Effective link building requires a strategy. After Google released its Penguin algorithm, the tactics of link building have been revolutionized. In fact, the entire game of SEO is changing rapidly. Building links for your website or blog has become a huge challenge.
Link building is not swapping links.
Link building is not mass-submitting to directories.
Link building is not buying links.
Link building is not about quantity of links either.
There are many more changes that have happened to link building in order to place your website at a higher position in How to Build Links SERPs.
Here’s how to take a strategic approach –
Understand Your Marketplace
Before you develop an effective link building campaign, you need to gain a crystal-clear understanding of your online marketplace. Whether it’s the industry you serve or the audience that comprise that industry, you need to know all the essential details. Ask yourself whether there are any other sectors that are closely related to the niche you cater to.
The more you know about your target market, the easier it will be for you to develop a link building campaign that delivers results.
Research the Competition
When you are planning to build links effectively, doing some competitive research is of utmost importance. Professional link builders will never develop a link building strategy without gaining an insight into what their key competitors are doing. Researching the competition efficiently will open your eyes to many interesting insights which will further help you work out an effective link building strategy for the improvement of your site’s SEO.
For example, you should try to find out what type of links your competitions have acquired. You may also want to know about those niche blogs where your rivals have guest posted. Competitive intelligence will also help you understand the kind of content your competition creates in order to attract links.
It’s only when you know what link building tactics your competitions are using that you’ll be ready to beat them out quickly.
Identify Link Targets
Depending on the scope of your marketplace and the kind of data acquired through competitive research, you’ll be able to identify the key link targets. The link targets will vary from one website or blog to another. For example, link targets for a brand new website will be different from those of a website that’s a few years old or has some online reputation.
For effective link building, you should always be fully aware of the third-party sites or web pages from where you want to acquire links. You may want to get backlinks from niche blogs. You may want to get linked from authority sites or government websites. You may want your website to be linked from useful resource pages on other websites.
When you are aware of the potential link targets, it’ll become easier for you to use specific methods to build specific links.
So, identify your targets really well.
Develop Content
No matter what methods you choose for building your targeted links, you’ll need to develop content. If you want links from a niche blog that accepts guest posts, for example, you’ll need to create top quality guest articles. If you want to build links via sending out press releases, you’ll need content for that as well. In fact, there are numerous forms in which you can create content.
You may want to create white-papers. You may want to design infographics. You may want to create videos. You may also want to create PowerPoint presentations for building targeted links.
Content development will always be at the core of all your link building efforts. Without content, it’s just impossible to acquire backlinks for your website and improve its SEO. Therefore, make sure you consistently create the kind of content that’s required to propel your link building campaign.
