Link building is an SEO technique focused on getting as many links as possible to our website, in order to improve its positioning in search engines. What is link building, how it works and what strategies to use in each case, are among the main questions of this branch of SEO.
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how does link building work?
Internet search engines use various algorithms to evaluate the relevance of websites. This determines the position they will occupy in the search results. In the case of the Google search engine, we have PageRank.
PageRank is a family of algorithms that establish, among other things, the relevance of websites on a scale of 0 to 10, according to the number of links it receives (backlinks) and the weight of each one. This last factor depends on the importance of the linking site. For example, a backlink from NASA has a higher weight than a backlink from a start-up.
In reality, the quantity and weight of backlinks are not the only factors considered by PageRank, but they are the most important. So the main goal of any SEO strategy, especially off-page SEO, is to get as many and as high quality backlinks as possible.
However, we should not forget about on-page SEO. In addition to the quality, design and loading speed of our website, search engines take into account the internal linkbuilding. That is, the way in which the pages of a website are linked to each other.
Natural vs artificial link building
Natural link building consists of attracting the interest of people or entities so that, on their own initiative, they link to our website. To do this, we must take into account from the creation of relevant content to the deployment of advertising campaigns.
Artificial link building, on the other hand, is achieved by inserting links on websites in a way that appears natural. The latter is important, as search engines penalize a site if they notice fake backlinks. For example, when discovering an indiscriminate amount of links coming from the same website.
Linkbuilding and linkbaiting
Knowing how linkbuilding works is essential to understand this technique. But we must also learn how it is done in practice. This is where link baiting comes in.
Link baiting consists of creating interesting and quality content to attract people’s attention. It is, in fact, the basis of natural link building. The content we create can be available in any format: text, image, video, application, etc. For example: a YouTube video, a witty meme or an article relevant to a sector of the population.
Among the most commonly used link baiting techniques are:
- Include humorous, controversial or sensationalist elements to attract attention.
- Creating lists of recommendations
- Publishing press releases
- Providing downloadable material
Link baiting is considered quite difficult, as it requires creativity to create content capable of making an impact on large groups. But it significantly enhances natural link building. In fact, it can be said that link building and link baiting are part of an inseparable binomial in the day-to-day life of an SEO expert.
Link building examples of how to do it
Beyond the theory, we must study in link building examples of concrete techniques that help us to implement it. Below, we list the 6 most commonly used when link building and link baiting:
- Sharing content on social networks
- Create and maintain a pleasant, interesting and coherent blog with our website
- Having a YouTube channel
- Commenting on other people’s sites and blogs
- Guest blogging: writing as a guest author on other websites
- Internal linkbuilding: creating links between pages of the same website
Using these techniques and many others, it is possible to develop a successful natural link building campaign. If we achieve a balance between internal linkbuilding, link baiting and Social Media strategies, it is possible to see results in a few months.
