Modern Rules of Link Building

Staying up-to-date with the latest link building tactics can be a challenge. Google is constantly tweaking its algorithm, and there is so much contradictory advice online.

According to Moz research, in 2017 link building accounted for 17.31% which is an increase of 2.48% since 2015. If you need a little clarification about what you should or shouldn’t be doing online and want to only embark on the link building tactics that matter, you have arrived on the perfect article. Below are the modern rules of link building, first in a handy infographic then in more detail. Enjoy!

Review the Value of a Link

Every time you look at a potential backlink, you should consider the value it would add to your website. For example, will it just increase your site’s authority, or will it drive a considerable amount of traffic to a page? If you think it will do neither, avoid it.

Add Your Site to Local Listings

Local listings continue to be powerful backlinks. Google favours them as they can prove your business is exactly where it says it is. You must, however, ensure you input consistent business information, such as the same name, address, phone number, and email.

It is important to note that Google doesn’t often index local listings, despite the fact the sites will acquire thousands of new listings every day. To benefit from the listing, you should create a page on your website to state where they can find you online, and then link back to your local listing, which will encourage Google to index the page.

Write Exceptional Content

If you want websites to naturally link back to your pages, all you must do is write exceptional content. Great content will help you to develop an organic backlink profile, which will have a varied anchor text that will prove you have earned a link naturally.

Discover Unlinked Brand Mentions

It can be exciting to find a website has mentioned you in an article but disappointing to discover they haven’t linked to your brand name. If it appears on a trusted website, this will provide a perfect opportunity to reach out to a website to ask if they would mind adding a link. While you might not receive a response from some websites, others might be more than happy to grant your request.

Reclaim a Broken Link

There might be times when you will need to delete a page from your website. For example, it might not be providing value to your readers, or you might have embarked on a website redesign. Unfortunately, the link to a page might still exist and might be directing your readers to a 404. You can, however, improve your link building campaign with a 301, which will push the authority elsewhere on your website.

Write a High-Quality Guest Post

Guest posting can help you take control of your backlink profile. Your sole goal will be to write well-written, informative articles that will be published on a high-authority website. Each article will also feature a backlink to your website, which can help to improve your traffic, brand awareness, and ranking in the search engine results pages. You will also be providing valuable content to both the third-party site and its readers.

Avoid Hidden Links at All Costs

Google is much more intelligent than it was ten years ago, so black hat tactics won’t work anymore. For this reason, you must avoid hidden links at all costs.

If you’re unfamiliar with hidden links, this is the process of adding white links onto a white background. It is a technique that will almost definitely fail, as crawlers will pick up the links and your site could be penalised for this outdated link building tactic.

Know When to Write a Blog Post Comment

Unhelpful blog comments that have no relevance to a forum could lead to a Google penalty. However, this doesn’t mean you should avoid blog comments altogether. For example, it can be beneficial to participate in an active conversation on either a blog or forum, which must be relevant to your business.

The comment must provide contextual value, which means it should help other users. However, avoid filling comments with commercial keywords and do not overdo it by writing too many comments on different blogs, which will appear spammy.

Review and Secure Your Competitors Backlinks

If your competitors are high above you in the search engines, make time to analyse their backlink profile. You’ll most likely discover you have many backlinks in common, but there might also be other powerful links that have improved their Google ranking. There are many free and paid tools that can help you to review their backlinks, which you can then try to secure yourself.

For example, they may have written a guest post on a high authority website, left a helpful comment on an article, or have been featured in a tool roundup blog post. Of course, use your judgment to make sure you only secure a backlink from a reputable, high-authority website, as your competitors might be ranking highly despite the spammy backlink.

Steer Clear of Private Blog Networks and Link Schemes

Unless you really want Google to penalise or deindex your website, you would be smart to steer clear of link schemes, private blog networks, or private link networks. Private blog networks are websites that have commonly been deleted or auctioned in the past.

Google has become much stricter on private blog networks over the last few years, as they view them as a primary source for link spam. Rather than focusing on private blog networks, your goal must be to secure high-quality articles on high-authority, trusted websites.

Don’t Undertake Excessive Link Exchanges

Google values relevancy, which is why it hates excessive link exchanges, which requires you to link to one website and them linking back to you. A common example of this is with partner pages on a business website. However, excessive cross-linking will appear spammy, which can have a negative effect on your search engine ranking. It might feel like a quick win at the time, but the consequences will not be worth it.

Remove Bad Backlinks

A bad backlink could seriously damage your ranking. Fortunately, discovering low-quality links has become much easier thanks to larger link indexes and better tools available. If you want to identify if a link is bad, you must review its trust.

For example, Moz’s Spam Score can predict whether a domain has been penalised or banned due to certain features. An over-optimisation of an anchor text could also be a red flag, as it’s unlikely a webmaster will choose to give a valuable anchor text out of sheer kindness. If you believe a backlink is negatively affecting your rankings, you should disavow the domain.