It is true that a few years ago, link-building was the pinnacle of search engine optimization practices. It didn't matter the context, quality, or goal of the links: gathering a high inbound link number was the sole mission. Thankfully for the authenticity and overall credit of SEO practices, search engines now place far less emphasis and priority on the number of links to a specific site. However, unlike some professionals originally though, link building is not dead.
Researching specific niche directories to submit your business URL to is far from a waste of time. It can produce highly-targeted traffic to your site from an audience who is looking for brands within a specific industry or market. The key, however, is determining the low-quality domains and then filtering them out of your link campaign.
Characteristics of Low Quality Domains (Spam):
- high quantity of advertisements
- longer domain names
- keyword-stuffed domain names
- lacking SSL security certificates
- receive few direct visits
- high quantity of blocked content
- lack copyright notices
- process URL entries via robots (not human-processed/ evaluated)
Instead, look for directories that focus on a specific industry or market that best characterizes your business. Another way to gather quality inbound links is through focusing on the legitimacy of your content, and the ability for other sites to share this content with others. In turn, this can increase your appropriate traffic, consumer loyalty, and overall brand awareness.
Steps to Gaining Quality Inbound Links:
- Start blogging: By continuously publishing quality content and gaining credibility, other sites will link to your resources for their readers to learn more on a specific topic.
- Take Advantage of Social Platforms: Determine credible sources, and network accordingly on social platforms. The sharing-nature of social media provides a huge opportunity for other social channels to link to your content and resources.
- Create Visuals: By nature, people are visual creatures. If you spend the necessary resources on creating high quality images and graphics, sites will want to share these with their own readers in your target audience. As we have mentioned before, the plethora of infographics inundating social platforms is a perfect instance of successful graphics going viral.
To evaluate the sites that are currently linking to your own domain, use this free link report tool. For a full service search engine marketing campaign as well as website design and development in Pittsburgh contact a professional at Blue Archer.