Websites that earn valuable organic traffic from search engines are often aware of the powers of search engine optimization (SEO). If you only implement a few webpage best practices, stay aware of industry trends, and focus on good content, your rankings and traffic are likely to remain steady. But there’s more you could be doing to take your performance to the next level.
Are Links a Part of Your 2017 SEO Strategy?
Links are an incredibly challenging thing to earn, yet they’re an effective signal that affects where your site ranks in search engines. Google and other search engines use hyperlinks (or links/backlinks) to determine the quality and relevance of a website; they’re akin to “popularity” votes. Theoretically, the more backlinks a site has from authoritative and relevant websites, the higher that website should rank in search engines.
When used as a tactic, building links can be very hard to execute. It requires wearing a lot of hats as a digital marketer, including those of a content strategist, outreach specialist, researcher, analyst, and more. But is it impossible? Certainly not.
Links Are STILL Important!
In years past, links that fell outside of best practices were seen as spammy and negatively affected the website they pointed to. Google would issue penalties for websites with links deemed suspect, because those sites were participating in activities that violated Google’s Terms of Service. A penalty in Google will result in lower rankings and less traffic; it can also hurt a website’s profits.
Links are still an incredibly important factor to improve search performance, and they seem to be making a resurgence this year. If you’ve never executed a link building strategy it’s important to know all the facts, because link building is inherently risky, and only the highest quality of tactics are recommended. These resources will help beginners understand a bit more; it pays to read them before executing any campaign.
- Beginners Guide to Link Building by Moz
- Beginners Guide to SEO: Best Practices by Hongkiat.com
- Link Building for Beginners in Three Easy Steps by Top Rank Blog
We’ll discuss some of the popular strategies and tactics important to success. With some careful planning and diligent research, you’re sure to be well on your way to success with link building.