It is no shock or secret that social media continues to constitute an important and growing presence in relation to digital marketing. From all ends of the content creation spectrum, companies and individuals are now quick to develop and maintain a social media presence across a multitude of platforms. Not diminishing its relevance and significance, social media is but one string to your bow when considering a digital marketing strategy.
Older and more traditional methods to retain quality, organic search rankings are taking the backseat in attention from publications. Despite this, SEO and its associated practices remain just as important as ever when growing your online presence. One area that has changed considerably over the course of the past few years is link building and its inherent techniques. The following illustrates why link building maintains to be of powerful influence.
The Importance of Link Building
Links are what built the internet. They boost rankings and drive traffic. That being said, there are a number of issues to take into account when concerning links. Recently updated to 2.1 in October 2013, Google’s spam algorithm, Penguin, is now even quicker and more effective in distinguishing low-quality links. In relation to this, Page Rank (which is based on links) is one of the prominent factors amongst the 200 metrics used by Google’s search algorithm, Hummingbird.
To coincide with Page Rank and thus increase chances of higher search rankings, high-quality links and content are a must. In years of SEO past, content creators focussed upon quantity over quality. However, as Google has become more sophisticated, such old-fashioned link building techniques have fallen by the wayside. This is not to say that link building has died, it has simply changed.
Google’s webmaster guide to rankings now states that,
‘In general, webmasters can improve the rank of their sites by creating high-quality sites that users will want to use and share.’
In essence, a site maintaining consistent, high-quality content will be linked to frequently and looked upon favourably by Google. Additionally, the site from which the link has been directed is of importance as well. A site with a higher domain authority will generate a better link for you in relation to Page Rank.
However, in contrast to the aforementioned high-quality links, a number of low-quality links from sites that produce low-quality content are likely to result in you being penalised by Google. These penalties can be hard, extremely damaging to your site and difficult to recover from. These techniques are usually summarised within the realm of ‘Black Hat SEO’, something which you should strive to avoid.
There are numerous other ways in which to attain high-quality links. One of the newer avenues you should explore is Google+. Whilst many see this platform as simply another social networking site, it also contains the power to benefit your SEO dramatically. Google+ profiles run through Page Rank. So, if for example, a user backlinks from their website and shares your content across Google+, the benefits can be exponential. Moz Blog recently found that after Page Authority, +1 posts are the second highest correlating factor in increasing your search rankings. They even beat Facebook shares, likes and comments! One reason for this is that Google+ posts are practically crawled and indexed immediately. There are a plethora of other SEO benefits that come with using Google+, I highly suggest you start using it ASAP.
In the world of SEO and digital marketing, there are no quick solutions. It simply takes time and hard work. There are a wealth of components to achieve a sophisticated and professional online presence and digital marketing strategy. As link building is but one, many employ the skills of an SEO consultant to configure, create and advance your business amongst the digital market.
Link building remains an important aspect of SEO. Backlinks and referrals continue to indicate to Google’s bots and spiders the popularity and importance of a webpage. They are seen as a recommendation. With the changes made to search algorithms, you can view these protocols as you would a real life situation. If you were to receive a recommendation for a job position, you would want it to be from a reputable company or individual. Sites are one in the same, as a domain or profile that carries high-quality content retains greater authority and reputation, and thus, endorses you graciously in the eyes of Google.
The Importance of Link BuildingReviewed by Admin on
Jan 17
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The Importance of Link Building
It is no shock or secret that social media continues to constitute an important and growing presence in relation to digital marketing.