What is Link Building?
Link building involves actively obtaining hyperlinks from external websites to your own site. These links function as recommendations; the more relevant and high-quality links pointing to your website, the higher search engines value your site. This can result in better positions in search results and more organic traffic.
Google’s ranking factors
Google uses a complex algorithm with over 200 factors to determine the position of websites. Some of the most important factors are:
- Quality and relevance of content: High-quality, informative, and relevant content that aligns with users’ search intent.
- Backlinks: The number and quality of external links pointing to your website.
- User experience (UX): Factors such as page speed, mobile-friendliness, and a clear navigation structure.
- Domain authority: The overall trustworthiness and authority of your domain, built through consistent quality and relevant backlinks.
Relevance over traffic
It’s important to understand that the number of visitors to your website is not the only measure of success. Relevance is crucial; attracting visitors who are genuinely interested in your products or services leads to higher conversions and engagement. Link building primarily focuses on improving your position in search engines by obtaining relevant backlinks, rather than directly generating referral traffic.
External metrics
In addition to Google’s own criteria, SEO tools like Ahrefs, Semrush, and Moz use external metrics to evaluate website performance. These tools provide insights into aspects such as domain and page value, the number and quality of backlinks, and keyword rankings. While these metrics are useful for benchmarking and monitoring your SEO efforts, it’s essential to focus on creating relevant and high-quality content and building a natural link profile.
Important considerations in link building
When setting up a link building strategy, there are several crucial factors to consider:
- Relevance: Ensure that the websites linking to your site are contextually related to your niche or industry. A link from a relevant website is more valuable than a link from a random site.
- Anchor texts: The anchor text is the clickable portion of a hyperlink. It’s important to vary the anchor texts used and keep them natural. Excessive use of exact keywords can be seen as manipulative by search engines and may have negative consequences.
- Authority of the linking site: Links from websites with high authority contribute more to your SEO than links from less trustworthy sites. It’s therefore important to strive for backlinks from reputable and authoritative websites within your field.
- Natural growth: A sudden increase in the number of backlinks can appear suspicious to search engines. Aim for a gradual and consistent growth of your link profile to create a natural impression.
International link building
When your website is active abroad and you want to improve your organic positions there, international link building is essential. This means obtaining backlinks from websites in the relevant country, preferably in the local language and relevant to the local market. This strengthens your position in local search results and increases your international visibility.
outsourcing link building
Link building requires a lot of time and energy. Therefore, outsourcing these tasks to a specialized agency can be a wise choice. Hulc has years of experience in link building and offers tailored support through our managed service to strengthen your online presence.
By paying attention to these aspects and employing a well-thought-out link building strategy, you can significantly improve your website’s authority and visibility. This leads to higher positions in search engines and an increase in organic traffic.