Backlink building is one of the most common, and most efficient off-page SEO techniques. However, it is akin to a science. It requires skill, technique and attention to detail. Make the wrong move, and you may jeopardize your rank, or face a penalty by Google. Did you know that questionable backlink profiles have caused 95% of all Google penalties?
As backlinks are key, irrespective of the industry, marketers spend time, money, and resources to build links. You may create shareable content, write guest posts, collaborate with influencers, publish testimonials, etc. However, not everyone sees similar results. This is possibly because of certain errors that you might be making. To help you course-correct, we are addressing 5 link building mistakes that you must watch out for.
Never buy backlinks
Today, search engine crawlers are smarter than ever before, so buying and selling links to manipulate rankings isn’t an effective tactic. In fact, it can hurt your credibility. This approach can cause your ranking to plummet, as when you buy links that pass PageRank, you directly violate Google’s Webmaster Guidelines. You must be cautious about where your links come from and whether they are worth it.
If you are purchasing links for other reasons, such as part of your advertising strategy, remember to qualify links with the rel=”sponsored” or rel=”nofollow” tag. Through the first attribute, you inform Google that the link is a sponsored link. On the other hand, the second one suggests that the crawler need not associate you with the link.
Never link to an irrelevant website
Let’s assume you are an organization that manufactures pharmaceuticals. A backlink from an emerging clothing brand is irrelevant to your line of business. Remember, Google prioritizes customer experience and hence takes into account the relevance of links. In reference to this example, since the two websites are in no way linked to each other, Google will consider this to be a dubious backlink.
So, always ensure that your backlinks are relevant to what you do, and to your customers. In the off-chance that you do get a link from an irrelevant website, flag it appropriately.
Never ignore content quality
As discussed before, customers’ positive experience is of paramount importance to Google. So, concentrate on creating high-quality content that caters to their search intent and is SEO-friendly. When you take a step towards improving quality, you also take one towards streamlining and enhancing your customers’ journey. Over time, people will notice you and refer to your content on their web pages or social media pages. In this way, you can get quality backlinks automatically. However, this is an organic process and it will take time to improve your search ranking and overall SEO performance.
Never spam links
Never leave links as comments on blog or forum posts only for a backlink. It simply doesn’t help and is considered to be spam. It can result in a penalty, in addition to affecting your reputation. Instead, leave comments to add value to a blog or forum post, and incorporate a link only if it makes sense to. If you undertake this exercise authentically, you can boost your reputation, credibility, and even website traffic—all of which help improve your SEO performance to an extent.
Never add site-wide links
Consider this: you’re a digital marketing agency and have recently developed a website for an animation company. You also added a site-wide backlink to your website on the footer of the client’s site. Doing so is probably the worst web development and link building mistake. There are high chances that you’ll get flagged for excessive exact anchor text match backlinks. To avoid this, either remove the backlinks from your client’s website or mark them as ‘nofollow’. Not just on footers, avoid having site-wide backlinks originating from sidebars and widgets too. In place of this, try incorporating branded keywords smartly.
As algorithms evolve and become more intuitive, backlink building will continue to get tougher. However, because of its efficacy in improving search ranking, it simply can’t be ignored. To get the best results possible in the shortest time frame, enlist assistance from experts. At Resolute B2B, we can help you with backlinking, as well as other on-page and off-page improvements that boost SEO performance. Contact us today to know more.
