According to industry experts , the most important strategies in search engine optimization (SEO) are link building and content development. Search engines use this information to determine a website’s relevance when bringing up search results for a specific topic.
A well-developed plan helps companies target specific audiences using keywords that match the content of their page. And while content is important, links also help determine a site’s “authority” to search engines. Links to your page from highly ranked companies will increase the trustworthiness of your webpage and consequently improve its ranking in search engines. Read on for more details.
Internal links
The first kind of link is an “internal link”. When you click an internal link on a website, you’re simply redirected to another page on the same website, rather than moving to an entirely new domain. The best way to create this type of hyperlink (and this applies to other hyperlinks too) is to use anchor text that provides a description of the content the user is about to navigate to.
Although this type of link does not help with domain authority, it does help search engines with indexing your website. Furthermore, it helps establish a clear map of how your website is organized and categorized. And to your readers, internal links help with navigation and improve the overall user experience. Problems with broken links on a site will negatively affect its ranking.
Backlinks
A solid backlinking strategy is critical for a website’s ranking in search engine results. However, as more companies look for ways to artificially inflate their ranking, Google is steadily learning how to differentiate between quality sites and those attempting to fool its algorithm. Backlinking is a popular way to boost your ranking — the opposite of an internal link, a backlink leads to a separate website. Today, serious companies achieve a high ranking when their sites receive backlinks from authoritative domains which also have valuable and relevant content.
Although this may seem difficult, websites with an emphasis on quality information will generate them intuitively. When you publish content that is interesting, is valuable, and has solid references, it will bring in traffic. And there are countless strategies to market and push online movement toward your content. As you upload more articles, blog posts, and videos, momentum is built. However, this does not occur in a vacuum, nor in a week. Websites chasing after short-term gains will never achieve long-term results.
One of the best strategies here is guest blogging. However, before investing the time, check domain authority of that blog and ensure that it’s worth the effort. It does not make sense to post to a blog with a low score. Otherwise, the practice has advantages that drive traffic to your website. Among those advantages is the ability to post to industry-specific resources that help you develop a reputation for expertise in your field. Furthermore, by publishing to other blogs, you gain access to sites that already have an established base. When your article is found, it will have a backlink to your website, which — apart from providing traffic — also increases the domain authority of the site. When this is done repetitively and in different places, your popularity will rise.
Another helpful practice is to mention influencers in your posts. This can provide a boost in results because influencers will be more inclined to share an article that addresses them directly. If this occurs and the influencer has a high domain authority, the resulting backlink can improve your domain authority directly. Another idea is to use infographics, as these are often linked to because it is easier for someone to look at an image than to read an entire article. Regardless of the specific strategy, the goal is to provide valuable content that is link-worthy. With these areas covered, success is only a matter of time.