YUUUGE Link-building Opportunities for 2016 and Beyond
March 22nd, 2016 by
In the SEO world, we say, “a link is like a vote.” The idea being the more links you have, the better. There was a magical time when it didn’t matter where the links came from or how many links came from one source. In a sense, all votes were created equal, and they were all beneficial.
In recent years since the rollout of Google Penguin, that theory doesn’t really stand up anymore. Today, links are still like votes, but they’re similar to votes in a presidential election. Think of the electoral college, celebrity endorsements, and loyal campaign supporters.
Your Website Is a Presidential Candidate
Every day, you and your competitors are trying to win the race for #1 on Google. A great way to do this is to build a diverse backlink profile. Every time another website links to you from their site, it’s basically an endorsement from them that tells Google, “Hey, I know this guy—he’s my friend. You like me! You should like him too!”
Win the Electoral College, Not the Majority
While it’s great to get links from as many sites as possible, it is important to know that links from some sites are better than links from others. For example, it’s better to get all the votes from Ohio and California than from Puerto Rico and Alaska. The same is true for the links you get from other sites. The more authority, trust, and clout a site has, the better links from that site will help transfer that authority to your site.
A diverse link profile is important as well. This means in order to boost your site authority, you can’t only get links from sites like California and Ohio. It is important to put in the work and get links from sites like Texas, Florida, and New York, too.
How Do I Do This?
First, you need to be able to identify what sites are and are not authoritative. For example, websites that end in .org or .edu are golden. These are your Ohio! You want links back to your site from sites like these.
Second, you need to find ways to obtain links from these sites. Does your business sponsor or support any local community groups? If so, ask them to add your business as a sponsor on their website and include a link back to your site. You can do the same for any local charities your business supports too! Think of these links like an endorsement from a well-liked, non-controversial celebrity. Has your business been featured in the news recently? If so, reach out to them and ask for a link back! These are great links, and these endorsements will help you win that first-place spot in the search engine results.
Third, don’t forget about basic guaranteed links. These links are like loyal supporters on the campaign trails and will help you get the top spot in the search engine results. This includes links from directory sites like yellowpages.com or niche directory sites specific to your industry like locateadoc.com. The more links from different sites, the better. One link from one site might not earn you the victory like a celebrity endorsement, but a lot of these from a lot of different sites really add up.
Lastly, avoid links from sites that can harm your site. Just like a bad endorsement from a hate group or controversial celebrity can harm your chances of winning the top spot, so can links from spammy, irrelevant sites. Ask yourself these questions: “Is this relevant to my business? Does it make sense to have my business listed on this website?” If the answer is no, don’t do it. For example, if you don’t sell designer purses or male enhancement pills, don’t let them link to your site.
You Can’t Buy Votes, and You Can’t Buy Links!
If you’re offered a too-good-to-be-true offer like 10,000 links for $1,000, or whatever bogus links are going for these days, don’t do it! I repeat, don’t do it! Just like true votes can be hard to win in an election, so can natural backlinks to your site. It takes time to build a diverse backlink profile, but the reward is much greater than getting caught link farming by Google. Just like a shady politician, once your dirty dealing is found out, you’ll get slammed with a manual action, you may never be able to fully regain trust, and you’ll officially lose out on the #1 position.
When in doubt, trust the reputable experts to guide your business. Just as an experienced campaign manager can take a presidential candidate to win, an experienced SEO company can guide your business to the #1 position in the search engine results. It will be YUUUUGGEE!
Image Credits:
Google Logo Image
Hillary Clinton Image
Donald Trump Image
