Link Development & Acquisition
Link acquisition is one of the most important aspects of an SEO strategy and is a major pillar we focus on. We help brands develop a strategy to create the right content to earn links, understand the importance of quality over quantity and why it’s important to consistently develop links.
Why Are Links Important?
Links have always been at the forefront of SEO as they hold a direct correlation with rankings and organic traffic. When your website and its content earn a link from another website, it acts as a vote of confidence from that website. Search engines are able to discover these “votes” and depending on who they are coming from, can have a tremendous impact on SEO results. Developing relationships with blogs, directories and sites related to yours provides you the opportunity to have more links pointing to your site. However, it’s critical to not focus on the quantity of links, but instead on the quality.
Each link should be relevant and contribute to the overall user experience. This helps your website rank higher for its targeted keywords, resulting in more organic traffic. It’s also important to note that link building is an ongoing process – once you have established a solid foundation of links, it will be important to keep adding new ones over time. Consistently earning links through various methods keeps your site and content ranking high.
We help clients understand the link development process, identify links their competitors have earned and discover ways to build impactful links that will improve SEO over time.
Why Are Links Important?
Links have always been at the forefront of SEO as they hold a direct correlation with rankings and organic traffic. When your website and its content earn a link from another website, it acts as a vote of confidence from that website. Search engines are able to discover these “votes” and depending on who they are coming from, can have a tremendous impact on SEO results. Developing relationships with blogs, directories and sites related to yours provides you the opportunity to have more links pointing to your site. However, it’s critical to not focus on the quantity of links, but instead on the quality.
Each link should be relevant and contribute to the overall user experience. This helps your website rank higher for its targeted keywords, resulting in more organic traffic. It’s also important to note that link building is an ongoing process – once you have established a solid foundation of links, it will be important to keep adding new ones over time. Consistently earning links through various methods keeps your site and content ranking high.
We help clients understand the link development process, identify links their competitors have earned and discover ways to build impactful links that will improve SEO over time.
What Types of Links Do We Focus On?
Directory Listings & Citations
A major component of a local SEO campaign is link acquisition. You need to be able to show Google that a number of different websites “vote” for your local business. One way we are able to source links as part of a local SEO campaign is through directory listing links and citations.
These types of links can be found on sites like Yelp, the Better Business Bureau, the Chamber of Commerce and more. These directories allow us to create a profile for your business where we can list out pertinent details of your business including a website link. As search engines discover this information, it helps validate the credibility of your business.
Directory Listings & Citations
A major component of a local SEO campaign is link acquisition. You need to be able to show Google that a number of different websites “vote” for your local business. One way we are able to source links as part of a local SEO campaign is through directory listing links and citations.
These types of links can be found on sites like Yelp, the Better Business Bureau, the Chamber of Commerce and more. These directories allow us to create a profile for your business where we can list out pertinent details of your business including a website link. As search engines discover this information, it helps validate the credibility of your business.
Editorial Placements in Related Blogs
Another type of link we try to acquire comes from blogs that are contextually related to your website. When we can identify that a blogger or publisher is writing about a topic related to your website, we reach out to them and ask if we can be included in their content. This results in a contextually relevant link to your site.
This type of link development is typically referred to as guest posting or link insertion. It benefits readers of the publisher’s site and of course, sends a link your way that search engines will be able to see as a vote of confidence for your site.
Brand Mentions & Quotes
As part of a digital PR strategy to earn links, we can submit your brand to journalists and publications. By submitting your information in a compelling way to journalists who are seeking information, we’re able to secure brand mentions on major publications like Medium, Yahoo Finance, News Break, Realtor.com and more.
This is often referred to as HARO (Help-A-Reporter-Out) link building and it’s considered an advanced SEO technique. If your business deals with a lot of competition in the SEO space, this can be a great way to elevate your brand.
Brand Mentions & Quotes
As part of a digital PR strategy to earn links, we can submit your brand to journalists and publications. By submitting your information in a compelling way to journalists who are seeking information, we’re able to secure brand mentions on major publications like Medium, Yahoo Finance, News Break, Realtor.com and more.
This is often referred to as HARO (Help-A-Reporter-Out) link building and it’s considered an advanced SEO technique. If your business deals with a lot of competition in the SEO space, this can be a great way to elevate your brand.
Competitor Link Building
There’s no need to re-invent the wheel when it comes to your link acquisition efforts. If we can identify that your competitors have earned links from certain publications, we immediately begin reaching out to those publications to acquire similar links for you. This could be niche-specific blogs, directories or resource pages where your competitors are already listed.
Competitive link building is one of the quickest and most efficient ways to grow your link profile. Let’s start with a review of your competitors’ links.
Higher Credibility from Link Acquisition
The ultimate goal of a link building strategy is to show search engines that you are a credible source for the products and services you offer. By acquiring links from high-authority websites, you can increase your search rankings and increase the credibility of your site. Link acquisition is an important part of any SEO strategy, as it can help to drive targeted traffic and build a stronger online presence.
How Do We Measure the Effectiveness of a Link Strategy?
SEO software providers like Moz, Ahrefs and SEMRush have developed their own metrics to measure the effectiveness of a link building strategy. You may have heard of Moz Domain Authority (DA), Ahrefs Domain Rating (DR) or SEMRush’s Authority Score (AS). By tracking inbound links, you can get an idea of which sites are linking to your site and how authoritative those links are. Additionally, some tools allow you to track link equity, which is a metric that quantifies how much value each link adds to the overall quality and authority of your website.
While we follow these tools closely, we are mostly concerned with rankings and growing your organic traffic, which is a result of effective link acquisition.
Higher Credibility from Link Acquisition
The ultimate goal of a link building strategy is to show search engines that you are a credible source for the products and services you offer. By acquiring links from high-authority websites, you can increase your search rankings and increase the credibility of your site. Link acquisition is an important part of any SEO strategy, as it can help to drive targeted traffic and build a stronger online presence.
How Do We Measure the Effectiveness of a Link Strategy?
SEO software providers like Moz, Ahrefs and SEMRush have developed their own metrics to measure the effectiveness of a link building strategy. You may have heard of Moz Domain Authority (DA), Ahrefs Domain Rating (DR) or SEMRush’s Authority Score (AS). By tracking inbound links, you can get an idea of which sites are linking to your site and how authoritative those links are. Additionally, some tools allow you to track link equity, which is a metric that quantifies how much value each link adds to the overall quality and authority of your website.
While we follow these tools closely, we are mostly concerned with rankings and growing your organic traffic, which is a result of effective link acquisition.
Frequently Asked Questions About Link Development
What is link acquisition?
Why is link building important for SEO?
Are internal links important?
What is the difference between internal and external links?
What is a nofollow link?
What is anchor text and why is it important?
Are paid links safe?
The more links the better, right?
Not always. It’s important to focus on quality over quantity for your link building efforts.
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