SEO can be a complicated business. There are so many strands to it that businesses often get swamped by the options and spread their resources too thinly with diminishing returns.
One constant mantra from marketers when it comes to optimising your site for platforms such as Google is the importance of inbound links.
Here we take a closer look at what these are and ways to get other sites to link to you organically (in other words, without you having to pay them) and, hopefully, improve your ranking.
What Are Inbound Links?
Any link to your website from another site is called an inbound link. If you have lots of interesting information on a particular page, someone might read it, write an article of their own and use your content as source material, embedding a link to your page.
Why Are They Important?
Search engines see inbound links from other sites as an important indicator of authority The more you are linked to by reputable sites, the more it should improve your ranking.
How many sites do you need linking to you to see an effect? Well, this is a slightly nebulous concept because there is no set rule that X amount of inbound links will achieve X steps up the ranking. All we know is that it makes a difference.
5 Ways to Get Inbound Links That Work
There are several ways to get inbound links. You could, for example, ask partners and suppliers to your business to link to you. You can, in certain, circumstances buy links from other sites though we don’t advise this as it can be expensive and not achieve the results you are looking for.
The best way to encourage inbound links include:
- Create great blog content: Having a blog on our website allows you to build a catalogue of great content and, more importantly, a readership. This could include options such as how-to guides, the latest news associated with your business or opinion pieces that get people thinking. The more interesting content you have, the more people are likely to link to you.
- Guest blogging: Many online journals and industry sites are always on the lookout for great content and will usually allow you to have at least one link to your website in any blog. These sites tend to have strict guidelines for content creation so make sure you read through these before producing anything.
- Design infographics: Infographics are some of the most shared content on the internet and having a few on your site can certainly help inbound links. They tend to work best for lists or step by step information such as this one called Understanding Viral Content Marketing.
- Provide useful resources: Resource guides are relatively long pieces of content that give links to sites across the internet on a particular subject. For example, you may produce a 50 link guide to the best online resources for buying a home. These kinds of pages are often seen as a one-stop-shop for information which people are happy to link to.
- Use social media: While you are not strictly creating content for inbound links, getting your posts in front as many people as possible is vital. The best way to do this is to include social media sharing buttons on your blogs, infographics and other content. In other words, make it easy for people to tell their friends and family about the stuff you have created.
Inbound linking strategies are not a one-off activity. They should permanently be part of your overall approach. At Web Design Southampton, our expert team can help you build your website content so that it naturally attracts more links of this kind and improve your SEO at the same time. We can also help you with a content creation strategy that works over a long period of time.
