You probably already know that link building is a key part of a good optimization strategy. It’s the one component that can very quickly push your site forward in the rankings. The problem, though, is that it’s not as simple as you might expect. Years ago, when SEO was still a relatively new concept, many webmasters used link farms to create a number of links back to their site fairly quickly. These days, though, that’s no longer allowed. In fact, Google strictly forbids it. That’s why so many business owners today consider link-building services instead of trying to build the links themselves. What should you know before you hire a link building service to meet your needs? Take a look.
- Relevancy is Key: Not just any backlink will do these days, and the more relevant the site you’re considering, the better off both of you will be. You may feel like your team should be reaching out to only those sites with a high domain authority or that are very busy in terms of traffic, but what you really want them to do is reach out to those sites that are truly relevant to you and your customers. When Google crawls your site, they look both at what sites you’re linking to and what sites link to you. It’s literally how the search engine understands your business. The more relevant your links, the better Google can identify your site, so you get more customers for certain search terms. For example, if you’re an ecommerce site selling office supplies but you link to sites in the footwear industry, Google’s going to have a tough time making sense of what you’re doing.
- White Hat Techniques Only: White hat link building is a way to boost your rankings by adding valuable content or creating a stronger user experience. Black hat link building is something else entirely. It works to find loopholes in the SEO system, and often it uses practices that go against search engine guidelines. Sometimes that includes keyword stuffing, but it can also mean spamming blog comments with links and much more. It promises fast results, but these kinds of shortcuts backfire quickly, and the last thing you want is a Google penalty against you because you engaged in these tactics.
- Blogger Outreach Is Encouraged: Blogger outreach is a lot like influencer marketing. If you can find someone that fits within the spectrum of your products (like a blogger specializing in office supplies, for example) who has lots of traffic, they’re the people to reach out to. This is actually encouraged by Google given the amount of power that so many bloggers have. A backlink from their site could be a very powerful signal in the eyes of Google.
- Consider Adding Content Services: As you search for the right link building service to meet your needs, you’ll also want to make sure they also offer content services. Content building and link building actually go hand in hand. Many sites simply don’t have a strong enough content profile for other sites to even consider linking to them. If you want a link building service to work well for your company, you may need to build out your content a bit, and if you’re working with a company that has a content division, that can truly help build your overall profile quickly.
- Make Sure You Get a Report: Link building services, just like SEO services, should be able to offer you monthly reporting of every single link they’ve managed to build. This is your chance to see exactly what they’re doing. You’ll want to double-check those links and make sure they’re clear, relevant, and important to your users as well. Any company that isn’t interested in telling you who might be linking to your site just isn’t worth your time or money.
Link building is a key part of any SEO strategy, and often it’s available as part of SEO packages or part of other services your existing SEO company can offer you. If it’s not, though, you’ll certainly want to seek the help of a link-building professional to get the results you need.
Author’s Bio: Hitesh is a digital marketing strategist and entrepreneur with more than 15 years of experience in digital marketing, start-ups, branding, and customer acquisition strategies. Hitesh is the CEO and Founder of Reposition Group, which specializes in digital growth strategies for companies in the cryptocurrency market such as Bitamp.com.
