The internet is essentially a series of links. Links from server to server, from computer to computer, from website to website. Google have made a fortune from linking people to the sites that they want to access, so it’s no secret that links can be a substantial part of a good SEO campaign. There are many different ways to utilise links — some are as easy as encouraging backlinks by creating quality content — but if you are looking to give your site even more of a boost, try these advanced link tricks.
Spread Your Link Juice
Link juice is a great bit of SEO terminology, referring to outbound links to your content that come from high authority sources. The authority of the websites that link to you influences the authority of your own site, which is how Google estimates whether your content and site is high quality and high authority. If you had two identical sites, but one site had more people linking to its content, it would perform much better than the other because it would have the most link juice!
What’s more, you can spread link juice around your site! If you have a page that isn’t ranking particularly highly, here’s what you should do:
- Update the page with new links, content and recent data. Whichever way you do it, just make it relevant to new viewers
- Share it across all your social networks again to bring in new traffic
- Whenever it is relevant to a new post, link it. This helps to direct traffic towards it, spreading link juice and getting views.
Link Outside Your Site (but be careful to whom)
SEO has changed a lot over the past decade, as SEO agency Birmingham company ALT Agency advises: “SEO is no longer a stand-alone activity that solely involves building backlinks. Having a well-structured site, high quality backlinks, an incredible user experience along with sharing engaging content through outreach and PR, is all part of… SEO strategy”. It is important to note that cleverly using links should be part of a healthy, balanced SEO strategy. That said, you still need to be careful with how you use links.
It is important to link to external sites but remember that Google has a trustworthiness rating of your site, and this is something that you should seek to preserve. That’s why you should link only to external sites with high domain authority. Sites like alltop.com are good for finding relevant content from trusted sites, but when in doubt, you can check the authority through a website checker.
Don’t be Afraid to Reach Out
If you are producing quality content, when you link to high authority blogs and domains, there’s no harm in sending them a quick email telling them that you found their content really valuable and linked to it in your content. Then, send them a link to your content and tell them that if they want to link back to it or check it out, the URL is there. An email doesn’t take too long to write, and even if 1% of people you email actually link to your site, if they’re from a high authority domain, the benefits will be huge.