Link Building
There are more complex technical details involved in the creation of a website than one might initially think. These aspects are a priority for the best specialists. One such critical aspect is developing link building – a practice that requires periodic changes, flexibility, and expert reaction.
What is Link building?
Building links is the process of obtaining hyperlinks from other websites to yours. For SEO, our aim with link building is to increase the number of high-quality incoming links to a webpage in order to achieve a better ranking.
As time passes, the digitalisation of business is inevitable. Today, link building plays a major role in the online space where you want to grow and achieve results. It’s not just important to be online, having a good link building strategy is essential for your brand. If done professionally, you will see results. Don’t hesitate to contact our specialists, who will create a link building strategy for a reasonable price. What are you waiting for? Ask your questions today!
Why is Link building important?
Search engines like Yahoo! and Alta Vista were dominant in the past. They ranked their results based solely on the page content.
After Google was developed, things changed. Their famous algorithm, PageRank, changed the game. Instead of analysing the content of a certain page, it tracks how many people have linked to that page.
And they were right. Almost 20 years later, links are still the best way to define the quality of a page. That’s why backlinks remain the main factor of Google page ranking.
Although, thanks to updates like Google Penguin, Google is focused on the quality of the links (not only the quantity). Simply said, it’s not only who talks about you, but who it is.
What defines the quality of a link in link building?
Authority of the page
The page that redirects to you, does it have a good PageRank? If so, this link will have a huge impact on your ranking.
Actually, we came to the conclusion that the authority of the page is more important than any other factor.
It’s like this because links from an authorized page give more authority to your website.
Note: Although Google doesn’t share information about PageRank publicly, they use it as base of their algorithm.
You can easily check PageRank (PageRating) using Semrush. Just add URL address in Semrush and check its “Page Authority Score”.
Authority of the website
The quality of the link is also defined by the authority of the domain of the website.
Overall, link from a site 24chasa.bg (Bulgarian newspaper) will have better impact than a link to nameless blogger. Although these links are hard and expensive to get, they are worth the try.
Semrush is also helpful here. You type in the main URL of the site, and the tool checks its “Authority rating”.
Relevancy of the site
When we’re talking about links, the authority of the website is important. But the relevancy shouldn’t be left behind.
Let’s say you’re an owner of a website for cosmetic products. And you have a link from authority site for interior design.
Will this link be taken into account?
A former Google employee shared in an interview that it won’t be.
According to this Google engineer:
“… earning a link to your page from a page with high PageRank has always been valuable. Today the relevancy of the theme of the site, the relevancy is its PageRank.”
That’s why not only links that are high in authority are taken into account, but also if they are relevant.
The position of the link in the page
Is your link integrated as a part of the content? Or is it buried down in the footer of the page?
The position of your link on the page is important in link building!
Specifically, links hidden in footers or sidebars aren’t as valuable as the links that are in the main content of the page.
Is the link edited?
No matter where it is placed, it should be checked if:
“Is the link editorially placed?”
In other words, was the link added to your website because someone thinks your website is valuable and relevant? If so, it’s an editorial link.
Or is it a link placed in a random website or profile without any editorial context? This isn’t an editorial link and it’s not as valuable in link building.
As you can expect, Google gives much more weight to editorial links.
“… creating links which are not editorial or not naturally earned, known as unnatural links, can be considered a violation of our guidelines.”
Anchor text of the link
Anchor text is the clickable part of a link that users can click on. Google uses this anchor text as a ranking factor.
When we build links to a website for construction services, we aim to use anchor text like “construction of roof”. Google sees this anchor text and interprets it as a signal that the page it links to must be about ‘construction of roof’.
However, we should be careful not to overdo it:
- If a link is used in a certain text, then it shouldn’t be repeated in the same text, as it may be flagged as spam.
- It’s not recommended to have more than 3-4 links in an article.
- It’s not recommended to have more than one link from the same site pointing to your page.
- Links in the text shouldn’t be clustered together in one place.
Nofollow and Dofollow links
When a website links to another website, there are two ways the link can be configured: a dofollow link and a nofollow link. Both types serve the purpose of linking, but they convey different messages to search engines.
Dofollow links are intended to pass “link juice” to the linked website, which can help improve its search engine ranking. On the other hand, nofollow links do not pass “link juice” to the linked website.
In our link building strategy, we focus on creating long-term, dofollow links from websites with similar themes and high ratings. We carefully choose the anchor text for these links to ensure relevancy and effectiveness. Throughout the process, we adhere to all instructions and recommendations to optimise your website’s link building strategy.
Analyses for defining link building profile
In the SEO community, the terms “tactics” and “strategy” are often used interchangeably, but they have distinct meanings. In link building, the tactic refers to the method used to acquire links, while the strategy pertains to the plan designed to achieve specific goals.
To define a tactic, you need a strategy that outlines the overall plan.
There are numerous tactics for link building, such as creating broken link opportunities, reclaiming lost links, content promotion, resource link building, influencer outreach, and guest blogging.
Building links is not merely about acquiring links; it requires proper execution. We need to approach link building strategically.
- To which pages will we build links?
- What keywords are the pages targeted towards?
- How competitive is the niche?
- What opportunities exist?
With our expertise, we have the answers to these questions and can develop a comprehensive strategy for your link building campaign. This strategy will not only cover how we will build the links (tactics) but also the reasons and objectives behind each link-building action (strategy).
Here’s the survey and analysis we conduct to formulate your link-building strategy:
- Analysing feedback
- Analysis of the assets we will link
- Keyword research
- Niche analysis
- Review
Every link-building strategy is unique and tailored to each client and website. There are no exact rules or universal solutions as each plan must be personalized according to your specific needs, resources, and possibilities.
By conducting these essential research and analyses, we can create a comprehensive and effective link-building plan that aligns with your goals.
Let’s examine the primary research and analysis we need to conduct to create a strategic plan that will guide link acquisition.
Analysing feedback
The first step in creating a link-building strategy is to assess your current ranking position. Your backlink profile plays a crucial role in this analysis as it includes all the backlinks to your website and pages.
Analysing your backlink profile is essential in crafting an effective link-building strategy. We need to understand both the quantity and quality of the backlinks pointing to your website.
There are several tools available to help us find sites that link to yours with backlinks.
Some popular ones include:
- Ahrefs
- Semrush
- Majestic
These tools specialise in assisting us with discovering backlinks to your website, evaluating their Domain Rating (DR), quantity, and quality.
The process of analysing backlinks includes:
- Identifying how many websites link to yours (referring domains).
- Evaluating the quality of these referring domains.
- Determining which pages of your website have received the most links.
- Assessing the quantity of these links.
- Comparing the count of backlinks to your website with the count of referring domains.
- Examining the profile of anchor text used in your backlinks.
Depending on the age and popularity of your website and the movement of links in your niche, your backlink profile can vary.
Additionally, we conduct the same analysis for your competitors to understand their link-building strategies and identify potential opportunities to obtain backlinks for your website.
Analysing the assets for link building
One of the most crucial aspects of link building is selecting the right pages to focus on. Firstly, these pages must align with our goals.
Secondly, they should provide value and be relevant to the products or services you offer. Such pages can contribute value in various ways, such as:
- Categories
- Guidelines
- Applications
- Videos
- Articles
- Specifications
- Events, and more.
These assets play a significant role in link building as they are related to increasing brand awareness and generating interest in your products or services.
When identifying linking assets, we often look for pages that are popular among your target audience and offer valuable answers to frequently searched phrases in your industry or niche.
Analysing keywords for link building
Analyzing keywords is crucial for creating a link building strategy.
We must determine the keywords and phrases that are important for your services, products, and website. By understanding how people use search engines to find information about your offerings, we can better tailor our link building efforts.
Keyword research helps us identify the keywords and phrases that your target audience uses when searching online, including long-tail keywords, questions, and trending topics.
There are several useful tools available to analyse keywords and search behaviour, including:
When analysing keywords, we focus on the following aspects:
- Themes with keywords relevant to your business activities
- Pages on your website that can be optimised for these keywords
- Other websites with a similar theme
- Opportunities for creating content based on the identified themes and keywords
Analysing the niche for link building
Analysing your industry, niche, and competitors is vital for every link building strategy.
It’s not enough to understand the effectiveness and goals of your own website; you also need to gain insights into how your competitors achieve their goals and the communities and opportunities within your niche.
Just as we conducted keyword research, analysed backlinks, and identified related assets for your website, we will do the same for your competitors.
Our goal is to understand:
- Which keywords are driving traffic to your competitors’ websites.
- The competitor pages that have the most incoming links.
- The types of websites that link to your competitors.
- How your competitors are obtaining and securing links.
- Active communities and online forums within your industry.
By analysing your competitors, we can gain valuable insights into what has contributed to their success, identify potential opportunities for building relationships within your niche, understand important linking tactics they employ, and uncover common patterns in your industry.
Strategy and plan for link building campaign
Creating a winning strategy for a link building campaign requires specialised research and analysis to identify opportunities, allocate resources, and overcome challenges in order to achieve set goals.
The link building strategy is the plan we develop to meet project expectations and achieve goals using available resources effectively.
Before commencing the link building campaign, we thoroughly examine the following aspects:
- Website history:
- Backlink profile
- Linkable assets
- Industry keywords
- Competitor analysis:
- Important keywords
- Search for competitors
- Competitors’ successes
- Environment for niche linking
- Opportunities for interaction
- Opportunities for linking:
- Unique business value
- Existing interactions
- Current initiatives
12-month plan for link building campaign
The tasks in a link building campaign are recommended to be distributed across tasks and months, following the recommended timelines for acquiring and exchanging links. Monitoring anchor texts, checking the accumulation and quality of links are also essential aspects of the campaign.
Monthly tasks:
- Create and publish 2-4 blog posts based on the analysis of your website’s inner blog and relevant themes related to your products and services.
- Secure 2-4 guest blog posts in external blogs that are related to your industry and have a Domain Rating (DR) of more than 30.
Every 3 months:
- Conduct a review of existing links to eliminate any unrelated or spammy links and those with low ratings.
- Check for broken links and promptly repair them.
- Acquire 2-4 paid publications in reputable media or specialized publications with a DR above 60.
- Build or exchange links with your partners and suppliers, ensuring that changes are made with a minimum gap of one month between exchanges.
Every 6 months:
- Review and update listings in free-to-publish directories and search engines to maintain accurate and up-to-date information.
- Examine related industry publications for broken links and recommend replacing them with your website’s links.
- Identify and recommend opportunities to purchase links from high-quality publications and industry-related blogs and media outlets.
The Basics of Link Building
For search engines, there are two main ways to use the built links:
- One is by registering new websites and pages, then ranking those pages based on the fulfilled requirements.
- The other is when the indexed content is evaluated to determine if the page’s quality is high enough to rank well for relevant keywords.
Our link building services, along with other fundamental elements of SEO, will surpass your expectations, and regularly updating and maintaining your business website in terms of optimisation at every level will give you an advantage over the competition. Don’t waste any more time. Send an inquiry to our experts, and we will get in touch with you promptly.
Link building with 10/10 results
Do you already have a website or are you starting from scratch? Link building strategy is an essential attribute of success. Invest in the progress of your online business.
