How do you get your company’s website higher on search results? This is a tricky question with many different factors of Houston search engine optimization. One important part of getting a higher ranking on search engines is link building.
What is Link Building? Why is it Part of Houston Search Engine Optimization Strategies?
Search engines rank websites higher when they have expertise, authority, and trustworthiness. However, how do search engine bots determine this? Links are an important part of increasing authority. Links are like votes in the eyes of search engines. A link to a certain page means that page is worth using as a resource. Search engine bots then follow that link to find new web pages and analyze the similarities between the two websites. Link building involves creating a strategy to try to increase links to help improve Houston search engine optimization.
Types of Links
There are three main types of links, all of which are valuable for your Houston search engine optimization strategies. The most heavily weighted for website ranking are external links. External links are links from another website to a page on your website. These are incredibly valuable for a couple of reasons. First, it can direct some of that website’s visitors to your own site. Second, Google has confirmed that these types of links are one of the three key factors that influence rankings.
Outbound links are links on your own site to another website’s page. These types of links provide external links, and all the benefits that go along with them, to the page you include in the outbound link. This counts as your vote for who you think is an authority for that topic. Now, you might be saying, why would I link other websites and give them the SEO points? Well, having outbound links on your website also helps improve your rankings. Outbound links to high quality content can be valuable for visitors to your site. Providing value to the searcher can help earn credibility for your website. In addition, linking to other great websites helps signal to search engines that there is a sort of connection between your website and the high quality site you’re linking to. For example, it might establish an association with the other website’s topic.
Finally, internal links are also an important tool for your Houston search engine optimization strategies. These are links on your website that link to your other web pages. They can help show search engines which pages of your site are most important. Think of it as creating a hierarchy for each of your web pages.
Houston Search Engine Optimization Methods for Getting More Links
So, how do you get more links? This can be a little difficult, which is why you need expert strategies for link building. These strategies should include all types of links to help improve the likelihood of you reaching the number one organic spot on search pages.
High Quality Houston Search Engine Optimization Content
One of the best ways to get natural links as part of your Houston search engine optimization strategies is to create high quality content for your website. This can help kill two birds with one stone, as content quality and links are two major factors that influence how your page ranks on search results. Essentially, you must have content so good that people actually want to read it and send other people your way. Unique, compelling content is a key strategy for building link equity.
Blogs can be especially helpful with all types of links. In fact, blogging is one of the few tactics that Google engineers recommend for building links and improving rankings. Informational, industry-specific blogs can be a great place to create internal and outbound links. A good blog can also generate many external links.
However, even the best content in the world can’t earn links if no one sees it. Therefore, you not only need great content on your website and company blog, you also need to promote that content. Houston social media marketing is a great way to direct people to your content and website. This can increase the chance of earning external links.
Reviews and Mentions
Another great way to gain external links is to look for reviews and mentions of your products or services. Often, people who review or mention your business won’t realize that linking to your website can help you with your Houston search engine optimization efforts. For example, say a journalist recently wrote a feature article about your business. This is a great opportunity to ask for an external link if one doesn’t already exist. If you ask politely, many people who mention your company in an article or review are happy to give you an external link, especially since it generally takes only a few moments of their time to create the link. Therefore, managing mentions of your website comes in handy for link building purposes.
Partners and Associations Links
In addition, you can build links by working with any partners or associations you’re affiliated with. For instance, say you are part of your chamber of commerce, or work closely with another company whose services complement your own. Reaching out and asking if they might link to your website can also create those external links you’re looking for. You can also provide outbound links to these websites. This can create a reciprocal link, where you each link to each other. These types of links can be valuable in small doses. However, large numbers of reciprocal links could count against you.
Bad Practices for Link Building
Not every link is the same, and there are good links and bad links. It’s important to keep in mind that link quality, not just quantity, is also a factor for ranking. In fact, certain nefarious link building practices are even against Google use policies. Links that are obviously spammy or artificial can actually count against your website. For example, link exchanging, where websites essentially make a “you link me, I’ll link you” deal is against Google’s policies. Excessive reciprocal links can point toward these bad link building practices and end up actually hurting your rankings. Essentially, links should be natural and not in exchange for money, reciprocal links, or otherwise artificially created.
Page Ranking Penalties
Why is it so important to follow good link building practices? There are a few reasons. First, search engine algorithms can tell the difference between good quality and bad quality links. This can affect your page rankings and hurt your Houston search engine optimization strategies. Google also has manual actions where they impose penalties for not following their policies. Breaking the rules can even get your website de-indexed, which means your website won’t show up in search results at all.
However, what happens if another website provides a low quality link to your website? Is that simply out of your control? Not necessarily. You can reach out ask them to remove the link so it doesn’t count against you, or you can disavow links that could hurt your page rankings. This is a vital part of link management for your website. Therefore, it’s important to work with a team with quality methods for link building and SEO to help you get higher up on search result pages and also avoid search engine penalties.
At Bizopia, we are an experienced Houston digital marketing agency with strategies to help your business get found online. We make the web work for you with expert website design, social media marketing, and SEO strategies. Call us today at (832) 327-3230 to learn more. Don’t forget to fill out our free website analysis to see how well your website is performing!