Link building is a very integral part of digital marketing, especially in SEO. Hence, it’s important to understand how link building works, and how you might be able to apply it to your website or business as part of your SEO strategy.

Link building is a huge topic on its own.

But this article will try to explain briefly what link building is, the various types and why they they are important for your blog.

What is Link Building?

Link building is the practice of acquiring inbound links to your blog (also known as backlinks), from external, higher-ranking SEO websites.

A popular way of acquiring backlinks is by writing guest posts for a larger blog, and having the posts link back to your website.

Building links is similar to acquiring social proof. And according to OptinMonster, sites with the highest number of backlinks tend to rank higher on Google.

Without links, ranking for competitive keywords in your niche is nigh impossible.

So this form of marketing increases your blog’s chances to feature highly on Google search results.

3 Ways you Can Acquire Backlinks.

1. Request a Link from the Blog Owner of a bigger, higher ranked Website.

Remember to request links from websites that are of the same niche as yours. As mentioned above, the best way for this is by contacting large blogs in your niche and writing guest posts and testimonials for them.

This is typically the best way for a freelancer or small business with an inhouse writing team.

 2.  Create High-Quality Content That’s Link-Worthy.

If you do not want to do the above, then write your own blog content – and consistently. Your goal should be to create a piece of content that other bloggers and industry experts can use and link back to your site.

This may be a time-intensive strategy but if you can get it right, it’s worth the effort. There are different types of content you can produce. You can write how-to articles, create guides, list posts, and run quizzes.

3. Outsource.

Due to the sheer number of low-ranking websites on the internet, Link-building can be a very tedious process for a freelancer or small business.

However, if you have a couple thousand €s sitting idly, you can outsource the creation of backlinks to a contractor or agency.

NB. Backlinks can be bought from ‘link farms‘. However, this is strictly against Google’s policies and you could be penalised heavily for this. Also know that some very-high quality backlinks may cost a few hundred euros or more.

Other Benefits of Link Building.

1. More Web Traffic.

This is pretty straightforward. The more backlinks you have on your site, the more Google finds your site trustworthy. This also means you get to rank higher and your target audience will likely see your website on the first page of search results.

2. Makes your Brand Credible & Recognizable.

Since your links are credible and backed by other trusted websites, the chances for your website to generate more leads or sales are much higher. In this way, your brand becomes more recognisable – as well as gaining a strong online authority.

3. Fosters Business Relationships.

A lot of Link building is done through partnerships. Whenever you include relevant links to your website or blog, that is an external link that your visitors can visit and help increase their business. Also, the reverse is true, as potential clients can visit your website through inbound links on other websites.

So there is a potential for a win-win situation for everybody.

4. Passive Income Generator.

Backlinks set you up to earn money without the need to be constantly and directly involved in earning it. When there are more links out there leading to your website where you sell products, services, or generate ad revenue, it means there are also more opportunities for you to earn money from these links. 

5. Sustained Traffic.

If you set up Facebook Ads for 7 days, you will need to take action at the end of those 7 days. You can either decide to stop the ads altogether, tweak them and run them again or start fresh. 

But with link building, you are able to generate continual and sustained referral traffic without the need to update this link at its permanent spot on an authority website. This means you can continually reap the benefits of link building without constantly checking in on that particular backlink! 

6. Low Bounce Rates.

Bounce rate just refers to the percentage of users who only visit a single URL on your site before clicking away to another site or closing the tab.

Until now, we’ve largely been talking about backlinks in reference to link building. But another important part of link building is your own internal linking structure. This involves linking from one page of your website to another page on your website. So, if a visitor clicks that link, they remain on your site, but just on a different page. This is helpful because it keeps your bounce rate low, which is another factor search engines look at for ranking.

7. More Valuable Content for Readers.

Inbound and outbound links, when done strategically, can provide a lot of value to readers. For example, you might have noticed how we include links throughout our blog posts, highlighting certain terms.

This is done to provide you with a helpful link to more information regarding the highlighted term.

Finally, Some Extra Link building Tips for YOU.

• Create links on infographics. This is because most people are more likely to click on the infographics than read a whole blog.

• Activate your social media platforms. This means posting regularly, commenting on platforms that share your niche, and engaging your audience. Remember to include your blog’s links.

So in conclusion, we have seen that link building is important for your website as it greatly increases the chances for your website to be recognized. To read extra material on link building, why don’t you check out this resource here?