What is link building?
When playing with kids toys it is the process of putting a wooden building together.
On the web, you are still putting a type of building together. But that building is the foundation of your blog or website.
There are 2 major types of links with each brining distinctly different concepts to the building process.
- Internal links
- External links
Let’s take a deep dive into each of these to find out how they work.
External Link Building
When people talk about link building this is typically the first thing that comes to mind. It is the process of creating links outside your website which point into the same.
You can do this yourself in a variety of ways which include but is not limited to.
- Social Networking
- Social Media
- Ad Networks
- Blog Commenting
- Forum Posting
The above all find you posting some type of content with a link that draws people into your site. This creates what is known as one way links which is the most powerful form of link building possible.
The problem is, doing this takes a lot of time.
Is there a better way?
Yes.
More on that in a minute.
Though not as powerful, another way of building links is to find someone who would be willing to point a link to you if you point a link to them. This is known as reciprocal linking. While it does work, the corresponding value is much less than the power of one way links.
Yet one more strategy that some people use is what I call link triangulation. It takes both concepts above and brings them together as one.
- Site A links to Site B
- Site B links to Site C
- Site C links to Site A
Links are all one way and everyone receives benefits from the process.
Things to Avoid
While on the topic of external links it should be noted that many of the early forms of link building are now frowned on by Google. These include but are not limited to:
- Link Farms
- Link Blasting
- Link Buying
If you do not know what any of those terms mean, then that is good. Keep it that way.
Internal Link Building
The difference between internal and external links is that these are inside your Website. Done right these can be even more valuable than external links.
DO NOT: Go overboard with this process just because you can.
DO: Consider targeted anchor text advantages as well as creating topical categories especially when your project is built with the power of WordPress.
In the process, I recommend two concepts that are largely unused by most webmasters. With the implementation of a notepad this is not difficult.
Link Wheels
Those that are familiar with Google’s dislike of this concept might raise an objection here. Let them, when used internally to your site it is an entirely different matter.
Here’s how it works:
- Page/Post 1 links to Page/Post 2
- Page/Post 2 links to Page/Post 3
- Page/Post 3 links to Page/Post 1
Does this look like link triangulation that I spoke about above?
It is, but there are differences.
HOT TIP: To link the pages together use the targeted keyword phrase as the anchor text for each page and you receive increased value from the process.
Tiered Links
Most every website has critical pages within its makeup. Leave these pages out of the link wheel process. Instead, once done, make sure that every page or post points with a one-way link to these pages.
I typically define no more than 3 core pages then link to these from all the other pages in a rotational pattern till all have been accounted for.
Concluding Thoughts About Link Building
While other elements such as design, navigation and branding are important to the process of you staking your claim on the web, I believe that content marketing as well as link building both are by far the most critical of them all.
Done right, you will soar up the charts into positions on the search engines no matter what niche you are targeting.
Done wrong, you’ll be eating rice and beans much longer than you had anticipated.
Before you go, what are your thoughts about link building.
Related: Advanced Link Building Techniques
What has worked for you?
What hasn’t?
Share your thoughts in the comments below and let’s build our dreams forward.
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