The Importance of Link Building for SEO

The Importance of Link Building for SEO

Search engine algorithms look at various aspects when gauging the value your website offers searchers. One of those aspects is back links. This article looks at the importance of implementing a strong link building strategy to gain high search engine ranking.

What is Link Building?

There are 3 main types of links:

1. Links on your site pointing to other sites

2. Links that are located on other sites that point back to yours

3. Links that point to other relevant pages within your own site.

A solid link building strategy should include a mixture of all 3. While linking out to other sites may seem counterproductive there may be instances when another site can provide the information your visitor is seeking better than your website can. For the most part these links should be kept to a minimum as it is best that your website adequately address your visitor’s reason for landing on your website in the first place.

Links that are located on other sites and point back to yours are commonly referred to as back links. These links show search engines that those other sites see your website as having value. Google and other search engines place value on these links based upon the authority of the sites linking to yours.

Links within your own website are used when wanting to refer your visitor to another page or post that will provide additional relevant information.

Why is Link Building Important?

As previously mentioned back links in particular, are an indication that other sites see your site as providing value, and improve Google’s perception that your website has authority. The more quality back links your site can obtain the better your search engine ranking is likely to be. In contrast it is equally important that links from low value sites are either kept to a minimum or eliminated completely.

Linking within your own website is important not only for your visitor to be presented with all the quality information they could want but also by keeping the visitor reading you keep them on your site longer. Search engines use the length of time a visitor stays on your site as another indication of the authority and value your site offers. How quickly a visitor leaves your site is commonly referred to as bounce rate.

The days of buying or exchanging back links are long gone. Google recognized that sites using this spammy form of link building strategy provided no value to searchers and began to heavily penalize such sites. As a result many of these sites were unable to recover and disappeared. Google places importance on naturally-acquired back links from sites with high authority.

A solid, quality link building strategy takes time and is a task that requires patience and expertise. Gaining back links too fast can be seen as a link farming strategy and leaves your site vulnerable to being penalized by Google. Link building should be done slowly but steadily, in a way that appears natural.

An SEO expert knows how to plan the right link building strategy for your website. The goal is to improve the perception Google has of the authority of your website with quality back links, links out to other authority sites and an internal linking system that provides a quality experience for your visitors, with the ultimate goal of raising your site’s search engine ranking.

If you would like to know if your site has external backlinks please contact us or book a FREE consultation with an local SEO Specialist.