Link Building in SEO: How to Approach it

If you want your content to rank high in Google’s search results, its algorithm has to trust your site. But how do you gain Google’s trust among the millions of pages in SERPS? One proven way is building social proof—by having links from other websites point back to yours.

This is the essence of SEO link building, a key conversion strategy that has existed since?Google’s Penguin update?in 2012.

What is Link Building for SEO?

Link building is an SEO conversion tactic where you get other websites to link to pages on your site. Links from external sites that point back to yours are called backlinks.

Statistics reveal that 13% of SEO experts believe linkbuilding is the most valuable SEO tactic today. The more backlinks your site has, the more credible and authoritative it is to users and Google’s search ranking algorithm.

Is It Possible to Rank Without Building Links?

Yes, it is possible to rank without backlinks. Usually, if a page fulfills a search intent, it ranks without links. However, if you want your website to rank high in Google without any backlinks, you must at least have something different as a top ranking factor.

According to the Search Engine Journal, high-quality content, page experience, and building links are the top 3 ranking factors in Google’s search results. For example, where link building isn't your strongest forte, creating content that's relevant to your target audience could get you a higher position in SERPs.

Regularly churning quality content that aligns with Google’s ever-changing search engine algorithms is also vital for user experience and conversion.

How a Poor Link Building Strategy Could be Hurting Your SEO Efforts

A 2023 survey among search engine optimization (SEO) professionals worldwide revealed that approximately 17.2 percent of respondents identified social media as the most effective link building strategy for promotion.

However, it’s also a strategy that has opened doors for link building scams that are against search engine standards and Google Guidelines. Google SERPs prioritize the relevance and authority of inbound links.

So, if your website is linked to low quality or irrelevant sites, it could negatively affect your rankings, potentially hurting your credibility and SEO efforts.

An effective link building strategy means having quality links that are relevant to your niche and add value to your business. If your website is technically sound and the content is excellent, quality, natural links from the right category pages will increase your rankings.

Why You Should be Cautious about Buying Links

Most of the link building services I've seen are from people that will get you links on a domain with an excellent domain rating (DR), but with absolute low quality content. This is basically a collection of articles on different topics, and nothing much that makes sense.

No reader would devote their time to follow through the link to the website and interact with the content. You may have a site getting backlinks and numerous articles but with zero outreach. The links have no real value, and this would hurt your SEO.

How to Spot Link Building Scams

You may have received a suspicious LinkedIn connection request and, later on, a follow-up with detailed and enticing link-building services that are too good to ignore. Well, before taking any action, look out for these potential red flags that point to a link building scam:

1. Paid Link Schemes: The most common and clever link building scam is through paid link schemes. Link building agencies and websites that participate in these schemes offer money or other rewards for backlinks that artificially boost their rankings.
2. Private Blog Networks (PBNs): PBNs are web networks containing links purposely meant to skew search engine results. One popular PBN link building tactic is known as interlinking. PBN members artificially exchange "link juice" to raise each other's search engine ranks. While this artificial link manipulation can trick search engines, it'll eventually hurt your SEO.
3. Link Exchange Programs: Under these programs, websites agree to link to one other's websites to artificially increase their link profiles. This unhealthy link building practice is best known as reciprocal linking and will also hurt your SEO in the long run.

So, What Next for My Link Building Strategy

Many moving parts in Google's algorithm decide a website's ranking—and backlinks are one of those. If your website has more backlinks linking to it, Google is more likely to rank it highly in search results.

If you want to rank high for a specific keyword phrase and hold that position without competition, then you need lots of backlinks. But first, run a report on your competitor’s sites through SEO tools like SEMrush and Ahrefs to tailor your link building strategy accordingly.

Using either tool, you can gauge the level at which you compete and determine how much time/effort you should invest in building links.

Wrapping Up

The search algorithm still heavily relies on quality links from trustworthy sources. Yet, it's just a small piece in a large jigsaw pointing towards SEO authority. Link building, like all other forms of SEO efforts, isn't a magic formula for raising a site's ranking; instead, it's a tiny cog in the wheel that'll make up for your website's value and trustworthiness.

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