How Exactly Does Link Building Work?
Link building is a part of off-page SEO and is the process of obtaining links from other websites to your own website.
Search engines like Google use these links as an important measure to assess the reliability, relevance, and authority of a website.
Why are links so important?
Unknown makes unloved. Without links from other relevant websites, your website is unknown. When your website then has to compete in search results with websites that do have relevant links, the choice is quickly made for search engines.
Each link to your site is seen as a kind of vote of confidence.
The more quality websites that refer to you, the greater the chance that Google sees you as a reliable source.
You build trust and authority.
Additionally, links help search engines to better discover and index your website. New pages are picked up faster if there’s a link pointing to them.
When you get links from thematically related sites (for example, a real estate blog linking to a mortgage site), these carry more weight than random links.
Relevance is key here.
Besides SEO value, good links also bring direct visitors to your website who may become customers.
Types of links within link building
There are different types of ways to get links through link building:
Natural links
Occur spontaneously because someone finds your content valuable. Happens quite rarely.
For example: a blogger referring to your article without you asking for it.
Earned links
Obtained by actively promoting your content: writing guest blogs, approaching journalists, or collaborating with partners.
Self-placed links
Links that you add yourself in forums, directories, or comments.
Less valuable and sometimes even risky if used excessively.
Internal links (not really link building, but part of the link structure)
References within your own site that help search engines understand your content and establish hierarchy.
Not every link is equally valuable. In fact, a large number of weak or spammy links can harm your rankings.
Link building revolves around:
Authority of the source → a link from an established news website counts much more than an unknown forum.
Relevance → a link from an industry-related site has more impact than a link from a totally different topic.
Placement → a link in the main text of an article is more powerful than a link in a footer or sidebar.
Anchor text → the clickable text of the link provides context about what the page is about.
Strategies for effective link building
You can approach link building in different ways. Are you going to do it yourself or outsource it?
If you have sufficient time and knowledge to do it yourself, you can consider all the options below:
Content marketing → create valuable content (white papers, research, infographics, guides) that others want to cite and share.
Guest blogging → write articles for relevant websites in exchange for a link.
Digital PR → newsworthy content or press releases that are picked up by media.
Broken link building → find dead links on other websites and offer your content as a replacement.
Collaborations & partnerships → think of suppliers, partners, or industry associations that can link to your site.
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Alex Timmers
Founder
