5 Link-building Linchpins for 2014
Introduction
Link building is still the bees’ knees of SEO, contrary to ravings from prophets of doom who are laboring to emphasize the importance of indicators other than links and the threat posed by successive Google updates. If you attach too much weight to the lunacy, the changes of you being spooked by Google updates to the point of jumping ship are quite high.
While you would be drowning in your fear, others will be cashing in on link building like never before. Hence, it is advisable to engage in some soul searching, exorcise black hat practices, buckle up and take on the New Year with a conglomeration of a new breed of refined and new tactics. Obviously, you had to brave numerous changes during 2013 and it would be foolhardy to wish 2014 to be any different.
1. Renounce the Evil Ways
The first and maybe long overdue initial step is to repent and renounce bad SEO practices. This does not only mean that you have to stop dead in your tracks but go back to undo all the traces of trickery and deviousness.
As long as you harbor bad links, they will keep eating away your good efforts and intentions on every other front. An exhaustive link audit and the disavowing and ridding of bad links are the first order of business in 2014.
If your website has low-quality links, get rid of them IMMEDIATELY! Contact the webmasters to get the links removed or use Google’s Disavow Tool for auto removal. However, in Google’s words, even after using the tool, you still need to make every effort to clean up unnatural links pointing to your site.
2. Put People First
Much of the link-building efforts and tactics have been tantamount to going around in circles. To put it bluntly, it is like the classic case of a dog chasing after its tail. At the end of it all, what you need is a good reputation and conversions both of which can never accrue from focusing on machines alone.
The Way to Go:
Link to relevant resources.
Use long-tail anchor text to integrate links into articles.
Prioritize sites that enjoy organic traffic and a healthy social media following.
The content must address the needs of the visitors.
Link building is all about “quality” and not “quantity”.
3. Don’t Drown Readers in the Same Tired Keywords
The focus of future SEO is unapologetic about the need to have relevance in the links that you put up. It can never be over-emphasized that it’s no longer a numbers game. Consider linking content to your site only if the end result is going to gift readers with a wider perspective of the issues under discussion.
The keywords must be related, NOT similar!
A simple test of this requirement before you do anything is to compare the keywords. If the links pointing to your site have the same keywords then hold your horses, reset and go back to the drawing board. It’s a huge pit and it would be quite foolish to continue putting one foot in front of the other despite the bold ‘unnatural links’ warning sign. The need for diversity and relevance in links is explained in this interesting read on link building techniques.
4. Move to Guest Blogging
If you have not already started guest blogging, you need to wake up, smell the coffee and quit dwelling in cloud cuckoo land! Write for other blogs as a guest who intends to share ideas, knowledge and expertise with a wider audience.
Guest blogging provides a great opportunity to:
Share your expertise with a large audience.
Invent yourself as a brand with the real chance of commanding respect.
Enhance your professional network.
Obtain high value links.
5. Embrace SEO Tools
You can only better strategize for tomorrow if you know and accept the pros and cons of your previous, if not current, strategy. There is a full arsenal of SEO tools at your disposal that are not there for entomologists!
Tools such as SEMRush, Majestic SEO etc. help in revealing your current backlink profile so that you can better craft a workable way forward.
Other tools exist for monitoring the progress of your new strategies and efforts as you go deeper into 2014.
A Word of Advice: Keep Your Eyes On The Ball!
In 2014, you need to work towards establishing that million-dollar connection with your readers. Quit running in circles around Panda, Hummingbird and other Google updates, and for once focus on the “needs” of your target customers. Management by crisis is a futile exercise that has to adapt every time there is a new Google update. Instead adopt a practice that will endure in spite of how many updates come and whatever their nature.
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