Link building has come a long way over the last few years. Buying 100 backlinks from individual ip's from an overnight backlink source in no longer "shady", it's down right stupid.
The truth is, link building isn't really link building anymore. When done correctly – link building is just good old fashion website promotion. Website promotion at its roots can be described in this way – endeavoring to becoming an authority in your niche, making your brand more recognizable and making in easier for users to find you.
When promoting your business online it's inevitable that you'll have to acquire inbound links to your website. When you market your business online finding links of all types is just something you have to do. And I'm going to tell you how to do it right!
Understanding Inbound Links
Inbound links (of all types) help you to naturally promote your business, even if you're not trying to cheat search algorithms. It just so happens that some of those links also increase your rankings in search. The trick is to do the first so well that they both benefit.
Personally, I like to refer to the process of building inbound links as "organic marketing". The reality is, if you're actively marketing your business you are naturally going to acquire backlink. Matt Cutts himself has referred to this methodology in the past as "organic link building".
Inbound links come in all shapes and sizes and that’s a good thing. Each type of backlink serves a very unique purpose, initially. When done right, an organic inbound link building campaign can help you to promote your online business directly, and indirectly, from natural search traffic.
What does an organic link profile looks like, in the 'natural' world? Here are a few tips that are most definitely going to keep your website out of Google's algorithm update cross-hairs.
Anchor Text
Google's old metrics basically calculated how many times a single keyword was used as an anchor to link to your website and ranked you accordingly. Once you bought a thousand links with the anchor “cheap wedding dresses” you were #1 but those days are gone. Not only have many more ranking factors been brought into the equation but now it's even more important than ever to make sure that you're anchor text profile is natural. Not because it will hurt your rankings – but because without a natural anchor profile you can’t rank.
A well balanced inbound backlink profile has a variety of anchor texts linking to your site including; your brand name, variations of your brand name, your url, variations of your url, blog post titles, target keywords, long tail keywords and even call to action text (click here, our website,etc).
Many SEO professions would say that having a large variety of anchors in your backlink profile is not just safe – it’s beneficial.
Location, Location, Location
In the real world your website is not only going to get links from high profile websites. A legitimate online business is going to have even lower authority sites linking to them as well. In this regard 'where' your links come from should vary.
Article sites are going to link to you if you provide a valuable resource. Local directories both small and large are going to naturally link to you if you have a business in any of the services industries. You can use guest posting to paint yourself as an expert in your industry and get natural links from related websites. Natural links do, and always will, come from a variety of different places and so should yours.
Landing Pages
Are all of your inbound links going to your homepage? Is your homepage the only thing that's awesome about you? No, it’s not. If you're adding valuable content to your website then it shouldn’t be.
If you have multiple products or services those pages would naturally get love once and awhile and so they should. In the real world it's actually more common to get links to your content.
Inbound links to your website should never overwhelm a single page. An established online business should promote the many aspects of its business that make it exceptional and unique. Promote every part of your business. Buy ads on Facebook every time you publish a new post. Increase visibility with Google Ads for each of your specific products or services.
Naturally promote your site and you’ll naturally get links.
Types Of Backlink
As I said earlier, backlinks come in all shapes and sizes. Text links have 'follow' and 'no-follow' attributes, banner ads sometimes include alt tags and are sometimes left without them.
Adhering to Google's guidelines regarding the proper time and place to use 'no-follow' or a ‘follow’ attribute is smart. Why? It won't hurt you if you do, and it could hurt you if you don't.
Don't obsess over any one type of backlink or it's correlating attributes. If you find somewhere to promote your online business then do it. If you find someone who will willingly write a review about your product or service – let them.
Get your name out there any way possible! Every natural link counts.
Natural Volume
Every business is different. It's expected that some industries, like the SEO industry for example, are always going to be throwing links around. Therefor someone in the SEO world is always going to be acquiring those links.
Some industries like plumbing for example, may acquire few links in its lifetime. Not having a ton of links is ok. Promote your business regularly and links will come.
Remember, a backlink is more than just a backlink to boost your rankings. It's an endorsement that will help you get more visitors and promote your business. It just so happens that it will also help your rankings – wink.
Jeff Millett is a professional SEO consultant at The SEO Whiz. In 2010, just after launching his own SEO brand, Jeff "The SEO Whiz” quickly moved to the top of search gaining his reputation as an SEO expert in the midst of numerous catastrophic search updates. Jeff attributes his success to "keeping his nose clean" utilizing only white hat SEO methodologies.
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