subject: Link Building - Essential for Off-Page Optimisation [print this page] Link Building - Essential for Off-Page Optimisation
Link Building, what is it and why do you need to do it? There is both on and off page techniques, we will focus on off page link building for webmasters. Why even bother to optimize your website? Rankings, every webmaster wants their site on the first page of the search engines. To do this you have to know how to do off-page optimisation.
Link Building for New Sites
Links are the lifeline between websites. You use links to guide a reader to places you want them to see or places related to your articles. For search engines these links are a way to gauge popularity, you might say "The crowd you hang out with".
To get indexed, to get noticed for ranking purposes, link building is essential. There are various ways to do this.
Reciprocal Links - These are links where another site links to you and you link back to them. The link to your site is called a backlink, the link you send to them is called a outbound link. The value of these links are very low, but they are still links and used for off-page optimisation.
One Way Links - These links do not require any reciprocation. These type of links have more value in the eyes of the search engines. Where these links come from have impact on their value too. A new website needs promoting, you need to get backlinks. Start by using article marketing and free website builders. A couple of free places to look at are, blogger and hubpages. These are also know as "feeder sites".
Guest Posting - You have found a site that looks popular, it ranks well and is related to your website. You can contact the webmaster to see if they would let you guest post. You will write an article (according to their standards) and include a link back to your site. This is part of your off-page optimisation plan. One backlink from a good website can be worth hundreds from lower rated sites. You might have to work harder to get these links, but they are worth it.
Off-Page Optimisation
Optimisation means getting the maximum value from your efforts. Link building is where the majority of your efforts are best spent. Of course, the better quality links you get the better your ranking will be. The other factor you need to look at is relevance. Search engines weigh factors of relevance in their equation for rankings. This doesn't mean there has to be a direct correlation to your website, but a person searching for cars and finds a link to your site about cooking well, this just won't work out to good.
Conclusion
Until things change, link building is essential for search engine rankings. Your off-page optimisation plan should focus heavily on backlinks, but don't forget your visitors. These are the people who will ultimately decide the fate of your website. If your content is weak, if you're bringing in traffic that is irrelevant, then you will have problems.
Link building is what makes the Internet the Web, a web of links and information. If you need assistance with your link-building or SEO, GETHIGHSEO are here to help.
