Link Building 2013 - It Is All About Quality
Link building evolves year on year as Google and the other search engines update their rules (criteria for who is number one and who is number ten). At Infaweb we focus on link building that is sustainable and high in quality, but that does mean we have to continuously look at the way we build links.
4 Link Building Sidekicks
Top priorities when link building;
- Quality
- Sustainable
- Relevant
- Diverse
Link building 2013 will prove to be more refined, more controlled and more natural than ever before. The key elements will involve;
- Competitor research
- Looking at your link profile
- Checking your deep link ratio
- Locating relevant and appropriate links for your website
- Encouraging social interaction
- When appropriate looking for links negatively affecting your website
So what does link building involve? We did an article called Link Building 2012 and this summarises most of the methods and techniques in some details. Most of these techniques are still used and effective.
What has changed in the last 12 months that makes link building different in 2013 to 2012? Google did some big updates in 2012 that meant a lot of the methods used by the cheaper / less ethical link builders no longer worked and in fact caused lots and lots of websites to lose all their online traffic from Google. This means people are moving more and more towards ethical and natural link building, which is how it should be.
We provide an ethical and natural service that helps your business to succeed in Google, Yahoo and Bing. What we also do is make sure these links are sustainable so you don't lose your links over night and they will not hurt your rankings on Google's next algorithm update.
Social Media and Link Building 2013
One of the biggest changes over recent years is the introduction of social media. This includes things like; Google plus one, Facebook, Twitter, YouTube etc. This has changed things with link building in 2013 as the search engines take social activity and use to this help with search engine rankings. There are different ways to encourage the activity;
- Open accounts and grow your networks
- Post good comments onto your networks
- Have interactive social buttons on your website
- Have links on your website to your social network accounts
Link building is a re-occurring activity
A common question that I get asked is do I have to keep building links? The answer is yes if you want to keep your rankings and improve on them. Link building gets your website higher in the rankings but if the keyword gains decent traffic then the likelihood is that other companies are also building links (naturally or by building them). The only way to get ahead and stay ahead is to keep the momentum going. Interact socially and encourage links to your website. This will allow growth and improve your website traffic.
Do you need to link build to get any results in the search engines?
Yes is the answer to most scenarios but there are some cases where onsite SEO is enough. It is dependent on what you want to get ranking for. For example if you are trying to rank for a competitive phrase then you will need a site with links. If you are trying to get a new product to rank for the product name and you are the only wholesaler then you will find that you will rank high for the product name as there is no competition for it. It is the same with your company name, if it is not a generic word and it's in your URL then chances are you will rank for it without links.
Can you achieve high rankings with just links?
The answer is probably but it's much more sustainable and you will achieve better results if you do onsite SEO first. By building a good foundation in your website you send good quality signals to the search engines. This then gives you a solid base to start link building on. It also means you will not need as many links and, let's face it links building is not everyone's cup of tea!