After the recent algorithm update by Google (Penguin and Panda update), It is a type of rumor that off page SEO or link building is completely dead. But this is not true, off page SEO or link building is still one of the most important elements of an SEO campaign. Here we want to clear the concept of people, who now don’t give too much importance to link building or they think that off page SEO or link building is dead.
Point to understand– Actually, off page SEO is all about “marketing and promotion.” And with the passage of time SEO work has changed a lot. Nowadays demand of quality and professional SEO services. What is dead is the practice of creating links for the sake of creating links. Because link building is not longer useful or worthwhile to buy links in directories no one uses, place articles on the site that no one reads. Actually, now off page SEO is the process of getting links from well known and well respected website on a regular basis. So, kick out this concept is that, “ off page SEO or Link building is dead.”
After reading the above paragraph, we hope that people will have no more doubt on link building. Now here question is that, “ How to do the link building?” We know that, you read several blogs and articles before, about off page SEO work. But here we try to walk out of box. Definitely all points will not different, but we are very sure that after reading this blog readers don’t have to read anything else on the topic. So we are going to explain every possible things about link building, which will useful and worthwhile for beginners as well as professionals.
The importance of links for the website–
We know this is a basic question. But keeping in mind the object of this blog, we are describing it. Being a part of a search engine ranking algorithm, links are important for the website. It influences the ranking position of the website. Good and high quality incoming links are more likely to rank higher in the SERPS than a website with zero or fewer links.
Note- The idea of linking was introduced by founder of Google, Larry Page and Sergey Bin in the late 1990. While writing the ranking algorithm, their idea was website will rank higher on the search engine result page according to the referenced link from the other website. Since then, till now plenty of things have been changed. Now ranking of the page for the particular keyword depends on a lot of factors, but links are still very important.
How to identify good link and bad link-
Literally, here we don’t want to create any confusion, rather we will keep our words in a precise and concise manner. All links are not equal, professionals don’t face any difficulty while choosing between good links and band links, but problem arises for beginner. So, this section will be better for beginners.
A good link has the following characteristics:
- It comes from trustworthy and high authority website.
- Good links neither appear in sidebar nor in the footer, rather it appear in the main body of a page.
- It does not have no follow tag.
- It is very tough to get and not paid.
Any link that does not fall into these categories, it will consider a bad link.
Natural link building and black hat link building, which one is better?
Since, the object of the blog is on link building. So after describing about good and bad link now it is mandatory to describe about natural and black hat link building techniques.
Natural link building– Natural link is the common practice in SEO, when website owner or blogger, share your blog or website on his blog or website. Because they believe that, your link will add value to their content.
In other words, to add value to their content, when website owner or blogger, adds links to their website that point to your website.
Link baiting is the best way to get natural backlink. Link baiting is the practice of crafting fresh and high quality content that influence other content producer to link to it. This increase the number of inbound links to your content. Natural link building is the game of content, if your content is fresh, high quality and punchy people will share it and your content will get a hype that will help you in getting natural links.
Black hat link building- Black hat links are paid, and it is added to the website only for the sake of creating links. In other words, it is the result of link exchange as you link to my website and I link to yours.
Note- Here does not mean that asking for the link is considered black hat. It is acceptable SEO practice, but you should do it without return. Add link, when you think that particular link will add value to your content. In this way you can stay on white hat part without worrying about crossing the line.
The killer approach of link building- After clearing all points, now we will discuss on “ killer link building strategy to rule over the online world.” But before moving to this point, we would like to clear the difference between a brand new and establish websites. Because we think, this is a vital point. Due to lack of proper information people make a lot of mistakes in link building. Actually, there is a thin line difference in link building strategy between established and brand new website.
Brand new website- A brand new website is not older than 12 months and content in the website is less than 20 pages.
Old and established website- An old and established website has been online for more than one year and has more content on the website.
So in this blog, we will discuss the link building strategy for the old and new website separately.
How to do link building for the new website– Usually, the brand new websites are often ignored and do not get noticed until they have enough content on the website and grow older in age. So in this scenario, if your new website gets a lot of links at initial stages, then it may cause of some troubles. So, if you have a new website then don’t try to over- promote it. First focus on developing the great website with high quality and punchy content that is worth linking to.
- Write and post article for the LinkedIn and don’t forget to add link to your website. Don’t relax here, participate in LinkedIn groups, share your insights and experience about the topic.
- You can take help of different social media platforms like Facebook, Twitter and create a business page and link back to your website. Don’t forget to optimize your profile correctly.
- Submit one of the best posts on well known directories like dmoz.org and inbound.org.
- Be active on quora.com and try to solve queries of people.
- Publish article on medium.com
- Provide valuable comment on high authority websites like search engine journal, search engine watch and search engine land.
How to do link building for the old and established website- After writing plenty of things about link building, here we will keep our word to the point. There are four killer link building strategies that will help you to rule over the online world.
- Social Media Campaign
- Guest Posting
- Link from premium website
Social Media Campaign– Here things are different than normal Social Media Marketing; it is not only to attract customers and sales, but also to get the attention of people that are likely to link to your website. So definitely things are not going to so easy, here you need to put effort. Somewhere it is also an opportunity for you to present your content in front of people that can influence ranking of the website. You can adopt the following steps in your social media campaign for an old and established website.
- Know your users, as where they spends maximum time .
- Identify the group of targeted audience before deciding the social media platform like Facebook and Twitter.
- Write the actionable content, thereby potential visitors can turn into customers.
- Include video to attract more and more visitors to the site.
Email- Email is still evergreen and super hit medium to promote the brand, rather than say email is still the king of marketing. When matter comes to link building, then email works best to make connection with other bloggers and other web design & development company. So, to build link for the old and established website, first you need to create a list of people that you want to contact and then try to find their email address. However, you must keep following points in mind when using email for the purpose of link building.
- Your email should be clear and concise. To make the email punchy, use professional and effective words. Don’t send massive email, because maximum people delete them. And last but not least, try to build a conversation with other person without asking for anything.
- Avoid over experiment and over doing here. Email them only when you have something new and innovative information to share and not every time you publish a new post.
- People will read your email, if they got something meaningful. So whenever you write email, try to provide benefit to your readers. Explain them why your blogs and articles are beneficial for them.
Guest posting– Guest posting is a powerful and effective way to promote the website. You can submit your post on many other websites to promote your blog or website. Many websites accept guest post from other authors in return they allow the guest authors to enter their contact details.
Guest posting is white hat and acceptable approach to promote the work. But people make a lot of mistakes in guest posting. However, you should follow the simple guidelines to avoid any trouble in guest posting.
Guest post only on related website- Post your blog on a related website, a blog that has nothing to do with your website is of no value. For example- If your blog is about digital marketing and submitting your post on a finance website then your blog is of no value.
Select high authority website for guest posting– Submit your blog on high authority website because they have strict publishing policies and guidelines, which keep spammers away. Additionally, this will give you and your website an identity. Never select a low quality website for guest posting, because they have no original content of their own, so they are not good candidates for guest posting.
Never use anchor text to add link- After Penguin and Panda update, Google does not prefer links with optimized anchor text. This is penalized by Google. Link either in the body of an article or author bio.
Link from the premium website- Definitely, above three methods are great ways to approach link building, but links from the premium website will not only influence ranking of the website but also you will recognized as an expert in your niche.
Premium Websites- Websites having a huge amount of traffic, and high quality content are known as premium website. For example, websites like searchengineland, searchenginejournal, content marketing institute, etc. fall in the above category.
Following points will help you to get strong links from the premium websites
Make your strategy- Link from premium website is not easy, so it will be better to walk with proper strategy. Very first, prepare a list of premium website and if possible, take help of different social media platform like Facebook and Twitter to find out the websites that are considered the best in your industry. Inspect the content finely and take note of the authors. Search the guest posting guidelines and read them carefully.
Write effective email- Big website has a lot of request, so if someone ignores your email then it is very normal.In this scenario, you have to write punchy and effective email to grab attention of the authors and publishers. Keep your email short and to the point. If they ask for proposed topics, give them suggestion,if possible show them final result in word format.
Don’t give up– According to the niche and competition some websites may reject your application, but it is very normal so in this scenario don’t give up and don’t be afraid of rejection try with the next one.
Don’t be greedy- If your sole intention to get links from the premium website then somewhere you are in big misconceptions. Premium website will accept your content, if your content is something interesting and unique to share with their audience, not for the link building. So don’t be greedy after link building, focus on content and try to provide something meaningful to readers.
Conclusion- In this blog, we tried to keep all points very clear. Link building or off page SEO is still very important. But you should also focus on building the website. A great website with a lot of high quality content will get natural link easily and rule over the online world.