If you are a digital marketing professional, you know the importance of link-building. It is the backbone to have a successful online presence.
Link building is a popular and important SEO activity. However, building quality links needs a well-planned strategy.
Quality link building makes your website look trustworthy and popular. SEO experts know how to do this well. When building links, it’s important to remember a few basic rules. Make sure your content is relevant and valuable, using the right keywords to link to reliable and high-quality websites.
However, there are some common link-building mistakes to avoid when you are trying to create links. Let’s explore these mistakes to help you understand how you can improve your website’s search engine ranking and become more popular.
Getting links from Unreliable SEO Services
Some people try to buy links for their websites. Quick fixes from unreliable sources might sound tempting, but it is a precarious move.
Search engines can’t always tell which links are bought, but they can often spot suspicious patterns. It can harm your website’s ranking if they catch you buying links. Taking such a risk for a small potential reward doesn’t make sense.
Links from unreliable sources might need to be more relatable to what your website is about. This means you might get visitors interested in something other than your content.
So, it’s better to avoid buying links and focus on natural, honest methods to boost your website’s search engine ranking. This will help your website grow in the best way possible.
Getting High Link Velocity
You have just started your website, and suddenly, you get too many links pointing to it in a concise span. In SEO, this is not a good thing. This speedy increase in links is what we mean by “high link velocity.”
Search engines always check if your website is playing by the rules. When they see an explosion of incoming links, it can set off the alarms. They might suspect you are not getting those links naturally – like people just found your site and thought it was great. Instead, they might think you are trying to cheat the system by getting lots of wrong links too fast.
Google’s algorithm wants to give users the best results. So, if they suspect you are gaming the system, they might lower your website’s search engine rankings, which is not suitable for businesses.
Focus on steady and natural growth in your link profile to avoid high link velocity. Just like building a real relationship – it takes time.
When you gradually gain links from relevant and trustworthy sources, search engines will see it as a sign of your website’s quality and authority.
Ignoring Links from Irrelevant Niches
One of the other link-building mistakes to avoid is ignoring the links from irrelevant niches. Not all links have the same quality when building links for your website.
You need other websites to link to your site because it tells search engines that your website is a valuable resource. For fitness and healthy eating website owners, a link from other websites about cars or cooking would be irrelevant.
Search engines crawl through the links pointing to your site to figure out what your website is about. If most of the links come from websites in the same niche, it tells search engines that your website is an expert in that field.
But if you start getting links from irrelevant websites, it confuses the search engines, which can lower your website’s search engine rankings.
So, when building links, make sure they come from web pages in the same niche. This will make your website more appealing to search engine crawlers and attract more traffic.
Spamming in Link Building
While it’s natural to want quick results, taking shortcuts in link building can be costly. One such shortcut is spamming in link building. This involves getting as many links as possible without considering their quality or relevance.
Search engines are now very adept at identifying any spammy link-building strategy. They may mark your website as spam if there is an unexpected increase in irrelevant and low-quality links. This can result in severe penalties, like a decline in search engine rankings or even removal from the search engine results page entirely.
Moreover, users are quick to recognize spammy links and are unlikely to click on them. This means that even if you get many links, they won’t bring in the desired traffic or engagement. Remember, it’s not just about quantity; quality matters immensely.
Instead of gathering links indiscriminately, focus on quality and relevant websites. Look for websites that are related to your niche or industry. When you are mentioned on these sites, it holds much more weight in the eyes of search engines.
Also, keep in mind your audience. Think about what kind of content they would find valuable. And accordingly, create a content marketing strategy that is genuinely helpful, informative, and engaging. When you have high-quality content, other websites will likely link to you naturally.
Focusing on Quantity Instead of Quality
One of the common link-building mistakes to avoid is not paying much attention to where these links are coming from.
Search engines know how to tell if you are just collecting links for the sake of it. They prefer quality over quantity. A few high-quality links from relevant sites from your industry can do wonders for your on-page SEO, while low-quality backlinks can harm your site’s reputation.
So, how do you focus on successful link-building? Identify websites that are respected and trustworthy in your industry. Look for opportunities to collaborate with influencers or famous experts. Ensure the content you link to your anchor text is relevant and valuable to the target audience.
In addition to enhancing your website’s trustworthiness, these high-quality links will also aid in its ascent in the search engine results.
Bonus Points:
Building only Dofollow Links
Dofollow links are important, but putting all your efforts into getting only dofollow or nofollow links is a mistake.
Why? Because in the eyes of search engines, having a mix of dofollow and nofollow links looks more natural. This diversity signals that your website is genuinely connecting with a range of sources.
Dofollow links are a big thumbs-up for search engine rankings. On the other hand, nofollow links don’t have any value because they don’t add any value to the same anchor text. But they are still important as they show that your website is connected to different places on the internet.
Not all good websites give out dofollow links. Some might give you a “nofollow” link. That means they are still acknowledging your presence. This is valuable, too!
Using Keyword Stuffed Anchor Text
One of the other common link-building mistakes to avoid is taking a shortcut to higher search rankings by using anchor text with lots of keywords. Google’s algorithm views this as a “black hat” SEO technique in link-building campaigns. If you overstuff anchor text with keywords, your website can face penalties.
Search engines do not prefer if you are using exact match anchor text over and over again on different websites. They prefer natural and diverse anchor text profiles.
Try to stay away from using the same anchor text too often. Use different combinations of words while creating high-quality content and make it look natural. This will make search bots recognize your link-building efforts positively.
Getting Links from Pages with Weak Social Media Platforms Presence
Social media platforms have become a powerful indicator of quality. Google’s algorithms now check social performance when assessing content quality.
If a post is getting lots of attention, like 522 tweets, 3000 likes, and 500 Pinterest shares, it’s a strong signal that the content is highly engaging and valuable. Google notices this and rewards such posts with better visibility in search engine results.
Getting links from pages with little to no social shares will provide little SEO benefit and might save you time and effort.
If you are creating guest posts to acquire links, aim to generate as many social shares as possible. Google rewards content that’s widely shared because it indicates that people find it valuable. This not only benefits the post itself but also brings additional advantages to your own website.
Not Creating Worthy Content For Linking
One of the primary link-building mistakes is not creating quality content to acquire a backlink profile naturally. If your content is not valuable or engaging, other websites might not want to link to it.
So, invest your time and efforts in creating top-notch content to stand out. Focus on creating content that is practically irresistible to link to. This content attracts social shares, generates buzz, and naturally garners backlinks from other sites.
Instead of solely relying on traditional link-building methods, devote your efforts to creating exceptional content. Techniques like blogger outreach and the skyscraper can help. Still, the cornerstone of your link-building strategy should be content, as it attracts the attention and endorsement of other website owners.
Bottom Line
Link building is a powerful tool to boost your website’s search engine ranking. But be cautious! Some mistakes can harm your site in the long run.
This guide will help you steer clear of these link-building mistakes. Avoiding them can improve your site’s ranking and get more visitors.
