on your DA.
63% of marketers believe that buying links has a positive impact on their SERP rankings, and 44% believe that link building positively impacts their overall marketing strategy ( Source ).
51% of marketers see positive effects from general link building strategies within one to three months of executing such tactics ( Source ), and 13% of research experts say link building is the “most” useful SEO tactic.
In short, it is an SEO technique that speeds up the positioning of your website pages and that is (almost secretly) used by all SEOs. An example of an SEO project we followed for a site that had recently been launched:
Google's Link Guidelines
Google, the search giant, has specific guidelines on Link Building. Paid links are especially critical. Google states that buying or selling links that pass PageRank can negatively impact a site's search rankings . It is essential to acquire links naturally and on merit.
☝🏼for this reason many "advise against" buying direct links, however hiring an editorial team to write content linked to your website is a widespread and functional (and not dangerous) practice, as you have seen from the graph above.
Best Practices for Acquiring Organic Links
Getting organic links takes time and dedication. Here are some strategies:
High-Quality Content: Create informative, entertaining, or emotional content that people will want to share.
Outreach: Reach out to influencers, bloggers, or websites in your industry to get your content out there.
Active Participation: Participate in your industry forums, blogs, or social media, providing valuable insights and including links to your site when relevant.
Guest Posting Strategies: Write guest articles on authoritative sites, including links to your site.
Rankister: An Example of Creating Editorial Content with Links
Services like Rankister offer the ability to create engaging, authoritative editorial content that includes links to your site . This not only improves your visibility and domain authority but also ensures that the content around your link is relevant and high-quality.
Rankister, for example, focuses on creating content that is not only optimized for search engines but also designed to delight and inform readers and published on websites that talk about topics that are consistent with your industry.
This approach ensures that the links you acquire are not only in line with Google's guidelines but also effective in driving qualified traffic to your site.
The cost can also be very low, starting from a few dozen Euros per item.
Conclusions
Link building is a crucial component of SEO, with significant potential to improve the visibility and authority of your website.
By following Google's guidelines, focusing your efforts on creating quality content, and using services like Rankister, you can build a link building strategy that not only improves your search engine rankings but also enriches your users' online experience.
Remember, in the world of SEO, patience and persistence are key: build your links like you would build relationships in the real world, with integrity and respect.
Do you have a different point of view on this practice? Join the discussion in the comments!
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