Almost always, when working with a product or service launch, one of the digital marketing functions “link building” is considered crucial for SEO. Question and answer forums like Quora and Yahoo Answers are quite popular. Gaining profile strength in these platforms can bring visitors to your desired site. Everyone knows. And the same can be said for Reddit.
But…
The person responsible for link building often creates a profile and adds the website link to that profile. This is for the sake of backlink generation. Popularly done in wordpress.org, Quora, Digg, and other similar sites.
Few widespread methods that most digital marketers implement to conduct their link-building campaigns:
- Question and answer sites
- Forum Participation
- Blog commenting
- Directory submission
- Microblogging
- Content curation
- Bloggers outreach
- Guest posting
- and other creative ways…
Here, these methods work so they spend clients’ resources and time, and effort. However, as I mentioned earlier, creating an account for the sake of dropping a link doesn’t work for most of these.
Directory Submission
I agree with your intent when you ask “What is there to do after directory submission?” But, don’t be fooled that submitting your business to directory sites will increase your search rankings – unless they have a ranking system and genuine users generate content as reviews on your listings. I don’t deny the fact that popular directory listing sites will also help your business to be found.
Question & Answer Sites
When working with Q & A sites, it is not just about dropping links. Similarly, forum participation is not spewing gibberish on other topics. Neither can be you asking and answering there. That’s a cheap trick, if I may say so.
If you are looking for genuine growth, don’t start by faking it.
The story of red bull spreading empty cans in public spaces doesn’t apply. Though that was a genius trick, you here have to spare yourself from being penalized.
Blog Commenting
Blog commenting is actually communicating with other commenters and the author of the blog. If you can provide something valuable to that blog, without getting on the nerve or overpowering, it is a great method.
Forget the concept of dropping links and think of it as sharing content that’s valuable.
If you share your content as a comment, make sure that you also appreciate and follow that blog. For the sake of new opportunities or expressing your courtesy, any way you may like to think.
Microblogging
When it comes to microblogging, the old concept of the link ring is dangerous. If a newbie starts on an SEO project, unknowingly making this mistake is very obvious.
“The client is good so I’ll work extra for him. I’ll create a few more microblogs and post the same content. They’ll all bring links back to his site. It’ll be good linkbuilding” – Wrong! This action can and have been penalized.
Posting content on yourdomain.wordpress.com or blogger or tumbler is a good practice but you need to identify which audience and what type of content is beneficial for you to post on those platforms.
Content Curation
Is this a bad SEO practice? Because you are sharing links and content on other sites? Duplicate content posting is bad, or is it not? The dilemma is caused due to the intention. If the intention is generating backlinks only, then it is definitely wrong.
But, if you intend to be active on those sites like growth hacker and others to read and follow the contents that others have shared… communicate with the community and respond to comments on your posts, and you are spreading useful information – how can that be bad!
Bloggers outreach
Someone sends you a message out of the blue;
” Hey SOMEONE, I really liked your post on THIS TOPIC. I’ve also written SOMETHING SOMETHING that your visitors may find useful. Would you edit your post and add the link to my article/post/page? I’d be really honored/humbled(etc) and we could probably share some links in our future posts as well. Please let me know how you feel about this. OK?
Regards,
SOMEONE from SOMEWHERE “
This is the typical bloggers’ outreach for link building that I’ve come across. At the first glance, you may feel, why not, sure. But, indulging in regular link sharing is not a good idea though a few links can be considered. That is what you should aim for. With regular link sharing, there is a high chance that you’ll be caught by master “G” and his agents and you definitely don’t want that.
Guest Posting
Rumour is that the search giant doesn’t like the method of link building through guest posting. Why? Because there have been some grey hacking practices and monetary transactions using this method. Ownership of articles, mass posting, and biased reviews, are some minor concerns but the main concern is the authenticity of the information. rel=”sponsored” or “UGC” or “no follow” is strongly suggested. But for genuine guest posts, webmasters and content strategists don’t have to worry a lot.
For this reason, present your unique content to the editors to get approval for guest posting, don’t get greedy for links – get one or max two (author’s bio and body of content) and think of adding one more high-value link to the body of your post that links to site with higher authority.
Finally,
Sorry, if this has already become boring but the core concept of link building has also evolved. You are communicating in the digital space. Link building is what you recommend to someone like you would, in reality, word-of-mouth. And what makes your recommendation work is your authenticity. how compassionate and honorable are you and how helpful are you with the community?
Link building is now a part of brand building, not just a copy and pastes task!
Signing out…
Peace!