Link building is an important part of SEO. Therefore, it is important to be very careful with how we build links. Hence, in this article, we are going to talk about the important dos and don’ts of link building you should keep in mind.
The sites that you link to and those that link back to you help understand Google a lot about your business. When a good site with high level of authority sends backlink to your website, it is a good thing. This signals Google that your website has quality content which can actually be useful for its users. And hence, it gives the said website a ranking and visibility boost.
Therefore, link building can greatly determine the success of your SEO. And hence, in order to rank better on search engines and attract more traffic to your website, link building is important. That being said, let’s get you through the things you should do and the things you should avoid doing when building links.
The Dos and Don’ts of Link Building
The Dos
>> Create awesome content
This is the first thing you should work on if you want to improve your link building—create and post awesome content. The best types of backlinks are those that you get naturally. And a good website would only link to yours if you post high quality content. So make sure to create super relevant and awesome content.
>> Develop super useful guides
Generally when a website mentions another in its blog, it is to refer its readers to a blog where a particular topic is elaborately explained. For example, there may be a blog about SEO tips which briefly talks about link building. However, link building in itself is a vast topic and someone reading about it for the first time might not be able to understand it. Hence, the said blogger might include an external link to a beginner’s guide of link building to help its audience understand the subject better. Therefore, making killer guides around your industry relevant topics can help your earn backlinks.
>> Focus on getting backlinks from authoritative and relevant websites
It’s not just about getting backlinks from any website. A baby care products website linking to a sports website won’t make sense, right? Such a link would at best be as good as nothing—in a worse case, it can undermine your SEO. So, focus on gathering links from websites within your industry. Moreover, make sure that the website linking with you are authoritative and credible.
>> Try to Help a Reporter Out
Help a Reporter Out or HARO is a platform that connects journalists seeking quotes and information from inside of a particular industries and those businesses that are willing to do that. Many journalists need such quotes and information so they can include in and improve their stories. However, not every pitch may be successful. But don’t lose patience and try to refine your answers because once you hit the mark, it can earn some valuable links.
>> Be patient
Link building isn’t an overnight task. It takes a good amount of time, effort, diligence, and patience. Therefore, when you step into this, you need to be prepared to give all of that. And if you do everything right, you will be enjoying immense linking and SEO benefits.
The Don’ts
X Putting quantity over quality of the links
If you think the higher the number of your backlinks is, the better would be your search engine optimization, you are sorely mistaken. Google doesn’t care as much about the quantity of your backlinks as it does about their quantity. And you can earn quality links only from authoritative websites that are relevant to your business.
X Buying links
There is an on-going controversy about whether or not buying links is entirely a bad idea or not. However, most SEO will tell you it is indeed bad. Paid links generally come from shady websites. And it totally contradicts the point that quality of the links matter more than their quantity. Moreover, one needs to be very careful and watchful with paid links. Not to mention how Google is smarter than ever and in most cases, it can tell whether the links are genuine or fake. Therefore, buying links is something best avoided altogether.
X Not caring about who links with you
It is important to check out your backlink profile regularly and make sure only quality websites link with you. If you do not care about who links with, it can harm your SEO. Getting links from spammy and shady websites can make Google associate such sites with yours. And hence, your website might end up getting penalized. Therefore, keep checking whom you get backlinks from and weed out the bad ones.
X Suggesting anchor text
It is an obsolete SEO tactic to suggest a specific anchor text to the website that links to you. If Google finds that a website is getting too many backlinks with the same anchor text, it can penalize that website. Therefore, it is always healthy to have variety in the anchor texts linked to your website.
X Indulging in link-exchange
Another don’t f link building is to indulge in link-exchange schemes. Many websites would link to each other in order to gain backlinks. However, Google can spot such exchanges and such websites can end up getting penalize. Hence, you should not indulge in such schemes.
Final word
Linking building is extremely important for successful search engine optimization and overall digital marketing. Therefore, it is important to be very careful and thoughtful with this one. And with the help of the list of dos and don’ts of link building given above, you can practice healthy and effective link building.
For more, make sure to follow our blog!
