The internet is built on links. As a Knutsford Web Agency, link building is a process that we have implemented for numerous websites over the years. Whilst link building remains a vital role in achieving good search engine rankings, just like anything in web, link building continues to evolve and change where the days of link buying and link farming are long gone.

With this in mind, our Knutsford web agency have put together a very easy guide on some link building techniques you can look to implement on your website to help you grow in search rankings. Let’s get started…

INVESTIGATE BROKEN LINKS

Over time you might start to discover historic content may contain broken links. For external links, the most common reasons this may occur is if the location of the original link no longer exists which can happen of the website has relaunched or has migrated to a different domain or they may have simply removed the content. For internal links, broken links may occur if you the change the URL of the link once published or could be due to a spelling mistake when linking – both of which you have control over to fix.

For clients on our Cheshire WordPress Support Care Package, we highlight and address any broken links that may appear but for those of you who are not, there are tools out there that will investigate broken links for you.

Not only is fixing broken links a white hat technique that Google strongly approves of, it also provides a first class user experience for visitors viewing new and historic content.

DIRECTORY LISTINGS

Submitting your website to directory listings often divide opinions amongst search engine experts. On the one hand, submitting your website to any and every directory listing may build links, but realistically these will be seen more as spam as they are firstly not seen as relevant to your website and secondly will increase your bounce rate as robots used in link farming techniques will filter to your landing page then immediately exit which can hurt search engine rankings.

On the other hand, as a web design agency in Knutsford, we have found there are free directories such as Yell and Yahoo that are worth signing up to. Not only can you control your listings so you can update and maintain information, there are still genuine visitors out there who will use these directory listings who will click onto your website.

GUEST BLOG

Guest Blogging is a proven link building method and there are many high-quality websites and blogs that have consistently good traffic engagement who welcome guest blogging. However, there is a thin margin between a successful guest blog and being penalised if you come across as spam. Here are a few tips to consider when writing a guest blog;

• The website and article are both relevant to your website and industry
• The article isn’t just about how good you and your business is
• Quality not quantity, look to write an engaging, interesting article that isn’t so keyword driven. A poor written article can bring bad reputation.

LINK BLENDING

Link Blending is a very interesting technique to implement if you know other websites who are willing to link to your website. In summary, link blending is a tactic used when a website links to you, and within that same content, links to a page within the top two pages for search results for your target keyword.

Link Blending is a very interesting technique to implement if you know other websites who are willing to link to your website. Let’s set a scenario, let’s say my target keyword is web design Knutsford… if a website using that keyword directly links to your website, and within that same content, links to a page within the top two pages of search results for web design Knutsford, this then indicates to search engines that you are an authoritative, trusted link which can improve your rankings for your target keywords.

PUBLISH ROUNDUP POSTS

Struggling to write engaging content? Publishing roundup posts can present two different opportunities to write engaging content with link building activities. Writing about specific topics and services

Struggling to write engaging content? Publishing roundup posts can present two different opportunities in writing engaging content with added link building activities.

Writing about industry topics and linking content to expert opinions with highly authoritative websites is a proven way to build links, you could even build relationships with these websites by reaching out and telling them you have linked to their website and asking to return the favour

On the other hand, you can use roundup posts to regurgitate old content. End of year blogs are typically a great way to achieve this where you can write a short blog with lots of internal links to historic content dated throughout the year. Internal linking is a big plus with search engines!

CONCLUSION

Getting to the top of search engine rankings will always remain an enigma but linking building techniques have always proven to be a legitimate way to increase search rankings. Do you have any other link building methods that have proven to be a success for you? Would you like to engage the help of a professional Knutsford Web Agency who can help implement further link building techniques? Give us a call on 01565 653616 or send me a quick email at tom@untitledtm.com

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