The Pros and Cons of Link Building for Search Engine Optimization

Tons of SEO professionals and Webmastars nearly collapsed on their keyboards in the wake of Google Penguin and Panda updates. SEO professionals believed that “link building was dead …” and this was a huge concern, to put it lightly. However, as time passed and webmasters and SEO professionals adapted to the change, the fear faded regarding link building for search engine optimization (SEO). In fact, the initial reaction was a bit of a stretch.

Link building continues and must / must continue as it is an essential aspect of search engine optimization. All search engines are link-driven.

With that said, we’ll move on to more information on link building, which you may find to be exceptionally helpful and informative.

Link Building Misconceptions to Ignore Immediately

– Don’t create links and make sure your content is amazing. This is far from the truth … In fact, even Google’s Matt Cutts said “Links are still the best way we’ve found to find out how relevant or important someone is …”

This statement came from the head of Google’s web spam team. The guy who released the Penguin and Panda updates to start with. So maybe now we can all just relax and try to breathe again? Maybe …

You see, while backlinks are still a vital aspect of SEO and are also one of the best methods search engines use to rank and index content, the old way of linking is now in the past. Those days are gone!

Google is now targeting particular types of link building methods / strategies. These particular strategies are the ones that webmasters and SEO professionals should avoid or risk the algorithm and manual penalties, which Google has the power to uphold at any time.

Things to avoid when backlinking

Google’s goals and hopes with the implementation of Penguin and Panda were to get rid of spam and suspicious link building shenanigans. Simply put, stay away and don’t use “quick fix” link building tricks. For a long time, website owners and webmasters invested a lot of time and money in exchanging links with other websites to increase page ranking.

However, these link building methods did not offer anything of value to users. Its very existence consisted of developing as many links humanly as possible and fooling search engine algorithms to improve the ranking of a website’s pages. These are the types of link building methods that Google discourages and now with the implementation of Penguin, if someone uses these unethical link building strategies they will be heavily penalized for such practices.

Don’t use the following link building tactics:

1. Cross-linking or link exchanges with other web pages for the sole purpose of creating a link tree to increase page rank … This is the kind of tactic that should be put under lethal injection. DO NOT DO THIS!

2. It is not recommended to link to a website in low-value directories, as most of these online directories are not good. You will be able to tell the difference between low value online directories and really good ones. Make sure they are applicable and relevant to your business, industry, and / or niche.

3. Guest Blogging or Guest Posting for the sole purpose of being the insertion of keywords, filled links within the body of the content is also a big NO, NO! As mentioned above, you will know which are high value blogs based on domain authority or social media.

Here are some invaluable link building tips …

4 tips on safe and effective link building strategies

Now that we have established unethical link building tactics and are in fact under attack by Google, we are ready to move forward on what we should all really focus on, which are four basic building principles, that will make your link building efforts! invaluable and your SEO campaigns a total success!

Stellar and quality content. It’s been said many times, but once again it won’t hurt … Creating high-quality content is vital! High-quality content provides value to online users. So you will get quality links, Google compliant and approved naturally or organically. Furthermore, this will also develop “Link Earning”. If you go ahead with high-quality, engaging content, eventually your website will be recognized and your link building will go into auto-pilot mode.

Keep the links applicable / relevant. Google counts on your inbound and outbound links to stay relevant. For example, the links must be connected to other web pages that have an organic and direct connection with your business, industry and / or niche in your business. Example: If you have a website that offers professional cleaning services and you are linked to a website with professional cleaning equipment, this would make a lot of sense to Google instead of linking to a medical equipment company that flies at night.

Less is more. With newer ways of link building, less is definitely more! Using just a few links from a small number of high-quality websites is far more valuable than using a large number of links from low-quality, spammy, and suspicious websites. Quality over quantity will triumph on the link building journey. Focus on deep linking when looking for high-quality websites.

Investment in social networks. Social media networks and / or platforms are more important than ever. Although Facebook shares or likes are not perceived as links, they nevertheless provide an excellent avenue to spread your message. Also, it will increase the visibility of your brand and attract users to your website. Content, which is shared through social media platforms, will organically boost and enhance the visibility of a website. It is recommended that you use tools, such as HootSuite or Buffer, so that you can schedule social media posts in advance.

As you know, the world of SEO is constantly changing and although it can get overwhelming at times, it is up to SEO professionals to adapt to these changes, so that your website stays up to date and is even more successful and fruitful. So when you hear people say that link building is dead, know that this is a totally misconception and that link building is still a valuable aspect of SEO practices.

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