You’re always on the lookout for ways to improve your SEO standing, and you’d like to learn more about link building.

But what is a web link, exactly?

Furthermore, what are the best ways to improve your own linking strategy? What’s the difference between internal and external linking, and what in the world is backlinking? 

These are all great questions – and ones that we’ll certainly answer below. 

Read on to learn everything you need to know when it comes to the basics of building link profiles for your website. Then, learn about where you can get professional help with making it happen. 

What Is Linking?

What does building link portfolios and creating link building strategies mean, anyway? 

There are two basic types of links you can include in your content: internal and external.

Internal links refer to the content of your own website. It might be a past blog post you’ve written. It could be a product page, a link to your testimonials page, or even a “contact” page. 

External links are links you include in your content to web pages outside of your own. When possible, try to avoid linking to just the homepage of another site. Take the time to find an external link that truly fits with what you’re writing about. 

Let’s talk more about how to do just that – and much more – below. 

Keep It Relevant

It might sound obvious to some, but the most important thing to consider when you’re getting into a link building strategy is to keep your links relevant to the content at hand. 

Especially once you get deeper into the world of SEO, it’s easy to become obsessed with the idea of “link juice” and prioritizing the rankings of the pages you include over everything else. 

But don’t think for a minute that Google won’t notice that you’re cramming irrelevant links into your content in order to boost your page views. Not only will they know what you’re up to.

They’ll also penalize you for it. 

The golden rule of including links in your site to do business is to make sure they relate directly to the content at hand. Think about including things like statistics, scientific studies, or even opinion pieces related to the topic you’re writing about. 

For context, let’s say you’re writing a piece about what to look for in delivery services.

Including a link to the “get a quote” page of your courier service is relevant. A link that’s from a well-read blog but that’s on the topic of dog shows or shoe styles for the new season isn’t. 

While we’re on the topic of links to avoid? Never link to your competitors’ pages. That’s just taking business away from your own company and giving it to them. 

Go Organic

No, we’re not talking about your food (though that might be a good idea, too). 

Instead, we’re talking about your linking strategy. After all, you’re working hard to include internal and external links in your content. But that’s really only half of the battle. 

You also want to make sure that you’re creating content that other people want to link to when they write blog posts and other articles. 

This is what’s known as the process of getting organic links. These are links that you don’t pay for. 

Instead, these are links that you legitimately earn by crafting awesome and informative content. 

So, what makes you more likely to get these organic backlinks (when people link back to your website)? 

Let’s talk more about that now.

Getting More Backlinks

You’ve learned about internal and external linking, and even know all about backlinks now. 

All that’s left to do is craft awesome content that everyone will want to share on their own sites. This is how you build your linking profile. 

First of all, never be afraid to ask for links, and to let sites know that you’ve linked to them. Everyone does it, and often, when you let someone know you’ve linked to their site, they’ll return the favor. 

You should also think about creating “linkable” content. In most cases, that’s data and statistics. 

After all, everyone is looking to prove the claims they’re making in the posts they write. Providing someone with a research study and hard numbers that do just that pretty much guarantees you links. 

Start doing some serious market research, and share your findings on your blog. 

Another way to get content that everyone wants to include on their own?

Conduct interviews with industry heavy-hitters. After all, everyone wants to know what the best minds have to say. 

You should also write guest posts on popular industry blogs. This is a great way to link back to your own website and increase your overall readership. 

Finally, consider buying backlinks. Especially if you’re a newer site or a younger company, this is an amazing way to get your name out there. The same thing goes if you’ve had a serious uptick in your number of competitors lately. 

Building Link Strategies? Let Us Help!

So, now that you know more about what building link strategies takes, it’s time to start thinking about your next steps. 

Whether you’re interested in buying links or selling them, we want to help make sure you get the most out of your linking strategy. Get in touch with us to learn more about how our process works. 

Ready to grow your influence, increase your conversions, and watch your profits soar? 

We look forward to helping you work to ensure that this year, it finally happens. 

Schedule your free link building consultation to start coming up with ideas and getting ready to dominate the search engine results.