While the overall concepts of link building may not change drastically from year-to-year, it seems like there are always some shifts and alterations that disrupt our approach. Link building can be a daunting concept in and of itself, and it can feel like a lot of time and effort for business owners who don’t necessarily have the ability to dedicate so much to the process.
While it isn’t necessarily an overnight concept, link building doesn’t have to be so overwhelming and intimidating, and it remains an essential component of SEO strategy.
Rather than thinking of link building as something that’s scary and makes you want to run and hide, reframe it as something that’s just a way to give you a direct connection to your audience. Link building is really about marketing whatever it is you’re offering to an audience that already holds a sense of interest in your industry or niche, and the ultimate goal should always be the development of relationships.
So what do you need to know about link building this year?
Link Building Is Still Important
Some ideas are floating around out there that link building isn’t still worth it, particularly as brands are becoming more savvy with their marketing techniques. Most SEO experts disagree with this myth.
Natural link building means you’re working to give your content a push toward a wider audience, and that’s not likely ever to be a bad thing. You may have expanded your audience and reach through other tactics, but these readers still need that extra push to share links, and it’s your link building approach that’s going to give them that push.
Consider this: the link popularity of a page accounts for more than 22% of its Google ranking algorithm. Pretty significant, right?
Penguin Requires Natural Link Building
Google’s Penguin update isn’t new—it’s been around for about four years, but it’s still a crucial part of link building. The Penguin update essentially doesn’t allow you to build links through unnatural or automatic techniques, and it gauges the quality of your link building. If you’re still following the old practices of filling your site with spammy links, you’re going to be hurting yourself and your SEO. If you want good results, manual link building is a must.
Your Site Must Be Valuable
If you want natural link building to happen, this requires you to offer some sense of value to people which encourages linking. Your focus above all else should be on creating content that delivers value to your audience. You need to always be able to demonstrate why someone would want to link to your site. If you can’t answer that with every piece of content you create, you need to rethink your content creation strategy, and as a result, your link building approach.
Give to Receive
According to the Ground Zero Technique, it’s as important to link out to other sites as it is to ask for them. People often forget the sharing component of link building, but it’s essential.
When you give out links, you’re doing yourself a few big favors. Namely, you’re sending trackable traffic, you’re positioning your site as a valuable resource, and your providing incentives for other people to link to you. It’s also an excellent way to build a collaborative community.
Build Relationships
One of the best ways to build links in 2016 is to create real relationships—not just following the outdated principle of swapping one link for another. You need to cultivate relationships in your industry that will lead to the natural inclination to link to your site and your content. This takes time, but once you build those relationships, you can continue to grow and maintain them, which will lead to an abundance of link building opportunities.
Start Small
As mentioned at the beginning of this post, link building can seem incredibly daunting. The online world is massive and inherently overwhelming, so where do you even begin? The Ground Zero Technique suggests you start small, which could mean starting your link building at the smallest possible local level. You can look for local sites in your area ranging from neighborhood associations to local bed and breakfasts and use these as your initial link building foundation.
This can feel more attainable and approachable and is a good natural link-building strategy for 2016. Once you’ve mastered the local level, you can then move on to larger and more difficult-to-capture audiences.
Local SEO and link building have become an important linking option for many brands, and it brings together online and offline marketing in an efficient and beneficial way.
Relevancy
Every year the demand for top-quality and relevant content increases. Publishers are becoming increasingly selective in the content they’ll post, and that’s for good reason. If they’re not highly selective, they can face search engine penalties.
As well as the very best level of writing, link building in 2016 requires a close eye on relevancy. Your sources to need to be as close as possible to your industry. Otherwise, you may see problems from Google as a result.
Diversity
As well as quality and relevancy, an important concept to remember when you’re developing your link building strategy this year is diversity. You may have partnered with one great source for links and spent time cultivating a quality relationship that benefits both parties, but it’s just not enough.
You need to have links from a large and diverse range of sources. Start with the basics and then work to gradually build and grow your campaign to include more publication on a wider variety of sites for the best results.
Put in the Work to See the Results
Ultimately, what’s important to remember in 2016 and likely well beyond, is there’s no magic solution when it comes to link building. It requires that you put in place objectives, build a strategy around them and then get to work. The best way to approach link building, as it currently stands, is to view it as a grassroots campaign. Build your links incrementally and over time and you’re likely to see results that will help you build your reputation and create valuable relationships.
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