Link building has been a best practice of SEO for many, many years. Some like to say that this digital marketing phenomenon started when Tim Berners-Lee launched the world’s first website back in 1991. That theory isn’t completely true but it’s not completely false either… If you look back at the evolution of SEO, it had to start somewhere, right?
SEO Then and Now
When the first website was created, it caused more visionaries to create websites to provide information to its many users. With this influx of internet users, it caused the first search engines to implement structure and order to the chaos of how people were finding information. That’s when the birth of SEO came to be.
It wasn’t as “shiny” and refined as it is today but Yahoo and Google later came and revolutionized how information was cataloged… the rest is history…
Fast forward to today, you can see just how much SEO has changed over the years and how link building has become an integral part of a strong marketing plan. With links remaining as one of the most important ranking factors for SEO, it makes sense to invest into securing them. This can be done through an in house team or by hiring an agency. In either case, getting the right links is critical.
What Makes a Good Link?
You’ve heard people in the real estate industry say that it’s all about location, meaning depending on where a house is located is going to depend on how well it sells, thus the famous phrase, “location, location, location!” Well, that same theory can be applied to link building.
With link building, the type of site you get a link placed on and even the location of your link within the content can influence how much or little impact the link has.
Not so long ago, the quantity of links was more important than the quality, which led to people having links added to all sorts of random content. While this worked for a while, I wouldn’t suggest trying it today.
If you are new to link building and thinking of going it alone, I would take some time to read What Makes A Backlink High Quality? so that you have a good idea of the basics of what makes a link worth getting.
Relevancy Isn’t Just About Picking the Right Site
With link building, you have to not only create content that brings useful and helpful information to a particular topic but, you also have to take into consideration selecting anchor texts that naturally fit the subject matter of the embedded link. You want the anchors or the surrounding text to really paint a picture for the user of where they’ll be directed to when they click the link, without making Google think you are trying to manipulate them with repetitive anchor text choices.
The biggest thing to understand about link building is that ultimately, it’s a sales-oriented type of communication. To be successful, you must create value for the site you are contacting in exchange for the value they are giving to you.
If you want to give link building a try on your own, learning how to craft outreach emails from studying sales professionals is a great place to start.
While it can be extremely time consuming, crafting a great pitch will have a huge impact on your success rates and the quality of sites that reply to you.
Are You Ready to Start Building Links?
So, that was quite a bit of information to take in about link building, and the crazy thing is, that’s just a small portion… there’s so much more to link building that hasn’t even been discussed.
You need to know the different types of anchor texts and how to create a winning anchor text profile, you need to know the basics of link building, and you need to get acquainted with tactics like broken link building, guest posting, resource page link building, and more.
The point is that you’re a business owner and unless you have an impeccable working knowledge of link building, you’re not likely to have the time or energy to put into learning about the ins and outs of link building… That reason alone is why so many business owners outsource their link building needs.
If you’re a business owner and want to get more traffic to your site, you’re going to need to know how to properly and effectively place your links, make them naturally fit, and get quality backlinks… But if you don’t have the time to do that because you have to, you know, run your business, you should consider outsourcing your link building. Take a look at how your business can benefit.
9 Reasons to Consider Outsourcing Your Link Building
You Don’t Have to Keep Up With the Changes
Did you know that SEO has various types of changes every month? Whether it’s every couple of days to every couple of weeks, Google is constantly changing its algorithms. It’s reported that Google changes its search algorithms over 500 times a year.
Depending upon the type of changes that occur, it can take a well-planned strategy that you’ve had for a while and deem it unacceptable by Google standards.
It could potentially mean going “back to the drawing board.” Because these Google “updates” and “improvements” happen so often, it’s going to be practically impossible for you to run a successful business and keep up with the constant changes for an effective SEO and link building campaign. What’s changing, am I getting enough links, is that site a PBN? These are just a few of the many things you have to consider.
Your attention is going to have to be honed in on one or the other and it’s a safer bet for your focus to be zeroed in on your business and to leave the link building processes to the experts.
It’s Convenient
When running a business, especially if your business is just starting out, it’s either going to be just you running it or you might have a few employees under your belt but nonetheless, everyone involved in the business wears multiple hats to get multiple things done.
While this may work for some tasks, and it is actually quite common, you should avoid this for tasks requiring specialized skills. You may ask your receptionist to also handle some data entry work during downtime, but you are far less likely to task them with re-wiring the lighting for your entire office. Link building, like electrical work, requires special skills and knowledge to complete safely and effectively.
You’re Provided With Reliable Guidance and Effective Solutions
In the event that something goes wrong with your link building campaign, you have a trusted and reliable link building expert backing your business to troubleshoot, refine, and adjust your campaign.
Just think of your link builder as someone who’s going to be there to assess what exactly went wrong, find a resolution to what went wrong, and provide you with expert advice on how to adjust to the many changing conditions that come with SEO.
You Get Expert Service
Think about it like this… link building firms and agencies have spent years perfecting the art of link building. So, it’s pretty safe to say that they have quite a bit more knowledge on it than most business owners. They’re going to be able to give you quality links that will produce better results.
Quality Links Improve the Credibility of Your Website
Credibility matters to Google and to your customers. Fortunately, the right link building strategies can increase both at the same time.
Have you ever been to a website with badges showing “as seen on” or “featured in” labels, showing some trusted sources that have mentioned them? If so, you have seen firsthand the result of a link building or PR outreach campaign, which is just another form of link building.
The links from those trusted or niche-specific websites will give your users instant trust and will increase the amount of trust Google places in your website too.
Credible Links Can Boost Referral Traffic
A great link placement can impact your website in many ways. Aside from building trust with your customers and gaining credibility with Google, links can also be used to generate referral traffic and leads.
For example, let’s say you are a wedding planner in Houston Texas. If local sites or newspapers have “top 10” or “best of lists” and you can get your business included, you are likely to see referral traffic and leads directly from these links, which can happen much faster than ranking for those same keywords.
With the right strategy and team in place, a combination of link types can be used in order to combine trust, relevance, and direct referral traffic, all of which lead to more leads, calls, and income for your business.
You’re Saving Time
The old saying is “ time is money” and this couldn’t be more true when it comes to link building. As a business owner, you likely have a number of hats to wear, meaning you only have limited time to spend on each.
Link building is a time-consuming task, and even a single person working full time on building links may still not have enough time to reach the scale needed.
As a business owner or even a member of the marketing team, if link building is only one of your many duties, it won’t take long to get overwhelmed and discouraged.
It’s More Cost-Effective Than Hiring a Full In-House Team
It’s always nice to have organic traffic coming to your website but it’s those targeted customers you really want to visit your site! But in order to attract the targeted customers you seek and the high-converting traffic you want, it’s going to come at a cost… Can you guess which one is more cost-effective? If you guessed outsourcing, you guessed right on the money! Literally!
For an in-house team, you’re going to be looking at paying a marketing manager, a content writer, a link builder, a social media manager, and a marketing data analyst… that’s going to be the core of your in-house team, with a salary of about $177,000 in an inexpensive market….
Even at $10,000 per month (the average industry-wide is $5000 per month on link building) spent with a link building agency, you would save about $57000 per year.
The bottom line is that your business will get more quality links for a lower cost than most in-house teams are capable of producing.
Increased Profitability
Link building is one of the most important ranking factors in Google today. Better rankings mean more traffic to your website.
Link outreach to credible websites can get your brand mentioned on the type of sites that create instant trust with visitors to your website, which has been shown time and time again to boost conversion rates.
Link outreach can also get you mentioned on sites that send referral traffic, which can lead to quick leads and sales increases.
When you combine those with the cost savings of an outsourced solution over a full in-house link building team, it is easy to see where and how link building can improve the profitability of your business, leading to a strong ROI.
Ultimately, outsourced link building is not the right fit in every scenario. However, more often than not, working with an agency that specializes in link building is the most efficient and effective method of improving your link profile.
