SEO Strategies I Internet Marketing 2014

Build Links Like A Pro

The concept of link building is where SEO becomes very murky because most search engines have penalized many sites in the past for obtaining links from shady sources.  In 2013, Google updated their algorithm to lower the rank of sites that utilized black hat SEO techniques like “link farms” or “link circles” and will continue to penalize websites that link to sites that aren’t industry relevant or significant in any way.

1. Do you know where your website back links to? (Which websites is your site linking to/ Which sites is your website back linked on?)
2. Do you know which links on your site are broken and how to repair them?
3. Do you engage in a link outreach program or strategy?
4. Are you capable of contributing guest blog content in exchange for a back link?
5. Have you submitted your website to any online directories?

Here are our recommendations for preparing your link building  strategy for 2014:

1. Link Check: Using webmaster tools, you can check which links point to your site by accessing ‘Search Traffic‘ on the left hand navigation bar and then choosing ‘Links To Your Site.’ Here you will be able to check and evaluate your site’s most linked content, who links to your site the most, and how your data has been linked.  This information will help determine if search engines like Google aren’t ranking your content due to back link penalization.
2. Broken Link Building: This is the practice of finding broken links on good ranking sites and contributing content to fill the void. Moz has a great guide on how to repair broken links, here.
3. Link Outreach Strategy: “Link building” used to mean building links for SEO, but the future of this practice will start to encompass all links, whether for search value or not. For example, a link in an email newsletter will be one of the types we’ll pursue in the future. Essentially, link building will start to increasingly become closer to what other forms of marketing are.  Find and collect a list of sites in your niche where there is a potential to get back links to your site and work to build relationships with them. To do so, you’ll need to actively participate in social media, blogging, etc. and contact them over the phone, email or other method to ask whether they allow guest posts.  Once you have a strategy to ask for links, you must maintain and manage these links to ensure they will help your site.
4. Guest Blogging for Links: One of the best ways to get exposure for your business is by appearing as a guest blogger on other people’s blogs.  Simply reach out to a website owner with the right audience to pitch your guest post. At the end of the article, include an “About the Author” box with a link to your own blog (or Services or Contact page) for more information.  This isn’t link building to bump up your Google Page Rank. This is how you build links for instant, targeted, qualified, interested traffic ready to buy.  Making guest blogging an integral part of your company’s marketing strategy will over time bring new visitors to your website, some of whom will turn into customers.
5. Dip Into Some Directories: Submit your site to authoritative directories like DMOZ, Yahoo, Bing for Business, Yelp, Yellow Pages, etc. to gain links that often appear on top search results.  For a great tool to help you get on top local listings check out getlisted.