Establish a network of quality links to enhance your business website’s prominence on the web. Learn seven effective white hat strategies to earn the attention of consumers and peers alike.

[CAPTION]: Build connections, earn trust

Link building is a critical strategy in the search engine optimization (SEO) toolbelt used to increase traffic, attention, revenue, and status for your company’s website. It is a tactic that gives your business the opportunity to thrive within the dynamism of the online economy. This is accomplished by carefully networking links across the Internet and leading them back to your website through a process called outreach. Outreach aims to firmly establish your company within a niche market. To help you implement a successful outreach campaign, we have compiled a list of ways you can acquire a healthy network of quality backlinks this year.

How Does Link Building Influence Search Engine Results Page Ranking?

Backlinks are useful for expanding the reach of your business and catapulting your search engine ranking. Where you rank in the search results page says many things about your website. Primarily, a website’s ranking indicates its perceived level of prominence based on its authoritativeness, relevance, and credibility. Because of this, backlinking is a vital task for online marketers who value online positioning.

Different search engines employ algorithms to comb the Web for quality content. Consumers rely on search engines to produce relevant and credible hits. Unless your website’s content can convince every search engine’s algorithms that you are offering people what they want to see, you’re out of the competition.

One failproof way to signal quality is to have a strong network of links established by successful outreach strategies. This, in turn, can generate backlinks from other sites. The more backlinks, the greater the prominence, and the better for the visibility of your website.

This is where link building comes into play. Link building works to form a network of influential websites hyperlinked to each other. This connectedness is crucial in terms of search engine performance ratings. Each linked site lends its quality and authority, essentially giving your site a seal of approval from high-quality peers established in the online community. 

If higher search engine ranking is key to visibility, traffic, and revenue, then link building is the key strategy marketers should consider paving the way to your website’s door.

[CAPTION]: Black hat methods are criminal in the eyes of search engines

Credit: Robinraj Premchand

What’s the Difference Between White Hat and Black Hat Link Building?

Within the tech community, the symbol of a black hat represents shady, unethical and unscrupulous methods for gaining backlinks to a website. It involves breaching the guidelines search engines have established to determine a site’s quality and trustworthiness. The white hat is its legal, respectable counterpart. 

Every search engine (whether Google to Bing) routinely upgrades and fine-tunes its algorithms to deal with and weed out the work of black hats. Websites caught implementing black hat practices are penalized and possibly, de-indexed so they no longer appear in searches. Following the way of the white hat is the only sustainable method for success in the long run.

Black hat link building includes:

• buying links (as opposed to earning them)
• spam-posting on forums
• stuffing posts with keywords
• using invisible text to trick search engines
• swapping ranked pages with lure pages. 

Sooner or later, search engine admins catch up with these tactics. Avoid these tactics at all costs.

Instead of playing the short game, do the honest legwork of white hat link building through proven outreach techniques. In particular, pay attention to the following seven strategies.

[CAPTION]: Opt for high-quality link building strategies for maximum effect

What Surefire Strategies Can I Use to Build Quality Backlinks?

• Write quality blogs

Although this tactic can be quite challenging, achieving quality in your content is precisely what will qualify your material as rare and valuable in the hypercompetitive digital scene. It’s a fact that only authoritative and well-established websites that generate the most backlinks are the ones worth linking. 

To build that level of authoritativeness, expertise, and trust, your website needs useful, up-to-date, and reliable content. The first task is to figure out your company’s core strengths. The second is to align it with your target audience’s core needs. Lastly, your website’s content needs to speak to this perfect match-up through a carefully thought-out collection of blog posts or ask advice from seo company in Phoenix what is best especially on what keywords to be used that best hit in search engine.

• Contribute guest posts

Posting on respected websites already established in your field is a great way to garner attention. This is especially true if you are a newcomer looking for an introduction to your target market. Making a good impression on relevant websites and forums is one effective way to generate traffic and links back to your site. However, this is sustainable only if your content delivers on its promises. This is why writing quality posts comes first.

• Register your website in trustworthy online directories

An online directory is a time-tested way to see and be seen. Directories group similar websites together, enabling searchers to browse through their options. In addition to visibility, being registered in reliable and secure directories (like Yelp, Best of the Web, and Google My Business) will earn respect for your website. Your presence in these platforms can lend your website a certain amount of credibility (and backlinks) of its own. 

Though traditional print directories may be out of the running, the strategy of searching online business listings remains viable. Make sure your company doesn’t miss out on the opportunity.

• Join communities and build a network

Just as entrepreneurs swear by business conventions for networking, so should businesses trying to find and contribute to communities that would benefit from your input. Communities of similar businesses offer a support system and an invaluable learning experience. They also offer a lucrative source of potential clients and customers interested in what you have to offer. 

To leverage the full potential of communities, consider going small and focusing on more localized audiences. 

• Get your website listed in resource pages

This tactic is similar to that of getting registered in an online directory, with a key difference. Resource pages are seen as toolkits geared to solving specific problems. Established websites benefit from stocking their resource pages with backlinks to quality problem-solvers. Websites compile their own resource pages based on other resource pages, creating a chain reaction of backlinks to your website. 

Once you can get your company onto a handful of lists across various websites, you are already ahead of the curve. To achieve this, you need to send well-constructed emails to the page administrators of prospective websites. The email should contain an introduction of you and your business and how you can contribute to the value of the resource list.

 

• Analyze your competitors and aim for similar links

 

The problems and challenges you are currently facing while building your website are not new. Other websites and businesses that came before you have successfully overcome them. 

This makes your competition one of your most valuable sources of information. Learn from them to know what works, what doesn’t, and what to aim for so you can avoid mistakes they may have made in the past. In terms of building links, you can use this information to your advantage. Find out which websites your rivals are linking to. Assess their sources, analyze the fit with your own website, and act accordingly to get things moving.

 

• Create testimonials or reviews for other businesses

 

Despite the cutthroat nature of the online economy, success can -- and is -- largely gained through acts of generosity. Blog writing, for example, allows you to share business secrets to the general populace. It may seem counterintuitive, but this is primarily what makes you a reliable and trusted source of information in the first place.

Much like blog writing, online reviews can lend your business the same effect. Officially reviewing businesses similar to yours helps establish your business as a leader in your field. At the very least, it presents you in a glowing light, making your business seem enough of an authority that other businesses seek out your testimonials. This can also result in a give-and-take partnership with valuable players in the field, gaining you social proof capital that can be quite lucrative.

Link building offers you an invaluable means of establishing a strong online presence. This, in turn, warrants more attention from online consumers and peers alike. Build a rock-steady foundation for your business through these tried and true link building techniques. For maximum effect, employ the services of niche SEO experts in your area. Top-notch SEO services in Guelph by Local SEO Search, Riverbed Marketing, and others can get you where you want to be.