7 link building tips for starters
Have you just started your business and have you created a beautiful website? Or do you manage a number of websites that you would like to make more known? Link building is a good way to get more visitors. However, outsourcing often costs a lot of money and that is why many starting companies or website managers try to do this themselves. In this text we provide 7 useful link building tips for starters.
What exactly is link building?
Many website managers are talking about link building these days, but what exactly is this? And more importantly, why does it work? Link building is the process of collecting backlinks from other websites that link to your site. Search engines index these links and see that your website is popular with others. As a result, they will rate your website higher and you can increase your ranking in the search engines. Link building is years old and some points have really changed in recent years, but it still works if you do it the right way. You do this by collecting links in such a way that search engines think that the links have been placed naturally. The following link building tips will help you to collect backlinks in a natural way.
Tip 1: Too many links = spammy
Of course you want your website to rank as high as possible in the search engines and that is why you want to immediately provide hundreds of backlinks. Unfortunately that won't work. Search engines see that a large number of links are placed at once and this seems suspicious to them. It is of course also rather strange that a website that has only recently been created is already so popular. Especially if the website itself has little or no visitors. You can get penalty points for this and disappear from the search results completely. Of course that's not what you want. So don't get too excited and don't post more than a few links per week (especially at the beginning).
Tip 2: Variation is a priority
There are several strategies for collecting links. For example, some fairly simple ways include: subscribing to business directories, subscribing to homepages, and posting guest blogs to article websites. However, business directories and article websites are very general and not specific to the topic of your website. These links are often not worth much and too many links from these types of websites can result in penalty points. Home pages are about specific topics and you can really choose a relevant home page. Often these backlinks are therefore worth more than links from business directories and article websites. Good start pages with a low spam score are gsa and linker
Are you OK if your website registers with 20 start pages? No definitely not! This is also suspicious for search engines and this can also entail penalty points. It is best to submit your website to a number of home pages, to a single business directory and a single article website. In addition, it is important to collect links from quality websites that deal with the same subject as your website. Think of your suppliers, your partners or informative blogs. You can also look for website managers with a relevant, high-quality website that would like to exchange a link. So choose mainly high-quality, relevant sites and occasionally place a link on a business directory, start page or article website.
Tip 3: AB link exchange is not done
Have you found a website manager who would like to trade a backlink with you? Then don't choose AB link exchange! This means that you place a link on your website (A) to the site of the website manager (B) and he then places a backlink to your website (A) from his site (B). It is not wrong to do this once or a few times, but search engines then attach less importance to the link. In fact, this link building tactic was often used in the past and the search engine algorithm has now been modified to prevent this. However, an ABC link exchange is possible. For this you must manage a website yourself or the website administrator must have another site on which he can place a link. If the latter is the case, you place a link from your site (A) to his site (B). Then the administrator places a backlink from his other website (C) to your site (A). Search engines cannot then make a clear connection and the links therefore have a higher value.
Tip 4: Guest blogging works!
You have already read something about guest blogging in one of the previous link building tips. If you choose to guest blog, you often don't have to link back to the other person's website. You only provide a guest blog with one or a few links and the website administrator will post it for you. You get a link or a few links from him and he gets a free text in return. The advantage is that you immediately have an in-text link and you can use the text in the guest blog to relate the website on which the article is posted to your website. This makes the link even more relevant!
Tip 5: Clarity is important
A good way to build links is to approach administrators of other relevant websites yourself. Whichever way you do this, always be clear! Some link builders are convinced that it is best to send an email with all kinds of compliments in which you then tell them that you came across a site that fits the subject of its website. Most website administrators are already aware of this tactic and know exactly what it is all about. Since you are not completely transparent, they are less likely to place the backlink for you. It's best to be clear right away and explain why you're contacting them. It is very easy if you immediately indicate which link you want exactly and where you can place it back or you immediately provide a guest blog with links.
Tip 6: Keyword & brand anchors
The anchor text of a backlink is the text that you see instead of the link. This could be, for example, 'Click here'. This text tells the search engines what the link is about and what it points to. In this way, the subject of your website (or the relevant page) is also indexed. So is it a good idea to give each link the most important search term as an anchor? No, it is absolutely not. This also shows the search engines that the backlinks have not been placed naturally and they can judge your website on this. A normal link profile consists of links in which keyword anchors and brand anchors alternate. Brand anchors refer to the company name and the URL of the website. You can also use a completely different anchor text a number of times, such as 'Click here'.
Tip 7: Keep track of the links you trade
When you are going to exchange multiple links, it is important that you have an overview for:
- Avoid using the same anchor texts too much.
- Check the websites again to see if your links are still there. Also check if your links are not NO-followed. Unfortunately this is happening more and more.
- Continuity in the pace of link building. So also note the date of the exchange.
Backlink software
If you don't feel like keeping everything in a file or if you are going to exchange a lot of links, it is wise to use software for this.
Highly recommended is monitorbacklinks. When you are registered, it is immediately checked which links there are to your websites.
It is also possible to add links that you have just traded. Immediately write down the email address of your link partner so that you can easily contact them later when there is something.
This software is paid but with many links it is really worth it. A big advantage is that all your links are checked every 5 days if they are still present at your link partners. You will also be notified if your link partner gives you a NO-follow tag.