10 Ways to Build Good Quality Links

Peter A. Liefer II | Posted: December 13th, 2015 | Updated: July 24th, 2019

 

PrimeView AZ SEO tips - Build Good Quality Links

Link building is one of the ways that can increase brand awareness, elevate ranking, generate leads, increase conversions, and ultimately, drive success to your business.

Just like Google’s algorithm, good link building practices also evolved through time, and landing links that adds up to your ranking can be trickier now. Today, it’s not just about link volume. It’s about quality and relevance.

To help you navigate this part of Internet marketing and SEO, here are ten ways to build good quality links that will help you break through your target market and the rest of the web.

 

1. Use relevant terms as anchor texts.

Even if you want to rank for a particular keyword, it’s still not advisable to use as anchor text if it doesn’t make sense with the rest of the body of your content. Regardless if it has a high number of searches, it still wouldn’t add plus points for you if it’s not cohesive with the content surrounding it.

When using an anchor text, always see to it that it’s a relevant word or phrase to the page that you’re linking to and it meshes well with the rest of the sentence.

Tip: If you have a target keyword, you can use different variations of it to help drive your point across and make it appear more natural and not manipulative.

2. Know when to acquire a dofollow or nofollow link.

A dofollow link will help increase the ranking of your website, but don’t focus too much on acquiring it. It’s better to earn one nofollow link from an authoritative website like Wikipedia than five websites that are not so popular in your target niche.

Remember, you shouldn’t just go after the number of links. You should also consider the amount of traffic that a link can lead to your website.

3. Have a broader understanding of relevance.

It’s common link building knowledge that you put links on websites and content relevant to your niche. However, don’t close your doors with other brands that seem to be on the other side of the business spectrum.

For instance, your brand is about insurance. Obviously, you would want to get your links on websites or domains about finance, business, and estate planning. However, don’t disregard the possibility that tech, health, or pet-oriented websites can also link back to you.

Remember, Google doesn’t simply look at the relevance of the domain where your link is posted; it also looks at the content on that page. Sometimes, even if a link is featured on a niche that’s dissimilar to yours, as long as there is relevance in the content where it’s placed on, it can still be a quality link. Let’s say you get a link from a news website in one of its publications relevant to your industry.

4. Pay attention to overall authority.

A good way to measure a domain’s authority is through tools like Moz Domain Authority metrics. But aside from that, you should also consider different factors when trying to gauge the authority of a particular site.

Aside from how competitive it is in terms of Google’s rankings, consider the trustworthiness of a site. Does it have a wide reach? Does it feature good content? Will a link on this website increase your exposure and engagement?

5. Determine the location of your link and the volume of other links on the page.

If a link is placed on the footer, side bar, or somewhere near the ads section, Google may perceive the link as an advertising link. If it’s a followed link that appears too promotional, it can be to your disadvantage.

Meanwhile, the volume of external links on a particular page may also affect authority and engagement on your end. It’s advisable to go for pages with external links that are not more than 10.

Getting editorial links or links placed in the body of a content is very valuable. Because if an author cited it within an article or content, it is considered an important link and will help boost your ranking.

6. Check the spam score of a page.

The last place you would want to put a link on is a spammy domain, so check the spam score of a potential website before you exert any form of effort of building a link on it.

There are several tools such as Moz’s Spam Score to help you assess the spam level of a particular website. Meanwhile, you can also use your own judgment and instinct. See some of the external links posted on it. Do the links lead to sketchy or suspicious domains? Does the site accept submissions without filtering them? If so, you need to veer away from it because it will not be good for your rankings and credibility.

7. Aspire to build links in high-engagement websites.

Having a link on a website that has a high traffic and user participation can do wonders for your brand. Strive on building a link on a site with content that gets shared a lot, because they can be advantageous for your exposure. Yes, it may take a lot of hard work, but it’s going to be worth it.

8. Figure out a website’s topic authority.

If you search for related topics under a particular niche and a website is constantly in the top ten search results of Google, it’s indicative of the website’s topical authority. You can also check with SEMrush for the keywords it ranks for. If it has a high ranking for keywords relating to your niche, then that’s a good place to build a link.

9. Get experts to cite or link back to you.

Just like penetrating high-engagement sites, this entails a lot of effort as well. However, the payoff will be good for your credibility and exposure. When an influential person or entity mentioned you, most people will be compelled to check your website because it was endorsed by a trusted expert.

10. Create quality content.

Before you go all out on your link building efforts, focus on creating quality content first, because this will be the core of what makes your brand and website strong. These days, SEO is all about quality, and Google’s algorithm favors marketing campaigns that are relevant and not manipulative.

READ: SEO Practices of the past that You Need to Stop Doing Today

So give your audience good content and provide the solutions they’re looking for. When you’re successful in doing that, they will naturally draw to you and be compelled to share your content with others.

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