The Importance of Link Building

When you think about all the elements of an online business that you could optimize, what comes to mind first? There’s content, page titles and other technical SEO, and backlinks, of course.

If you’ve been wondering about the place of backlinks in the SEO of the modern era, know this: they are still one of the most crucial ranking factors for a website – and yet 95% of websites don’t actually have any backlinks going to them, even!

Backlinks – relevant, trustworthy ones from high-quality websites – say to Google, “Hey, this content is so useful for people that other websites want to refer their followers to it.”

So, while backlinks have remained vital for organic rankings, what have changed are the methods we use to build those links.

Let’s dive into what makes link building still so important for SEO.

Don’t forget: if you’ve been struggling to build natural backlinks to your website and need professional link building services from a team of SEO experts, get in touch with LSEO.

What Is a Hyperlink?

Before we jump into link building, it’s important for you to understand what hyperlinks are and what they mean to search engines. A hyperlink, or “link,” is used to connect one website to another for easy navigation between web pages.

A link can be words or an image that will redirect you to a new web page or a specific section of a page that is relevant to whatever text or image it is embedded in. Hyperlinks are commonly used by search engines to discover new web pages or help rank websites.

image of the anatomy of a link

The anchor tag indicates to a search engine that a link to another page is going to follow.

The link referral location starts off with “href,” which stands for “hyperlink referral.” The URL that follows is the page location to which the hyperlink will redirect you.

The anchor text is the word or phrase that contains the hyperlink on the page. Oftentimes, this text will have some sort of visual indication that it is a clickable link.

The closure of the link tag tells the search engine that this is the end of the linked area.

Now that you have a good understanding of exactly what a hyperlink is, let’s move right into link building.

What Is Link Building?

Link building is the process of increasing the number and quality of inbound links to a webpage.

Search engines consider backlinks as recommendations to your site. The more people recommend your site through external links on their sites, the more trustworthy search engines think your site is.

For that reason, search engines such as Google base how well your site ranks off of the number of links to your website.

The LSEO Team has a ton of experience with link building and believes it is imperative to the success of your website. “Essentially, backlinks act as a vote of trust. The more high-quality backlinks your website has, the more likely it will earn higher rankings.”

But link building is not as straightforward as “the more links you have, the higher you rank.”

That’s why top SEO specialists say that link building is the hardest skill to master. Google has access to such advanced technology that it considers so many more factors than links when crawling a website.

Some of these additional factors include the quality of the website the backlink is posted on and the topical relevance between the two sites. Simply put, the backlink needs to seem like it belongs where it is. Website owners don’t want to slap a link on any old website or in the middle of an irrelevant article.

The LSEO Team reflected on some important considerations for you to keep in mind when building links. The LSEO team said, “You need to keep some things in mind: the link should come from a valuable website, a website in your niche, and must be included in an article covering a topic similar to your website’s.” These are the key steps to having your website rank well.

Not only do backlinks factor into how well you rank on a search engine, but they are also used to discover new web pages. Google and other search engines “crawl” websites to discover different web pages, so having your backlinks out there can help the engines come across your site more often.

Despite Google’s complex and ever-changing algorithm, one thing that never changed is the importance of backlinks. That is why link building remains one of the bigger keys to success in SEO. Boosting your website’s credibility through the number of links to your site can be the difference between having your site rank on the first page of a search engine or getting lost in the mix.

For a more in-depth article, please visit “What is Link Building?“

image explaining why link building is important

Why Is Link Building Important?

Increases Your Rank

Link building is important to the success of a website because, as we mentioned, it is one of the main ranking factors on every search engine. Most queries on the internet start out with a search engine, and most people conducting these queries click on one of the first three search results.

Since search engines place so much importance on links, it is physically impossible to rank well with search engines without acquiring backlinks in some way. If you have a quality website with great information, people may link to your website naturally without you having to put much effort into link building.

However, that only works if people already know about your website. Most websites need to put their efforts into link building before they can get to that point.

Drives Website Traffic

Link building can also help to increase traffic to your website. The LSEO Team commented, “Acquiring quality backlinks is not only important to earn higher search ranking but also to help businesses drive more traffic and build a better readership base that will convert into paying customers.”

Higher, link-driven rankings on search engines usually result in more clicks to your site (especially if you make it to the first page). The more links you get from high-quality sites with healthy traffic, the more results you should see in organic traffic to your own website.

In that sense, links placed on sites that are relevant to your website should also increase your referral traffic.

You want the content to be relevant to what you have to offer because we know the reader is interested in the article you are linked in (they clicked on it, didn’t they?). If your link is relevant to the content, they are more likely to follow the link and explore your site, as well.

Increases Brand Exposure

Other than helping your site to rank higher and ultimately increase your traffic, link building can also benefit your brand awareness. The ultimate long-term goal for most websites or companies is to become a household name.

The LSEO Team suggests, “Running link building campaigns works to increase brand awareness and make it more likely that you’ll become the go-to site for many customers looking for reliability and convenience.” The whole goal behind link building is to find external sources that will link back to you, or in LSEO’s terms “link back to our client’s site.”

Eventually, if you get enough quality sites to link back to your domain, it can not only increase your non-branded organic traffic, but also your branded traffic due to the awareness and eyes getting put on your domain. The search volume on your brand can increase ten-fold.

What Is the Future of Link Building?

Google and search engines alike have been using links to rank websites since their formation, and the importance of links in ranking is not changing anytime soon. Some SEOs believed that, with the introduction of Google’s Penguin update in 2012, backlinks would become obsolete.

However, Penguin just made it more important to get higher-quality links. Not all links are created equal anymore.

So, moving forward the quality and relevancy of your links will only become more vital. Search engines are relying on links to grade your E-A-T (expertise, authority, trust) and will continue to use this as the core of their algorithm in the years to come.

The future of link building stands in the creative ways you go about generating links. Yes, you can continue writing guest posts and publishing third-party content, but you need to get your creative juices flowing.

For example, have you gotten into broken link building yet? If not, it’s one of the best ways to earn quality backlinks for your website. What about finding unlinked mentions through Ahrefs and reaching out to get those domains to add a link to you?

Since Google and its competitors are paying attention to the quality of links, SEO experts are looking for more trustworthy websites to obtain links such as news sites, magazine websites, and big niche players.

Now, you may be asking, “How do I get links on such large scale sites?”

That’s where creativity comes in.

Contact LSEO to Benefit from Expert Link Building Campaigns

All in all, the future of link building is bright, despite the fact that we can never fully predict what Google will do next or how they will change.

Fortunately for SEO, the only constant so far has been the ongoing importance of link building. As long as you are staying on top of the trends, getting creative in the ways you acquire links, and obtaining relevant links, you are on the right track.

If link building is something you struggle with, LSEO can help. Get in touch with us to let us know about what you’re doing, and we’ll go over the ways we can help using our experts link building consultants deep experience in natural link building.

Link building has long been one of the foundational pillars of search engine optimization (SEO). At its core, link building is the process of securing backlinks from other websites to one’s own site. These links serve as signals to search engines, implying authority, relevance, and trustworthiness. However, not all links are created equal. Depending on the nature of your business, your focus might be on local, national, or even international link building. Local link building, as the name suggests, zeroes in on building links that are geographically relevant, helping businesses connect more effectively with their immediate communities and markets.

LSEO is a three-time “Best SEO Agency” of the year and provides local link building services.

A Brief History of Local Link Building

In the nascent days of the internet, search engines gauged the relevance of a site largely through the quantity of backlinks it garnered. But as search algorithms grew more sophisticated, quality became more important than mere quantity. Google, in its bid to provide increasingly relevant search results to users, recognized the significance of location-specific results. Thus, Google’s local search algorithms came into existence, paving the way for local SEO.

Local link building’s roots trace back to this shift in focus. As businesses recognized the potency of appearing in local search results, the push for local links began. No longer were businesses simply vying for any backlink; they were chasing links with strong local relevance. The rise of smartphones, with their location-tracking capabilities, further augmented the importance of local SEO. Suddenly, ‘near me’ searches exploded, and local businesses that had invested in local link building found themselves at an advantage.

Why Local Link Building is Distinct

Local link building, while sharing the same core principles as its national or international counterpart, stands apart in its nuances and execution.

• The Relevance of Geographical Proximity: Local link building prioritizes links from sources close to a business’s geographical location. For a local bakery in Brooklyn, a backlink from a Brooklyn-based food blogger would hold more weight than one from a national food magazine. Such localized links send strong signals to search engines about the relevance of a business to its immediate locality.
• The Role of Local Directories and Citations: National businesses might focus on getting listed in major, broad-spectrum directories. For local businesses, however, the magic often lies in smaller, localized directories. Think of town-specific business lists, local Chamber of Commerce websites, and regional online communities. These not only help in link building but also ensure that the business’s NAP (Name, Address, Phone Number) information is consistent, boosting local SEO.
• Community Engagement: At its heart, local link building is community-oriented. Businesses are not just faceless entities; they are part of a community tapestry. Engaging with local events, sponsoring community drives, or collaborating with neighboring businesses all lead to genuine, locally-relevant backlinks that resonate deeply with the ethos of community-centricity.

Local link building, thus, while sharing the foundational goals of link building at large, operates in a more nuanced, hyper-targeted manner, prioritizing community and geographical relevance over sheer volume.

Best Practices and Strategies for Local Link Building

For businesses eager to solidify their local presence, a systematic and genuine approach to local link building is indispensable. Below are tried-and-tested strategies that can offer tangible results:

Local Directories and Citations:

Start by identifying major local directories pertinent to your business domain. Ensure your NAP details are consistent across platforms like Yelp, Yellow Pages, and your local Chamber of Commerce websites. Consistency in these citations reinforces trust with search engines.

Local Partnerships and Sponsorships:

Seek collaborations with neighboring businesses that are non-competitive yet cater to a similar audience. Mutual backlinking opportunities can be explored. Additionally, sponsor local events or causes, which can lead to backlinks from event websites, community pages, or local news outlets.

Guest Posting on Local Blogs:

Establish meaningful connections with local bloggers. Offer to write high-quality, locally-relevant guest posts for them. Not only does this provide you with a backlink opportunity, but it also aids in showcasing your expertise to a local audience.

Engaging in Local Community Forums and Groups:

Active participation in local online forums or city-specific Facebook groups can position your business as a helpful community member. Regularly sharing knowledge without overt promotion can naturally lead to link-building opportunities.

Press Releases for Local News Outlets:

Whenever your business achieves something noteworthy, don’t hesitate to share it with local media. This could be through formal press releases or casual updates, ensuring you grab the attention of local journalists and bloggers.

Attend or Host Local Workshops or Webinars:

By positioning your business as a local authority in your field and offering knowledge-sharing sessions, you can build credibility. This often leads to organic backlinking from attendees or local institutions.

Utilize Local SEO Tools:

Tools like Google’s Local Pack and Moz’s Local Search Tool can be pivotal. They offer insights into your local SEO performance and can highlight potential local link-building opportunities.

Potential Pitfalls to Avoid in Local Link Building

Even with the best intentions, businesses can sometimes err in their local link-building pursuits. Here are some pitfalls to be wary of:

• Over-optimizing with Geo-specific Keywords: While it’s essential to include local keywords, stuffing content with too many geo-specific terms can appear unnatural and harm your SEO.
• Ignoring Broader Link-building Tactics: Solely focusing on local strategies can limit growth. It’s crucial to strike a balance between local, national, and even international link-building efforts, depending on your business goals.
• Over-reliance on a Single Local Strategy: Diversification is key. If you focus all your energy only on local directories, for instance, you miss out on the benefits of other strategies.
• Neglecting NAP Consistency: Inconsistent business details across platforms can confuse search engines and reduce trustworthiness. Always ensure your NAP details are uniform.
• Pursuing Low-Quality Local Links: Not all local links are beneficial. Prioritize quality over quantity. A backlink from a spammy, low-authority local site can do more harm than good.

By embracing a holistic and genuine approach to local link building, while sidestepping these potential pitfalls, businesses can significantly boost their local visibility and credibility.

Final Thoughts on Local Link Building

Local link building, in the ever-evolving landscape of SEO, remains a powerful tool for businesses aiming to make a mark in their immediate communities. While it operates within the broader umbrella of link building, its nuances demand specific attention and strategies tailored to harness the potential of geographical relevance. Whether through community engagement, local partnerships, or leveraging local directories, these strategies can empower businesses to connect more authentically with their local audience.

However, as with all aspects of digital marketing, it’s essential to approach local link building with a blend of strategy and authenticity. Avoiding common pitfalls and staying updated with the latest in local SEO trends can make all the difference.