Link building is a critical tool for search engine optimization (SEO) and ultimately for a successful website. It can reveal a lot about how legitimate a site really is and speaks volumes about how various pages are connected. Links between pages have historically been viewed as a measure of both the popularity and relative importance of a site. Search engines use links to see if your page is linked to other popular and trustworthy sites, and this gives your site credibility. Search engines can also see if your site is linked instead to other sites that are not trusted, or that link to spam sites. This all factors into where your site ranks when it is searched for.
So, how do search engines decide which sites get ranked highest and which links help to propel sites to climb the list? It’s a complicated equation, but some of the most important factors seem to be the following:
- Overall popularity of the site: If your site is popular and well-regarded as a hub for information about a certain topic, idea or product, then other sites will want to link to you. Search engines will see that your site is popular and important and trustworthy, increasing your site’s search engine profile.
- Topic-specific popularity: Similar to overall popularity, if your site seems trusted within the specific area of focus it addresses and if other reputable sites in your topic area link to you, then search engines will take notice.
- Anchor Text: Anchor text is the string of keywords on your site that others link to. If you can really build strong anchor text, your site will do well.
- Credibility: Trust and credibility are two critical components to site success. If your site links to other reputable sites, search engines will look upon you more favorably than if your site links to spam sites.
- Connections: Search engines will look at many connections related to your site — which sites connect to you, which sites connect to the sites that connect to you, etc. This roadmap can give an overall picture of the legitimacy and credibility of your site.
- Social Media links: Social media links have become extremely popular over the last few years and have become a factor in how search engines evaluate sites.
- How current is your site? Keep the links on your site live and current. Dead links and old data is also noticed by search engines.
Einstein SEO is a search engine optimization company located in Ham Lake, Minnesota that can help move your site to the top of Google, Bing, Yahoo and other search engines using only white-hat search engine optimization techniques. Call our team 1-763-951-2200 for more information about how to maximize your site’s success!
