Having a strong online presence is essential. SEO (Search Engine Optimisation) is one of the key components of a successful online strategy. And when it comes to SEO, link building plays a crucial role.
What do we mean by ‘links’?
When we talk about links, we refer to the hyperlinks that connect one website to another.
Links come in two forms: internal and external.
Internal links
Internal links direct users from pages within a website. They’re essential for site navigation and user experience, helping users find relevant content easily.
Such links provide several SEO benefits, such as improving site structure and passing link equity throughout the domain. Optimising internal links can also help reduce bounce rates, as users will be more likely to stay on a website for longer if they can navigate it easily.
External links (backlinks)
External links are hyperlinks from other websites that point back to your website. Or, as they’re also known – backlinks.
Backlinks are hugely important, adding authority to your site which can help boost your rankings in search engines. They also act as recommendations from other sites, helping establish trust and credibility.
The more quality links pointing to a website, the higher its ranking will generally be in SERPs (Search Engine Results Page).
Nofollow vs. Follow backlinks
There are two types of links you need to be aware of for linkbulding: nofollow and follow.
Nofollow links are HTML tags that instruct search engines not to take the link into account when crawling the web. This means that search engine bots will not follow the link, or pass any SEO value onto your website.
They can still be beneficial, as they can provide referral traffic from the website that links to you.
Here’s an example of a nofollow link: <a href=”https://example.com” rel=”nofollow”>Anchor Text</a>
Follow links are HTML tags that tell search engines to follow the link on your website. Follow links are valuable for SEO as they help boost rankings in SERPs and pass confidence and authority.
Here’s an example of a follow link: <a href=”https://example.com”>Anchor Text</a>
Dofollow links don’t include ‘rel=follow’ within the HTML. Instead, they are left blank or include other attributes such as ‘rel=external’.
What is link building in SEO?
Simply put, link building is creating incoming links to your website from other sites. This helps increase the authority, relevance, and trustworthiness of your domain.
Building external links is a big part of any SEO campaign, but it needs to be done correctly. Buying links from link farms or posting them on spammy websites can actually harm your website’s rankings.
Instead, the focus is on creating content that other people will want to link to. It could be blog posts, infographics, case studies or videos. Promote this content through social media and email outreach – this will help you reach more potential link partners.
What makes a good backlink?
The first rule of linkbuilding is that quality is more important than quantity. You may be able to quickly obtain links from low-quality sources, but these won’t help your SEO efforts in the long term. Instead, you should focus on building high-quality links that are relevant and beneficial for your website.
So what makes a good link?
Metrics: Domain Authority (DA), Page Authority (PA), and Trust Flow (TF) are good indicators of a website’s quality.
Relevance: A link should be relevant to both the linking site and your own website. For example, a link from a travel blog to a clothing store won’t be beneficial for either website.
Authority: Obtaining links from high-authority websites help to boost your website’s reputation.
Quality: High-quality content/images to keep people engaged with the linking page.
Anchor Text: The use of natural anchor text, rather than exact keywords, can help signal that a website is trustworthy.
Follow/no-follow: A good mix of both follow and no-follow links help websites appear more natural to search engines.
Link building strategies
Here are some common link-building strategies:
- Guest blogging – Writing and publishing content on other websites or blogs related to your industry. This is a great way to get high-quality backlinks, build relationships with influencers, and gain exposure for your business.
- Broken link building – Finding and replacing broken links on other websites. This is a great way to build relationships with webmasters and gain quality backlinks at the same time.
- Resource pages – Finding pages on other websites that list useful resources or tools related to your industry.
- Infographics – Visuals are more engaging than text and likely to be shared on social media or other websites.
- Local directories – Such directories are a great way to reach local customers, as well as building relevant links
Why Are Links Important?
Credibility can make or break any business. Without how are users supposed to know if your site is legit or not?
Building high-value links from reputable sites can prove to search engines and users that your website is the real deal. This helps boost your visibility in SERPs, as well as improve user experience.
It also helps boost referral traffic and brand awareness. People clicking on a link from an external source are more likely to click through to other pages. As a result, your website can experience higher conversion rates.
Boost your online presence
SEO is a complex and ever-changing field. As technology and search engine algorithms develop, so do the best practices for SEO. But regardless of all the changes that occur, one thing remains constant – the value of building quality backlinks.
At MetricHub, we help clients strengthen their online presence through tailored strategies to suit your business and budget. Whether you are more E-commerce or Inquiry-focused, we can build an SEO package that works for you. Contact us today to find out more about our link-building services and how we can help you boost your online presence.
