People use link building to affect their business websites positively so that they can increase their traffic. Sometimes, the tactics they use can have the opposite effect and cause their websites to be given a lower ranking by the search engines. These practices are to be avoided, and they will be described in detail below.
Beware of Placing Too Many Links
People know that they need a fair number of links on other people’s websites that are pointing toward their own sites. They have opportunities to create these links themselves by opening accounts on several social networking websites and placing links as often as they can. This tactic actually does not create the effect that these people would like.
The above tactic, called spray-and-spray linking, does not impress the search engine spiders. The spiders are looking for links that are created because the content is valuable and not just because website owners placed self-serving links into their own feeds on Twitter, for example. This action will not cause the website’s ranking to increase but may result in it being penalized by the search engines.
Do Not Engage in Link Exchanges
Similarly, if a website owner makes a deal with several people to perform link exchanges, none of them will see their ranks rise because of it. These links are not as valuable because these people are only placing links to their friends’ websites to obtain the reciprocal link. If they were to link to the website because it would genuinely interest their visitors, this would be legitimate, otherwise, it causes the spiders to reduce the ranking.
The Quality of the Page
What people need is to have other website owners link to their sites because those owners believes the content is relevant and valuable to their customers. These types of links can affect the website that has been linked to in a good way but it can also have the opposite effect. If the quality of the other website is low, the spiders may judge the website that it links to to be of low quality as well.
Website owners will want to make sure that any website that is giving them a link is of high quality so that it can impress the search engine spiders. If owners of high quality sites are willing to link to another site, the spiders will consider the content on the other website to be comparable to the first website. This will cause the second website’s ranking to increase.
Some of the most coveted links come from websites that end in .gov or .edu. These are highly trusted websites with very good reputations. If a .gov or .edu website is linking to another website, they are receiving a highly valuable backlink for these sites. On the other hand, if a page of low quality is linking to their websites, the website owners will want to ask them politely to remove the link.
Organic Linking
Link building can be a good strategy for increasing a website’s page rank but it must be done organically. This means that website owners must not add hundreds of links every day because the search engine spiders will not consider this to be natural link-building. The spiders will know that these links were added because the website’s owners paid for them or that they used one of the tactics described above, and they will not reward the website with a higher ranking.
The Result of Good Link Building Strategies
Once a website has good quality links, it can be considered to have relevant and valuable content for those who are searching for what the website has to offer. As a result, after searchers type in related keywords, the spiders will return the website that has the most relevant content to the top spots. The website has the chance to be in the first position because of its high quality backlinks and traffic can increase accordingly.
Link building can help bring a website to the first page and maybe even to the top result but website owners must refrain from link building practices that are not favored by search engine spiders. By building their links organically, they are much more likely to reap the benefits that high quality links can give them.