Yellowstep B2B Marketing Performance Blog | Inbound marketing and sales articles

How to improve your website's SEO through link building

Written by Robbie Jones | 15-May-2014 11:00:00

Inbound links are one of the most powerful assets to use when improving the SEO of your company website.

Also known as 'backlinks', inbound links are incoming links to your website from another site. These are important as they act as a recommendation and boost the authority your website is given by Google and other search engines.

The more authority you have, the more prominent your website will be in search queries. The hardest part of the process is actually getting your website on as many relevant websites as possible.

So where do you begin when it comes to achieving inbound links? Here's a few ideas to get you started.

Look at yourself

Take a look at the websites at your disposal. Have you got another site that you could link from? Perhaps a subsidary company or a product website. If it is a relevant website always link back to your original website to gain from the authority inbound linking gives you. This link could simply be a blog post or something on your 'Contact Us' page.

Make sure you have your website link across all social media platforms you appear on too. Although they don't count, due to funny SEO rules, its still important to have your website listed on as many websites as possible.

Ask your stakeholders

Ask your stakeholders to give you a hand. It normally requires dropping an email or picking up the phone, but if someone's got a vested interest in your business, the chances are they may be keen to link back to your website from theirs.

Depending on the stakeholder, it is always nice to return the favour and put their web link on your site too. Its not a rule, just a kind act of conduct.

Create remarkable link bait

Coming up with creative content that will go viral is really hard - but so rewarding. Creating a video, infographic or research reports are the best performers when it comes to remarkable content and if someone likes it, they will share it as a link on their blog or website.

The more people that link to your content, the more inbound links you accumulate.

List on web directories

A low-key tactic but something certainly worth investing time in, take a look at industry relevant web directories that you can list your company on. There are plenty of free directory websites around that require minimal effort to get listed on, and improves your overall inbound links considerably.

Submit news stories

PR is a fantastic way to get more inbound links. Whether you are spreading the word about a new business acquisition or telling people about a new product line, share your press releases with as many relevant news distributors as possible.

The chances are that they will link back to your website for their readers to seek more information. If you manage to get 2 or 3 news websites linking back, then great!

Look out for...

  • Websites with a low MozRank score should be avoided - They may offer an easy solutions to build a link, but they could ultimately end up costing you authority. You've been warned!
  • Expert inbound linkers! Some are great, some are poor, some are expensive. Try and have a go at link building yourself first to determine whether you can do it. If you can, you've saved yourself a heap of cash!
  • Don't spend too much time on link building. Believe us, it can get addictive because the rewards are so great. Just keep an eye on the time and pre-plan how long you take to build links
Image credit: Ruby Gold