What is Link Building and What are the Benefits?

Jun 08, 2021

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One of the common questions people new to digital marketing ask is related to Link Building. In this post we will walk you through what link building is and what it can do for your business.

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What Is link building?

Link building is the process of building hyperlinks (backlinks) from other websites to your own. The effort to build links back to your website is often related to search engine algorithms, but can also play a part in expanding brand awareness and driving traffic to your site through the links published on other websites.

Why are backlinks important?

Backlinks are valuable for Search Engine Optimization (SEO) because they signal to search engines (Google) that other sites vouch for your site and your content. So as you build more backlinks, search engines can assume that your site is valuable and creditable, which will boost your site’s ranking on Search Engine Results Pages(SERPs).

All links are not created equal – there are certain factors that make some backlinks “better” than others. These factors are the linking site’s authority and trust in the eyes of search engines like Google and if the link is followed or no-follow.

One third party metric designed to help determine how well a search engine like Google trusts a website is through Domain Authority (DA). DA is a ranking score developed by Moz that predicts how likely a website is to rank in SERPs. A DA score ranges from one to 100, with higher scores meaning a greater ability to rank. Receiving a backlink from a high DA site is important because that site’s credibility lends credibility to your site. Links from trusted site is one way that search engines can identify other sites that are trustworthy for the end user.

When you are receiving these backlinks from high DA sites, you want your links to be “followed” links, here is why: no-follow links do not impact the search engine rankings of the destination URL because Google does not give them the same weight they do a link that isn’t tagged with a no-follow attribute. No-follow links most likely will end up adding little value to your site’s overall ranking. You can see some value in these links as they are still doing the work of getting your brand out into the world and mentioned, but they’re less likely to influence a search engines ranking order.

What are the benefits of link building?

The main benefit of link building is the SEO value it adds to your business’ website. Let’s say you own an event planning company in Raleigh, NC and people are Googling ‘event planner Raleigh’, right now your business may be on the second page of search results, but you want it ranking higher on the first page so you have more possibilities for potential new customers finding your business. Increasing the number of backlinks to your site will help you get to the first page of search results and seen by more potential customers. Building a strong backlink profile will make your site more appealing to search engines.

In addition to helping your site rank at the top of search results, a benefit of link building is increased brand awareness. When pitching content to journalists and working on earning backlinks, your business will ultimately be mentioned within the article where the backlink is. The more people come across your brandname the more likely they will be to consider you when they need your business. Additionally, each link to your website acts as a doorway for a potential customer to find you. Think of each link built as another door for customers to enter your company store.

How Go Fish Digital earns backlinks through link building campaigns?

If you’re looking to earn backlinks and aren’t sure exactly where to start, you can look to a company like Go Fish Digital. Our Content Team will lead you through the process and the many different ways we’ve identified how to earn backlinks from trusted publications that have high DA.

We often start with creating content that’s worth linking to. Our Content Team creates tangential content campaigns that we can pitch to journalists to gain backlinks to your site. These are campaigns that are tied to your brand in some way, but not branded. Keep that in mind – we want to build links, not push your brand in front of journalists asking for free publicity. It is important to note, this isn’t traditional public relations, as we aren’t looking to generate leads or new customers. Instead, we are out there trying to build links to push your business up on the SERPs (which in the long run will help you with leads).

A great example of a tangential link building campaign is “The Top Searched Trader Joe’s Item by State”, which was done for a CRM Software Company. The client tie-in to this tangential content was as follows:

“With such a dedicated group of fans here in our own company, Trader Joe’s is a great example of a company that takes things further than weekly grocery shopping. Whenever we notice a fan base for a particular company, we take the time to look at why customers are so happy with that business. Our CRM and ERP management software goes beyond the technical side of managing business and customers. The purpose is to give our clients the tools to develop their business into a company that relates to customers well enough to anticipate their needs and desires.”

This link building campaign is not a piece of content that focuses specifically on the CRM software company. Instead it connects the CRM software company to something related to their business that a wider audience would be interested in. In this case, it has the draw-in of Trader Joe’s and the huge fan base that they carry. This is a topic people care about—people in every state are wondering what the top Trader Joe’s item is in their state, which leads to journalists wanting to cover the campaign, which then leads to backlinks.

Here are some more great examples of tangential link building campaigns:

These campaigns have all led to many backlinks and sessions for our clients’ landing pages.

Does link building sound like something that your business could benefit from (most likely, yes)? Then look no further! Our digital PR services at Go Fish Digital will make those backlink dreams a reality.