To Link Or Not To Link?

Getting your website the love and recognition it deserves is all about building as many links as you'll. Isn’t it?

One of the goals of effective SEO is to get your website to the highest of the search engine’s results pages for a given keyword, and link building has long been at the center of most online marketing strategies.

Links can drive traffic and that they can contribute to the authority of your site.

And SEO was lots easier when that was all there was to that.

There’s lots more to SEO currently than just linking to your site using a couple relevant keywords. you may even be able to get some good attention without an actual link. It takes a bit more work, but once you combine these tactics with traditional link building the results will be very effective.

The Evolution of Link Building
In the earliest days of SEO, lots of online marketers took great liberty of link building, which regularly took the form of malicious, unethical link buying and link farming.

During these days, SEO Experts went link crazy, stuffing an over-abundance of links into their website content and reaching to less-than-honorable lengths to get a link from almost any or all external sites, despite the quality.

“Quantity” mattered much more than quality. It worked in search engines and it is easier to show the higher-ups that work was happening because: “Hey, just check out all these links pointing at the web site .”

Google quickly notice of the unpleasant search experience this over-reliance on links produced and introduced some algorithm updates that particularly targeted pages with low-quality.

Sites that violated these new guidelines were blocked. Some were dropped out of the search results until they fully cleaned up their backlink portfolio.

Despite this evolution, though, links are still a foundational a part of a good SEO strategy. But that doesn’t mean they must be the complete of your strategy.

If Not Links, Then What?
Links are an honest start, but because the search engine algorithms still develop, your strategies also got to evolve.

This is most apparent once you examine some of the most recent updates that put a much greater emphasis on high-quality content and improved user experience.

In other words, Google wants you to prioritize users over search engines.

While the primary step in this process is to enhance the standard and relevance of your content, there are some “linkless” ways to bolster your website’s online credibility, trust and visibility. These include:

• Mentions
• Reviews
• Influencer Marketing
• Social Media Interactions

Mentions:

When customers and other businesses mention your brand in a positive context it’s like a little virtual pat on the rear and something of a trust booster. although they don’t link directly to your site, getting a mention on a high quality site still counts for something.

If web users see your brand’s name positively mentioned online enough times, they'll likely Google your company and verify your website.

This is also a good place to debate “citations,” which are like business listings on various websites. They don’t have to link to your website, but they must carry information like your company’s physical address and number. this can help the search engines make associations along with your company that may help you improve your online standing in various ways.

Reviews:

With such a lot of options online, customers can easily get overwhelmed, frustrated and distracted. On top of that, web users are generally suspicious of web sites they haven’t heard of or businesses they haven’t worked with before.

This has made online reviews extremely important in modern marketing world. Customers are simply more likely to trust the opinions of other customers who they perceive as being similar to them.

Google My Business, Yelp, and various social platforms have made it easy for the typical customer to create their opinions heard.

While positive reviews are what we all want, customers are often suspicious of an organization that has nothing but glowing reviews. So, don’t be scared of the occasional negative review. If a customer is genuinely displeased along with your efforts, they should be happy to specific themselves.

As long as you reply to it in a professional and prompt manner, you'll turn that negative into a way stronger positive.

When people see your honest attempts to create things right, they'll likely take your business more serious and examine your brand with more respect. When the search engines see tons of activity on these review platforms, they’ll attribute more authority to your website – even without a link.

Influencer Marketing:

Influencer marketing involves working with the people who have the attention and respect of your targeted customers.

If your ideal demographic follows certain online personalities, they’ll be more likely examine your website when that person endorses your company’s products or services. this can be an excellent idea for companies that are new for the market and have little or no brand recognition – but do have an excellent new product or service.

Word of mouth
As with mentions, an endorsement of your brand’s products or services may or might not have a link. Even with an unlinked mention and endorsement, web users who are curious and interested will seek for your brand and explore your website.

Social Media Interaction:

The widespread, daily use of social media has made it mandatory for business, but how it's used and also the value it provides can change and evolve all the time.

You can target particular audiences for better conversion rates with social media marketing, but real social media success requires two-way communication. this can be when relationships begin to form – which suggests that the other half this relationship are going to be more willing to interact with you.

Addressing each customer’s interaction on a private level will make that specific customer to feel great and increase the likelihood of earning their continued business.

So, it should not be a link that you simply get out of those interactions, but it just is also a paying customer.

Changing The Way We Do Links:
Links are still a very important metric of website credibility and trust, but they aren’t the sole way to rank higher in search results.

Voice search has changed how people use the web, and customers aren’t searching with one keyword or phrase anymore. Instead, they’re using very specific long-tail keywords and complicated phrases. Search engines understand this and tend to reward websites that do more than just get as many links on exact keywords or phrases as they will .

It is important to still utilize high-quality backlinks from reputable external sites. this type of attention will be great for your website, but it can wear after a bit while.

Always utilize a range of excellent content along with “nonlinked” referrals, recommendations and endorsements to get the type of attention that lasts.