Unless you have some serious on-site structural issues, building backlinks is the focal point of most businesses search engine optimisation strategy.
Since the Google Penguin update earlier this year, backlink’s have become more complex creatures and look like they may become increasingly more so in time to come.
Google is now punishing sites who fail to obey its Penguin inspired changes to backlink rules leaving many to ask what makes a great backlink. The answer for many, is blogger outreach or publishing guest posts on blogs. This is a safe way to build links and looks like it will remain so moving forward.
Its important to remember that not all links are created equally and there are numerous disparities that will affect each links worth to your site.
Here are some SEO tips that will ensure you are building the best links from the best blogs.
Niche
One of the big changes to come about in recent times has been to do with the relevancy of the niche of the backlink. Google wants to determine whether the webpage you are linking from offers value to your own sites niche. If the themes are related and provide benefit then Google will see this as a positive and boost your position in SERPs.
Domain Authority – SEO Tips
The authority of the site is also of importance and something that can really determine the benefit you see from your backlink. High authority domains have higher traffic levels and Google rates them far higher than lower quality sites in its algorithm. You can find out the domain authority of the site you are looking to link from, via SEOmoz Chrome toolbar.
Traffic
Of course, the traffic levels and social media presence of high authority sites are very important to a great back link. If you write a great guest post you want it to be shared, seen and commented on. Engaging people with your post is important and getting it shared more-so as it increases traffic and has a positive effect on SEO. Back links from sites with large social media presences mean relevant traffic and provide you with significantly opportunity.
Content – SEO Tips
Great content is the best way to get a guest post, initially accepted and secondly shared. By offering webmasters quality, you ensure they want your post and will be more likely to have a post accepted on higher authority sites. This high quality content will encourage traffic and sharing.
Variety
Back link strategies should follow a variable pattern. Having a number of back links on webpages hosted on the same C-Block will cause Google to ‘flag’ your efforts and in worst possible cases may result in a negative for your rank position. A C-Block, describes where a website is stored online. A good example would be WordPress. Any WordPress hosted blog ‘thisblog.wordpress.com’ is stored on the same C-Block.
The Link – SEO Tips
The back link itself should describe your site in some way and since Google Penguin update, should ideally include your brand name.
For example, if we want to rank for paper clips, ‘brandname paper clip company’ is a more relevant backlink than ‘paper clips’ alone.
This has caused many old fashioned SEO agencies to come un-stuck, as completely the opposite used to be case. If you have suffered due to lack of forward thinking by your SEO Services provider, give us a shout for some help.
Long Term
Back links are always going to be important to SEO no matter how much prominence social media optimisation takes. However, as we have seen from the recent Penguin update they have to offer value to the search engine, providing relevancy and worth – expect this trend to continue.
Focus your content on providing value to search engines via quality, share-ability and keeping them in good neighbourhoods and your backlink profile will remain strong for years to come.
Have you been negatively affected by the Google Penguin update? Let us know via the comments for free SEO tips.
Mark is the Social Media Director for MySocialAgency, a big traveller, major geek and massive music head. Mark likes to blog about social media strategy, SEO process and life-hacking.
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