If you want more search engine traffic, link building is a must. No element of content building for SEO has received as much attention as link building, and many marketers have had to update their link building skills and strategy in one way or another.
Content Building for SEO
What is link building in SEO? The simple definition is that it’s earning links on other people’s and company’s websites. These so-called “earned” natural links improve a website’s reputation and affect how it ranks in search engines, including Google. Search engines reward content that has earned natural links by ranking the website higher than one that contains manufactured links.
Link building is a challenging task for SMBs, particularly in finding ways to raise their authority. Domain and page-level links are still the top two ranking factors for search engines, with keywords and content factors close behind. While there are still people who try to game the system, real links from real sites are what you need to concentrate on.
Here are 5 steps you can immediately take to improve your marketing through building your content for SEO.
1. Original Research.
Original content earns links because it provides unique information. If yours is the only and/or best resource on a topic, other sites have only your site to link to. Your research should first and foremost offer insightful and useful information to your audience, but the hard work you put into it will also help you secure the relevant links you need for ranking.
2. A Word from the Experts.
Highlighting expert opinions and quotes on a site adds legitimacy to its content and helps broaden its audience. That, in turn, helps your site secure links. Reach out to influencers to see if they’re willing to share their insights. You may, on the rare occasion, strike gold by a cold email, but a better strategy is to spend the time it takes to build real connections. It will be that much easier to gain access when people feel they can trust you.
3. Partner with Other Businesses.
Content building for SEO through collaboration is an excellent way to create link-worthy content. It, too, allows you to reach a broader audience and helps secure links from the businesses you partner with. For SMBs, pooling resources with one or more partners also allows them to create higher-quality content than they might have been able to accomplish on their own.
4. Respectability and Relevance.
When deciding which new link sources to use, choose those that are read and trusted by a lot of people. Has the site been around for a long time? Does it cite sources? Most importantly, is the source relevant to your industry? If you post content to an unrelated site just to get the link, the search engines will respond accordingly, and not in a good way!
5. Diversification.
Multiple links from the same source do have an increased value, but over time you’ll see diminishing returns. Use a wide variety of links from a diverse number of domains that point to a broad cross-section of internal pages. Remember to occasionally check your links for freshness.
If there’s one key takeaway for content building for SEO, it’s this: quality over quantity. Link stuffing has gone the way of keyword stuffing. Instead, offer the best content you can create to the highest-quality publishers you can find to publish it. Your unique content also stands a much better chance of attracting its own inbound links. Concentrate on bringing value to the audience and the links will follow, translating into more visibility, credibility, authority, traffic and, ultimately, conversions.
