When it comes to SEO, link-building is one of the most misunderstood aspects of an effective digital marketing strategy. Many business owners believe that to rank their website higher in search engine results pages (SERPs), they need to accumulate as many links as possible. However, this is not always the case. There are several myths and truths about link building that business owners should be aware of. As an SEO marketing company in the UK, we are experts in link building and how generating the right links can help to skyrocket a business website’s SEO.
Domain Authority
Domain Authority is a commonly used factor which determines a website's legitimacy. Many people aim to link with a domain authority better than theirs, however, this doesn't automatically mean success.
Domain scores from various data providers often vary from one to the next, so who should you rely on? We’d argue none of them. SEO marketers have long disputed the accuracy and usefulness of domain authority metrics, so it’s best to take them with a grain of salt. Even Moz, the company that created and popularised the metric, has admitted that it’s far from perfect.
There are many other factors to consider when assessing a website’s SEO potential, such as its age, page rank, inbound links, etc. Rather than relying on a single metric such as domain authority, it’s important to look at the bigger picture and take into account all of the factors that influence SEO. Ultimately, relevance and accuracy are important. Linking to a low-ranking, but the relevant site is going to be more beneficial than linking out to a high-ranking site that’s not relevant to your business.
Guest Blogs are the Best way to Build Links
Guest blogging can be a great way to improve SEO, but only if it's done correctly. Unfortunately, many people use guest blogging as a way to buy links. This is not only against Google's webmaster guidelines, but it also provides low-quality links that will not help your SEO ranking.
If you want to use guest blogging as a way to build links, make sure that all of the links are high-quality and relevant to your website. Also, make sure that you are guest blogging on reputable websites that have high domain authority. This will help you to get the most out of your guest posts.
Google has been changing its search algorithm over the past few years to try and improve the quality of its search results. This has led to several changes in how SEO is practised, and one of these changes is how Google deals with low-quality links.
Previously, Google would penalise your website if you had a large number of low-quality links. However, the good news is that Google's default for the past couple of years has just been to ignore these types of links in your backlink profile rather than penalize you for them.
This means that as long as you are not actively seeking out low-quality links, you should not experience any penalties from Google. As long as you focus on high-quality links from reputable websites, you should see your SEO ranking improve over time.
So, if you are writing guest blogs or link-buying, be sure that they will benefit your site and SEO, rather than damage it.
Links Must be Relevant to Count
Whilst the statement in the paragraph is true, relevance isn't the be-all and end-all. In an ideal world, we would only link with other websites within our industry. There's no denying that these are the highest quality links, however, given the nature of the industry, creativity and license to stretch the 'relevancy gap'.
It can be difficult to find high-quality, relevant links when you're in a competitive industry. When it comes to SEO, you need to be constantly on the lookout for opportunities to improve your website's ranking. One way to do this is by stretching the relevancy gap when looking for link opportunities. This means looking for links that are not necessarily within your industry but are still relevant to your business.
For example, if you own a pet store, you could reach out to local vets and animal shelters and ask if they would be interested in linking to your website. These links may not be directly related to pet stores, but they are still relevant because they are about animals. By reaching out to local businesses and organisations, you can build high-quality links consistently. Whilst not exactly aligned with your business or content, they can still be incredibly helpful in building your SEO strategy.
At our SEO marketing Company in the UK, we preach that SEO is all about relevance and accuracy. Links don't have to be from within your industry to be effective. As long as they are relevant to your business, they will help improve your SEO ranking.
Internal Linking is Pointless
At our SEO marketing company in the UK, one thing we find that clients forget to do is internal linking. However, this is one of the easiest and quickest ways to enhance your SEO. By including relevant links to other pages on your website, you can help search engines understand the structure of your site and improve your SEO ranking.
Internal linking is also a great way to keep users on your website for longer. By providing links to other relevant pages, you can keep users engaged and reduce the bounce rate. Internal linking is an essential part of any SEO strategy and should not be ignored.
Think of your website as a large spider's web. Your core content is in the middle, with lots of other relevant pages and posts linked to it. By adding internal links, you are helping search engines to crawl your website and index your content. This will eventually lead to improved SEO rankings.
This is a practice that can often be forgotten as webmasters think "why would I like to my site when external websites improve my domain authority?". Lots of internal links show that your site is cohesive, well managed and will be rewarded by the bots that crawl your site.
Link Building Alone is Enough
Whilst link building is a valuable aspect of SEO, it is not the silver bullet. A common misconception is that link-building is the only thing that matters when it comes to SEO. This is simply not true. Link building is just one part of a larger SEO strategy.
Search engine optimisation is an ever-changing and complex field. It takes into account many factors, such as content, technical SEO, user experience and more. To succeed in SEO, you need to take a holistic approach and focus on all aspects of your website.
Link building should be seen as one piece of the puzzle, rather than the whole puzzle itself. Don't get caught up in the numbers game and focus on quantity over quality. It's better to have a few high-quality links associated with your well-managed website, rather than hundreds of low-quality links associated with a poor site.
SEO Marketing Company UK
At Phoenix Marketing, we are an expert SEO marketing company in the UK. We work with clients to help them improve their SEO ranking and organic traffic. Our expert team will work closely with you to audit your website and create an SEO strategy that is tailored to your specific needs. We are committed to helping our clients achieve their SEO goals and we will always go the extra mile to ensure that they are successful.
If you would like to learn more about our SEO services, please contact us today on 01444 523105 or hello@phoenixmarketing.uk. We would be happy to discuss your specific needs and provide you with a free quote for our SEO, digital marketing, social media marketing, PPC and many more services.