The digital marketing world has undergone major changes over the past few years, with Google’s Panda and Penguin updates changing search engine optimization rules and rendering many once-successful strategies completely inefficient. Ten years ago, companies were spamming search engines with poor-quality links to acquire exposure and rank higher than competitors. When Google rolled out the Penguin algorithm update back in 2012, most of these websites were landed in the penalty jail, whereas others were completely de-indexed.
Devising a new, updated link building strategy is paramount for brands competing in the online space. Not only do they have to give up outdated link building techniques such as automated directory submissions or “10,000 links for $10” package purchases, but they also need to update their content marketing strategy to increase the relevancy of their websites.
Outlined below are four link building strategies you should focus your activities on in 2015.
1. Create Infographics
Infographics are a form of content that’s becoming increasingly popular, allowing brands to turn boring data into meaningful, visually-pleasing images that convey information more effectively. Good infographics are consistently shared from person to person, not only on websites but also on social media profiles. This can result in new links every time your infographic is referenced.
The only drawback of infographics is the resources needed to create them. It takes time and money to create worthwhile infographics, but if done correctly, this investment can help you earn dozens of links to your website. To determine whether or not your infographic is good, ask yourself if you would share this with a friend yourself. If the answer is yes, then you can be sure it will be shared by other people as well. If the answer is no, take the time to tweak your infographic before releasing it
2. Create Viral Content
Viral content is the easiest way to build links with your direct involvement in the process. Publishing highly valuable and highly shareable content on your website and then distributing the links via social networks can help you get a pretty significant number of links quickly. If your content is remarkable, people will want to share it with others, leading to an influx of backlinks that will not even require your involvement.
If you have never written viral content before, try analyzing what has been written already. Take note of the style, information, and most importantly – the topic that’s being discussed. The content may capture emerging trends, or may be absurd and entertaining. It can be witty or authoritative, but it must be one very important thing: authentic. Rewriting content from other websites will not be enough – chances are that other people have seen it already, and they want something new and fresh.
If you want your website to stand out, take the time to identify topics that your audience may be interested in, analyze what’s been written already, and see how you can contribute by coming up with new ideas.
3. Guest Posting
Guest posting has become a very popular link building method in 2015. Not only does it give you access to other website’s readership, but it also helps you secure at least one valuable link pointing at your website. Publishing highly valuable content that reflects your brand’s personality and focuses on a subject that your audience is interested in can help you establish yourself as a reliable industry expert, allowing your company’s credibility to grow and boosting your presence within SERPs as well.
For this link building strategy to work, it is important that you work specifically with highly popular blogs and websites in your niche. According to Aj Kumar of Entrepreneur, “Guest posting is all about the relationship you build with another site and its audience.” That being said, send only your best content to be published by these websites, and not any old piece of content you wrote a few months ago. The fresher and more accurate the information, the more highly regarded your company will be
4. Analyze Your Competition
One of the best ways to identify good link building opportunities is analyzing your competitors’ link profiles. This can be easily done with a tool such as Majestic SEO or Open Site Explorer by Moz, as they both offer you the chance to see who’s linking to your competitors’ websites. This should give you plenty of ideas about sources that may be linking back to your website as well. To avoid spam, it’s better that you look for qualified and experienced digital marketing agencies in Sydney, and find one that can do a complete link audit of your competitors’ link profiles.
Link building can be difficult and rather harmful to your website if not done properly. Don’t forget that, instead of focusing on the number of links pointing at your website, you should be mindful of their quality. One quality link coming from a highly authoritative website is better than a hundred poor-quality links from unreliable websites.
