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For those of you who aren’t familiar with how search engines rank websites, one of the driving factors behind getting good natural listings are the links from other websites pointing to your domain.
If you are thinking of starting a link building campaign here are a few pearls of wisdom...
Should I consider paying for 100's of links?
There are many companies offering to sell hundreds of links for very little cost. But ask yourself, if you were Google crawling a website and you recorded 10 inbound links on Monday and then 250 by Friday, wouldn't you be suspicious?
Link building is about building the reputation of a domain naturally (and sometimes slowly). You need to convince Google that you’re an authority on your subject.
When links are purchased on mass the quality is generally very poor and usually unrelated to the subject you’re promoting.
What is a linking neighbourhood?
Crawlers assess the links to and from your website. The neighbourhood your website is sitting in will be assessed for quality and relevance.
For example, if your website promotes services in the travel industry it’s considered best practice for it to be linked to and from travel-related websites, blogs and forums.
And if your website is linked to by an authority in your sector this will go some way to strengthening your bid for higher natural search positions.
How can I build free links to my website?
If you are considering how to manage your link building ethically (as we do) some of the best results can come from building relationships with your industry partners.
Building free links can take time so you will have to be patient whilst the number grows. And hand-picking who links to your website will help you gain a greater understanding as to what factors propel you up the listings.
You will also find as your brand name grows, links to your website will grow naturally, as users discuss and post links on blogs and forums.
What should I look for in a good quality link?
Review the page or website in question and ask yourself if you were a visitor would you find value in a link to your website being present – the search engine crawlers will evaluate it in the same way.
The majority of crawlers are looking for quality (as this in turn helps keep the quality of their results pages high) so it’s in their interest to find you in a quality neighbourhood.
Other factors which help evaluate the quality of a page include:
Talk to us today if you are interested in discussing bespoke link building strategies for your website.
(1) comments
Comments
Is it true that a bad neighborhood site is one that uses black hat or outdated SEO tactics, which gets the site banned from search engines? You can use SEO Hostings own banned site tool to see if a site has been banned. But the trouble with checking a site's links in real time is it doesn't mean the site will remain permanently healthy. It could get banned in the future, meaning your site is linking to one with damaged authority. It's the concept of: you can judge a person by their friends. If you link to a site with a bad authority, it damages your own authority.