The Internet is the most powerful tool we have for sending, translating, and gathering information from all parts the world. Search engines like Google, Yahoo!, and Bing make it possible for us to find the data on any subject. They serve as virtual troves of information where any topic under the sun is available.
Millions of people connect to the Internet and create their own website as their way of efficiently disseminating information to a worldwide audience. The moment a piece of information is added to a website, it is immediately available for browsing by innumerable users.
For publishers, links are essential for creating a viable online presence. They enable traffic to a website and help us move from one source of information to another. Links are also huge determinants on how websites rank in search engines. Publishers apply different marketing strategies to their website in able to improve popularity or increase rankings and traffic. One of which, and conceivably one of the most effective, is link building.
Link building is the process of getting external pages to link to your website to promote recognition among Internet users and reap other rewards throughout the World Wide Web. By creating inbound links, your website could achieve higher SEO ranking and drive targeted traffic to your site.
Search engines not only measure the popularity of a website based on the numbers of pages linking to them, but also examine its reliability, authority, and spam. These inbound links act as medium of referrals on the Internet.
Reputation and authority is passed on by some sort of suggestion by other influential pages. The more your website gets those referrals, the more that search engines will see it as an authoritative and credible one. As a result, your website’s ranking would increase in searches. Although you should keep in mind that it is not the quantity of inbound links to your website that helps you rank higher, but the quality of those links.
Building links to your website is like having a double-edged sword. It can be a positive thing as a good back link can increase traffic to your site, but there are also bad links that can be really problematic. Some websites, such as spam and adult sites, can provide quick boosts to your page rank, but they can also destroy the reputation that you are building for your website and can even cause it to be penalized.
The link building process is a tedious task in which you always need to be cautious of what types of websites links to yours. Linking strategies can be conducted by various means including link bait, press releases, article submission, blogging, registering with social bookmarks and directories, running a newsletter, and reciprocal linking.
There are no shortcuts to quality link building. It is not something that can provide you abundant rewards overnight as it would take some time to build links from trustworthy sources. As long as you have the patience and persistence, your link building campaign can be a success.