Is link building part of your SEO strategy? It should be. Building high-quality links back to your website can improve your SERP (search engine results page) ranking and overall SEO. Link building is a great way to promote traffic to your website, build authority with your customers, and nurture relationships in your industry.
I’m going to tell you 3 ways to start building your collection of backlinks right away. But first, the basics.
What is Link Building?
If you’ve heard of “backlinks” before, this is exactly what I’m talking about—hyperlinks that point back to your website from another website. Link building is simply the process of acquiring those backlinks.
When other sites link to yours, it tells engines that your content is valuable. Thus, it can help raise your ranking. Generally speaking, the more high-quality websites that link to you, the more likely you are to rank well in search results. That’s why it’s a super important piece of your SEO strategy.
3 Strategies for Building High-Quality Backlinks
Before I talk about great ways to get backlinks—here’s one way not to do it—don’t buy backlinks! This is considered a “black hat” technique and it’s a big no-no.
Now that we’ve got that out of the way, let’s get into the good stuff. Here are three ways to start getting high-quality links back to your website.
1. Business Profiles
Whenever you create a social media or other business profile, there’s a place to add a link to your website. Boom, backlink! This is one of the easiest ways to get your first backlinks, since anyone can set up a free account. So take advantage of reputable platforms like Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, Yelp, Pinterest, and Google My Business. You could also use relevant industry directories.
2. Guest Blogging
If you’ve ever wondered why people do guest blogging in the first place, now you know…When you write a guest post for a relevant blog in your industry, you build authority and you get a link back to your website. Win-win! This method does take time, but it’s worth it. Ask other business owners directly if you can write a guest post on their site. Or search for variations of “guest post + [topic]”.
3. Editorial Backlinks
Editorial backlinks are when an authoritative website links back to your site as a source for a piece of their own content. These are some of the best backlinks to get since they signal you as a good source of information. The key to getting editorial backlinks is to create great content, of course.
A variation on this is to use Help A Reporter Out (known as HARO). This platform connects journalists with expert sources. When you get quoted in an article as a source, you’ll get a link back to your website, not to mention some free PR. Big publications like Forbes and Business Insider have been known to use HARO sometimes.
There are many other types of backlinks, but these are some of the easiest ones to get started with. And remember, the more respected the site is that links back to you, the better. So, be choosy with your backlinks.
If you didn’t notice by now, SEO is my jam! I love helping business owners grow through great website design, SEO, and consulting services. Contact me today to see how Carolina SEO can help you thrive online.
