What is Link Building – The Fundamentals

link-buildingThere was a time when keyword stuffing used to be all the rage, severely undermining the effectiveness of search engines. All of this changed when Google entered the scene with their Page Rank grading system for web pages. The Page Rank algorithm shifted the search engine ranking criteria from the number of keywords, to the number of high quality links of your webpage listed on external websites. Realizing this, search engine optimization experts began focusing instead on creating a network of links of high quality websites which directed back to the owner’s website; thus the phenomenon of ‘link building’ came into being.

Not the Sole Focus

Of course, this doesn’t mean that link building is the sole effective way of search engine optimization as you are probably aware; but the cultivation of the number and quality of links attribute a large portion of SEO tactics by professionals today. Metrics like trust, spam, and authority of a website are judged by search engine crawlers based on the type of websites that link back to the original website. For example: if there is a link of your website on The Wall Street Journal’s official web page, this automatically implies that your web page can be trusted as being an expert on the subject matter it curates.

So how do you get reputable websites to link to your website? Let’s take a look at four of the most common methods to get you started on the process!

Compelling Content

Quite self-explanatory; creating compelling content and promoting it has proven to be the most effective way of link building in the long term. This one always takes more time, since the content needs to be promoted to grab attention in order for other resource sites to consider linking back to it as a reference. High quality informational content has always remained the most integral part of SEO overall.

Submissions

Following the Penguin update on Google’s search algorithms, search engine optimization experts and professionals have observed an increasing trend in submissions of articles on directories like Ezine with a link to their page in the resource box. Submitting news in the form of Press Releases containing a link is also a popular form of submissions nowadays, since the directories that display these press releases are often highly rated by Google.

Reviews and Mentions

Blogging is a force to be reckoned with in the world of today. The online community is heavily influenced by what renowned bloggers have to say in reviews or opinions on their blog posts. Thus, getting the attention of these bloggers to be directed towards your product or service can lead in the creation of powerful backlinks if mentioned in blog reviews.

Friend and Family

Goes without saying, and is probably the first thing website owners do upon the launch: getting the word out through people you know on a personal basis. Ask these people to link back to your website on their own pages if you haven’t done so already!

The world of link building has enormous depth; we have just stepped into it and provided you with some information that will enable you to get started. Once you get the hang of it, you can get started on more advanced techniques through the various resources available online.