Various digital marketing strategies impact your visibility on search. One often misunderstood yet extremely important marketing strategy is link building. Every month there are 14 billion searches (yes I said billion). Even more interesting, 63.7% of all searches are done on Google, therefore; it’s imperative you understand how Google rates websites and how this rating affects your visibility. Here we demystify the backlink.
Every website needs link love.
When I say link love, I mean backlinks. What is a backlink? Backlinks, also known as incoming links, inbound links, and inlinks, are incoming links to a website or web page. Is your website listed on your local chamber’s website? If so, then you are backlinked to them. The more backlinks you have (which are authoritative and relevant), the more likely you are to show up on Google’s natural search before your competitors.
What makes a backlink authoritative and relevant?
According to Wikipedia, “There are several factors that determine the value of a backlink. Backlinks from authoritative sites on a given topic are highly valuable. If both sites have content geared toward the keyword topic, the backlink is considered relevant and believed to have strong influence on the search engine rankings of the webpage granted the backlink.” In other words, if you are a feather pillow maker and your website is listed on the nationally renowned Feathers Galore Directory, then you have one (authoritative and relevant) backlink. The more authoritative, relative backlinks you have, the more important you are to Google.
Who is backlinking to you and your competitors?
It’s a good idea to know who is currently backlinking to you. Here’s a fun and interesting way to find out who links to you now: Go to http://ericmiraglia.com/inlink/, watch the introductory video, and try his inlink page analyzer. You may be surprised by your results. Would you like to compare and contrast your backlinks with your competitors’ backlinks? My company can give you access to some fascinating link grading software which clearly shows who is linked to your competitors as well as the authority value attributed to those backlinks. In the digital world where relevant, authoritative backlinks help determine your search standing, this information is invaluable.
How to generate your own backlinks.
Whether or not you hire a qualified marketing company to complete an aggressive link building campaign for you, your business (even the smallest of businesses) can generate backlinks. To start, visit the website of every professional organization to which you belong and be sure your URL is hotlinked (meaning it’s clickable) on each site. Blogging and commenting on blogs are two more smart ways to generate backlinks.
Take a look at this comprehensive link building tactics list:
profiles
unpaid directories
paid directories
widgets
conference sponsorships
association sponsorships
aggregated content
research and surveys
blog reviews
job listings
testimonials
letters to the editor
contributed articles
rss feeds
blogroll
bookmarking
social media pages
squidoo page
applications
optimized press releases
build and host useful tools
awards (badge)
contest (badge)
cross link company-owned websites
write reviews
promote content on social sites
blog/rss feed directory submissions
ads on search friendly sites
classified ads
post ebook or substantial whitepaper
exchange links with marketing/business partners
post surveys
write guest posts on other blogs
speak at events, offer ppt with links embedded
donate where a link of donors is published
transcribe video interviews to text as separate posts
apply for industry awards, web site, and blog awards
ensure industry groups you’re involved with link to you
create a wiki
create microsites for causes, events, specific purposes
affiliate program
become a resource on Q/A websites like Yahoo Answers
slidewhare and similar content hosting
monitor 404 status and ask link sources to fix broken links
solicit links directly from sources
provide “link to us” content on blog or website
leverage publicity and media relations for links
digital asset submissions, images, audio, and video
Showing up on the first page of Google search is motivation for any company to hire a qualified marketing company or take care of backlinking in house. Remember, Google don’t want none unless you’ve got backlinks hun! Above list as well as other pieces of information found in this post from http://inboundmarketing.com/university/seo-crash-course-to-get-found-gf102 (yes – this is a backlink) presented by Lee Odden of TopRank Online Marketing.
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Backlinks are probably one of the most important things to understand for a blogger and probably the hardest. Thanks for such a clear and informative posting.
As I think about it, I have a question. Is it a good strategy to have backlinks on your competitors blog?
In many cases it is HeelShields. Email me their URL and I’ll tell you their link grade. cl@oz2designs.com
haha i love it!
Very good list of things to do. Great job.
Nice post Catherine. I have the CommentLuv plugin on my site and it has definitely helped increase traffic to my site. I also comment on CommentLuv sites. Each time, I get a backlink to an article of my choice. The backlinks help with my ranking by the search engines as you have pointed out. It also helps to build a sense of community. I find it helpful to comment on blogs of people who share my target readers but offer a different perspective. To me, the key is that their blogs compliment my blog not compete.
You are too funny! I told Rebekkah she needed to talk you. I will keep on her to do so.
That is a great article, title and tips. I actually use SEO PowerSuite and their suite of tools for on-page SEO, as well as the plugin “Ultimate SEO” — phenomenal.
There are other plugins as well for this, but competitive analysis is key to success – will be glad to check out your resources.
Thanks for the tips!
All very true. Backlinks are one of the most important pieces of a good SEO strategy.
Great article. I never really knew this.
Thank you Catherine, for enlightening me. I’ll definitely have to pay attention to this.
Thanks again.
great article. backlinks are crucial….
Great article. Thanks for the info.
Thanks for the great post and Link Building Tactics List.
There is no field of dreams — just because you build a website or write a blog, your target audience may not even know you exist. Keyword optimization and taking the time to create backlinks is paramount to traffic generation which is, after all, the reason you created your website and/or blog in the first place.
How many times have we been asked to look at the SE work done by others only to find out that this strategy has been overlooked or not done correctly.
Really good post and of course a vital strategy if you really want to make inroads.
Happy Saturday
Richard
Great article! Half the things on that list never even crossed my mind.
Thank you for such a wealth of information. There are things here that could keep a blogger tragic busy for months. Maybe I will become one? Cheers, Shane
Sir Links A Lot – Thanks for the great list of link building ideas and opportunities for SEO.
Catherine,
This is a fascinating and enlightening post. I was completely in the dark on the importance of the back links. Thank you for sharing.
Best,
Chris Paulsen
Chris Paulsen recently posted..Invest in Yourself- the 7th of 7 Steps to Improving Your Leadership
Great article… great marketing tool.
You are helping me to enter more deeply into that mystical, scary place… the internet. Gotta do it Hon!
Wow now THAT is the ultimate list. Some good stuff, things I had not thought of doing for my own blogs. Great article.
Glad you like D.J.
Thank you for this information. I think I am doing all the right things and even it is never enough.
Appreciate the post.