Internet marketing and positioning became recently very hot issue, therefore irrespective of the fact, if you want to become expert in the field of SEO or simply increase position of Your website in Google, it is worth to find out more about such important aspect for the position in Internet search engines as building external and internal links.
Definition of link building
Creating links is the process of acquiring hyperlinks from other websites to own websites. Hyperlink (usually referred to as link) is the way to move between websites on the Internet. Search engines use links to index the web; they will index links between particular pages on website and index links between entire websites. There are many techniques of link building techniques and although they differ in the range of difficulty, SEO experts agree that link building is one of the most difficult parts of their work. For this reason if you are able to master the skill of building high quality links, You can really be ahead of as well other SEO experts as competitors.
What do links mean for Internet search engines?
There are two basic ways of using links by Internet search engines:
To discover new websites
To help to determine, how high website should be placed in results
When Internet search engines enter new websites, they can separate the content of these websites and add them to their indexes. In this way they can decide, if they mean that the website is of sufficient quality to be able to be evaluated for well-chosen keywords. To make good decision about the evaluation of website, Internet search engines also pay attention to the number of links leading to this website from external websites and their quality. Generally speaking the higher quality websites connect with You to, the more probable it is that You will obtain good effects in search results.
Links as ranking factor allowed Google to begin dominating in the market of Internet search engines in the late 90s. One of founders of Google, Larry Page, invented PageRank, which Google used to measure the quality of website on the basis of the number of links, which indicate it. This metric was then used as the part of general algorithm of ranking and became strong signal to determine the value of website.
This way was so effective because it was based on the idea that link could be perceived as the vote of confidence to website, i.e. founders assumed that website will not get links if it does not deserve them. According to the theory, when somebody connects to another website, he shows that it is good resource.
However users discovered soon, how to manipulate PageRank and search results of selected keywords. Google started actively trying to find ways to detect websites, which manipulated search results and began introducing regular updates, which were designed to filter websites, which do not deserve high position.
This led also to the fact that Google started disqualifying a number of techniques of link building techniques, which were earlier considered as good, for example sending website to web directories and receiving links in exchange. It was the technique recommended by Google at some moment, but it was abused and it is sometimes still abused, therefore Google stopped granting so much value from such kind of links.
Recently Google punished actively rankings of websites, which tried to abuse these techniques, which were often called over-optimization. Acquaintance with techniques of link building, which should be avoided to remain in accordance with guidelines of Google is important topic, which will allow to avoid punishments.
What benefits gives link building?
As we already mentioned, links are very important signal used by Internet search engines to determine rankings. So we know that increasing the number of high quality linksindicating Your website can considerably increase chances for good ranking. However, there are other benefits related to link building, which can be less obvious, but still worth considering.
Building relationships
Link building is often associated with reaching other appropriate websites and blogs in Your industry. This range refers often to the promotion of something, what you just created, such as the content or the infographics. The common objective of external actions is to obtain the link, but there is much more than only it: the range can help to build long-term relationships with key entities in Your industry and these relationships can mean that Your company will become highly valued and trusted. It is valuable in itself, even if we forget for a moment about link building, because we create true adherents and defenders of our business.
Creating traffic on website
We talked about the influence of links on Y our rankings, but what about the impact of links on the traffic of referrals? Food link from visited website can also lead to the increase of traffic. If it is appropriate website, there is high probability that traffic is also essential and can lead to the increase of sales. In this situation again the value of the link is not only SEO – but it is about customers.
Brand building
Good link building can help to build Your brand and establish You as the authority in Your niche. There are certain techniques of link building techniques as creation of the content, which can show people the knowledge of the company and it can considerably contribute to brand building. For example if You create a piece of the content based on industry data and You publish it, you have the chance to become well-known expert in Your industry. When You reach other people and try to get links for Your content, You show Your knowledge and ask other people from the industry to help to spread words and show other people the same thing.
Simple and effective strategies of link building:
There are many strategies of link building, which allow you to connect external websites with your own websites:
Creation of the content and promotion-Create attractive, exceptional, high-quality content, which people will naturally want to refer to and which they will link to and share with others.
Opinions and remarks-Place Your product, service or website above influential people from the industry, such as popular bloggers or people with large social media.
Links from friends and partners – ask friends who You know and people who You work with about placing the ink to Your website. Remember that the meaning matters; links from websites in the same general industry or niche will allow Your website to have higher value than links from random, unrelated websites.
Creation of many links may take some time, but be patient and remember that short cuts such as buying links are inconsistent with guidelines of Google and can be crushing for your SEO. Do not risk.
Building internal links
Another very significant element, which influences the position of website in Google and its general readability is the creation of internal links. Thanks to this operation our website becomes linked to itself and users who visit it can often find all needed information without the necessity of leaving website.
Google uses links to find out what content on Your website is linked and what is the value of this content.
Relationships between content
Google indexes Internet websites, following internal and external links by means of its bots. They appear on homepage of website, begin rendering website and following the first link. Following links Google can specify relationships between various websites, posts and other content. In this way Google finds out which pages in Your website cover similar topics.
The value of the link
Besides understanding the relationship between the content, Google divides the value of the link between all links on website. Often homepage of website has the highest value of the link, because it contains the most backlinks. This value of the link will be made available between all links on this homepage. The value of the link transferred to next page will be divided between links on this page and so on.
Therefore Your latest posts for blog and articles will have more value of links, if you connect to them links from homepage and not only on page of category. And Google will find quicker new posts, if they are linked to homepage.
Recapitulation:
After reading these hints you should have general understanding of link building to Your website and their value for Internet search engines. Linking is one of the most important elements of the optimization of website, so do not omit this aspect, when You will fight for the highest positions in Google, because it influences very significantly positioning.
