There is no denying the importance of SEO to your business. In today’s competitive market, SEO is more important than ever. However, SEO can be difficult to execute effectively because there are several ranking factors involved in generating high organic search results.

Link building is the most important and often most overlooked aspect of SEO. If you’re not including link building in your overall SEO strategy, you’re missing out on a huge opportunity for business. Keep reading to learn the importance of link building and how you can further your SEO strategy through earned links.

What is Link Building?

Simply put, link building is the process of getting other sites to hyperlink to your website. According to Moz, a link is a way for users to navigate between pages on the internet. Search engines use links to crawl through individual webpages and to crawl through the links between entire websites. Links also drive referral traffic and increase your site’s authority.

To be frank, organic link building can be a difficult and time-consuming process. Despite its value, many avoid or try to shortcut the process by employing black-hat tactics to obtain links. If you care about the livelihood of your site and business, you should only engage in the process of earning high-quality links versus resorting to unfair tactics that could ultimately get your site banned from search results.

Why Link Building is So Important to SEO

Given the fact that Google’s algorithms are highly complex and constantly evolving, links remain an important factor in how every search engine determines which sites rank for which keywords. Link building is the most important tactic used in SEO because links are a signal to Google that your site is a quality resource, worthy of citation. In turn, sites with more backlinks tend to earn higher search rankings.

There are a few important aspects to keep in mind when building links. You should know that all links are not created equal. For example, a link from an authoritative website like the Washington Post will have a greater impact on your rankings than a link from a small or newly-built site. You should only focus on earning links from websites with a higher domain authority than your site with a decent amount of backlinks. Tools like SEMRush will easily pull data for you to identify these sites.

How Do You Get Sites to Link to You?

There are a variety of strategies to get external websites to link to yours. Here are a few examples:

• Content Creation: Content that is compelling, high-quality, and unique encourages others to link to your site. To make it easier for people to find your content, make sure you promote it through email marketing and on social media.
• Ask for links from your friends and partners: Link building can be as easy as asking your friends and people you work with to link to your site. But, it is important to stay within the parameters of your industry or niche. Always keep in mind, relevance matters!
• Ask for mentions and reviews: You should always put your product, service, and website in front of industry leaders and influencers who can potentially give you a mention on social media or a public review.
• Utilizing a link outreach service: While there are several ways you can attempt to build links on your own, many tend to rely on the assistance of a link outreach service or agency. In most cases, relying on a link outreach service is a safe way to ensure links are built. At SMA Marketing, we rely strictly on white-hat link building tactics, maintaining the integrity of our clients and ensuring all links are of high quality. 

Conclusion

No SEO strategy is complete without link building. While link building is recognized as one of the most difficult and time-consuming SEO tactics, it can help your site rank significantly higher, bring you more traffic and grow your business significantly.

SMA Marketing has been building links the right way since 2009. We have a deep understanding of how search algorithms work and what types of links are best for your site. If you need any assistance supplementing your SEO strategy, contact us today!