Once again the specter of link building is raising its head in the SEO game.
This time the present analysis of linking has come to the fore and there are many misconceptions regarding what the right thing to do is and what isn’t. Link building has a shady reputation only because of unscrupulous webmasters who used black hat techniques to spam and dominate the search engines. This practice went on for years and search engines like Google have been combating them each step of the way.
Google has created software such as Penguin and Panda. These algorithm based software helps Google get the relevant websites that deliver important data that their surfers want, not spammy websites full of banners and redirects and other sinister processes like installing adware and malware. The old link building techniques now are coming to an end and a new age of link building is coming to the fore and if one isn’t on top of what the new deal is, one will be left in the dust.
Here’s how it goes from now on. Your site has to have quality content. It has to be specific especially if you’re employing local SEO. You’ll need to have fresh, relevant content, no misspellings, your company’s name, address, and contact information as well as well tagged photos and graphics. That’s for starters. Next is the link building process itself that is now in a whole nother ball park.
Now, with link building you have to step up tot the plate and do it the right way. It doesn’t work to put a ton o f links to other sites or getting tons of other sites to link back to you. It’s the quality of links that is important. Are the links relevant to your site and not just there to grow a keyword or keyphrase farm. In other words, if your site is about lawn mowing in Deerpark, New Jersey, then every link from your site and from other sites, had better have all those keywords somehow involved. It’s a powerful local SEO tactic as well. Your images and contact info, and mainly your links need this data.
A major change in strategy for SEO is in the value of good reviews, or any reviews that contain your website or blog’s data. These review sites are so important now that they override just about everything else other than social media shares. The reason is simple. Google is looking for authority associated with your site. Not nonsense. Review sites will often have customers who’ve actually partaking of your services or goods and have reviewed and testified to the level of satisfaction they had. If you have a restaurant, you want honest reviews. You want as many people who’ve tried as many dishes of yours and enjoyed the hospitality. If several people of the same family write reviews then those links go back to your site and that is what Google is looking for. If you are a band and are rising up the ranks, you want your fans to go to review sites and boast about the concerts and so on you’ve performed at. These reviews turn into direct links back, with the advantage of local SEO too.
There’s a right way and a wrong way regarding link building in today’s market, and knowing the difference is what’s going to see you through.