Link building 101: How has it changed?

Link building, the process of acquiring hyperlinks from other websites to your own, has changed dramatically over the last 10 years. Some say that all you need to do now is create quality content. But the creation of quality content – while absolutely necessary - is just the start. It’s the “getting it out there” part of the process which has become a lot harder.

Way back when…

Back in 2013/14 (not very long ago at all) it was easy to submit a somewhat substandard piece of content to an article directory and gain a link back to your site. Other ways to get attention included uploading a snippet of your piece to a website and allowing people to bid for it, letting you choose the best website for your content to appear on. Now, you have to spend time and resources building a relationship with someone on the other side of the computer screen. No face-to-face interaction, no funny jokes or quick witted comments to help build this so called “relationship”. Just a dozen or so emails back and forth with someone you are never likely to meet in the hope that your content will spark an interest with them.

Quality vs quantity

The need for quality content has – of course - become increasingly important and the fight against the competition has become harder.  That’s not a bad thing though. The internet is full of clickbait and articles created with little fact or knowledge backing them up. It seems anyone can become a ‘writer’ at the click of a button or a tap of a few keys!

Natural is best

One positive shift is the ability to build more natural links back to your site. If the content on your own site is of a high standard then it is more likely to be picked up by others and shared. Natural links are a powerful source of link juice and definitely more worthwhile than the old article directory links from years ago. Especially when the link used is natural too. Long gone are the keyword stuffed anchor texts.

Is guest blogging dead?

Some would say that it is! Again, it comes back to building that relationship with a computer screen. However, done in the right way, the authorship gained, brand awareness achieved and the referral traffic attained will outweigh the effort taken. Let’s face it, it’s not all about ranking positions. Ultimately, one of the best ways of achieving sales conversions is to get the traffic to your site in the first place. There is no point in worrying about ranking in position one if you’re unlikely to gain more than 10 visitors to your site in a month.

We’ve come to the end…

To sum up link building; quality content is king, article directories are a big no no and should be left in the past. Gaining natural links by creating quality content and building real relationships is the way forward, and although the process in itself is definitely harder than before, it is more worthwhile and holds more value than ever.