Link Building and Brand Building with Semalt

The need to create high-quality links has never been more vital in establishing your website as an authority in your niche. Link building is definitely getting more and more complicated as Google keeps updating its rules, and it is requiring a combination of different approaches, ideas, and practices to achieve optimal results. 

Look all over the internet and you will realize that strong brands are dominating the web. It is therefore imperative that you begin to see link building as a vital tool for branding, yet at the same time see branding as a means of helping build high-quality links. This realization has even made many people say that link building is essentially the same as brand building. At Semalt, we know that the truth is these two principles work hand in hand to give you overall business success. ¬

 

Link building is the process of getting or acquiring hyperlinks from other websites on the internet to your own site. A hyperlink (which is simply called a link) is just a way of navigating between pages on the internet. 

Search engines, like Google, make use of links for web crawling - they crawl the links that are between the different pages on your website, and also crawl any links that exist between individual websites.

1. It helps with search engine optimization: There are two basic ways that Google makes use of links. The first is to discover new pages on the web and the second one is to help them to rank pages appropriately in their search results. 

Whenever search engines crawl web pages, they can extract those pages' content and include them in their indexes. This is how they can determine if a page meets their quality requirements and is worthy to be ranks well for relevant keywords. 

The content of your page is not the only determining factor that gives you a spot on the Google TOP 100 - Google also considers the number of links coming to the page in question from other individual websites and the quality of those external sites. This simply means that you have a higher chance of ranking better in search results as more high-quality websites link to yours.

 

Many search engine optimizers have abused and overused this concept; therefore, Google started dishing out updates of their rules to curb these practices. Google has even slammed a number of websites that have over-optimized their webpages with the dreaded Google penalties. Hardly can a website recover from such penalties. Therefore, it is advisable for web owners to use the concept of link building moderately. 

In the same way that high-quality links can benefit your website by giving you favourable positions on Google TOP, low-quality links can also be detrimental to your positioning on TOP. Some competing websites may want to utilize black hat SEO strategies to bring you down so that they can rise higher as a result. So, you will do well to always be at alert to disavow such links. At Semalt, we are always on guard for our clients.

2. It helps to increase referral traffic: Links definitely help you attain your desired position on Google TOP but do you know they can also drive traffic to your website? A high-quality link from a frequently visited website can direct their traffic to your site. And if their website is one that is relevant to what you are offering, there is a high probability that the traffic generated from their links will be paying customers. 

Therefore, link building with other sites is not just about the number of traffic they receive but about the relevancy of their traffic to what you have to offer on your own website.

3. It helps to build relationships: Oftentimes, link building will involve reaching out to relevant blogs and sites in your niche. Most of the time, you're reaching out to these influencers to help promote your newly created content and the major reason is to acquire a link from them which Google can consider as a factor to rank you more favourably. 

Now asides the SEO benefits, reaching out to influencers in your industry can help you build long term relationships with them which will also raise your credibility level in the eyes of your industry's consumers.

4. It helps with brand building: When link building is done properly, it can help make you become an industry authority by making your brand consistently appear as one. 

Content creation is one of many link building techniques that can help you show potential customers your expertise, which can help you build a stronger brand. 

Let's say that you create an awesome piece of content using relevant data gathered from your industry and you publish it online, chances are that your popularity in your industry will increase. Then when you reach out to other people in your industry to acquire links, you are demonstrating your expertise and at the same time spreading your content to a wider audience.

In the same way that link building that can help with brand building, there are also brand buildings strategies that can be employed to help build effective links. Let's explore some techniques that brand strategists use and see how they can be utilized in link building.

1. Originality, Quality and Consistency of Content and Interaction: The quality of your content and interaction will always tell your prospective customers the true quality of the products or services you have to offer. Always make sure that you are always at your best when dishing out content or contributing to discussions on other websites or blogs. The more you deliver consistent, original and quality content, the stronger your market perception becomes. And the more of an authority you become, the more organic links you begin to generate.

2. Brand Positioning: Brand strategists never overlook targeting the right audience. In the same way, the quality of your brand message is equally as important as targeting the right websites and publications. 

Whenever you are on a link acquisition campaign, always ask yourself if the strategy will carry your brand to the particular position you want it to hold in its target market.

Your brand's unique value proposition should always have a place in all of your content and interactions online. You should use links as bridges for people who are interested in what your brand has to offer. Therefore, acquire links from websites that have your audience and make it easy for them to find you. 

The key to acquiring links that improve brand perception and search engine optimization is by having quality branding messages on relevant authority websites.

3. Building relationships: Inviting industry peers to contribute content on your website and doing the same for them as well is a very powerful branding strategy that can help you build links. Your association with other credible brands in your industry will help you look more credible and trustworthy. 

The best way to demonstrate your associations is through the content you deliver to your own audience. So, it is important you ask your peers to guest write on your blogs, for instance. 

You could also ask to republish some of their old content (that is relevant to your audience) on your own site - and of course, you can give your peers the same privilege of republishing your old content.

One advantage of this win-win strategy is that it strengthens the overall trust and author portfolio of websites. Another advantage to consider is that since the content will get promoted on both parties' networks, they will both acquire organic links and new customers/readers. Your brand becomes stronger in the eyes of your new visitors when they see the collaborations between you and other trusted brands.

4. Storytelling: This is one of the most powerful concepts in branding. All great brands have great stories attached to their brands and humans are hardwired to relate with stories. 

If you have a great consistent story, it will make it easier for you to naturally include links and keywords into your messaging and this will help you achieve the positions you are aiming at on Google TOP.

5. Creating brand ambassadors: People are more willing to trust fellow humans than the brand itself. Learn to humanize your brand by giving a face to it. 

Develop individuals who will be the flag bearers of your brand all over the internet. They will help tell your story, build awareness and reinforce your brand perception on a seemingly effortless way. These brand ambassadors will create links that will generate more traffic to your site and also improve your rankings on Google TOP. 

Link building can help you create a stronger brand and brand building can also be used to help you build more high-quality links. Link building and brand building are strongly interwoven that their concepts always overlap. You can't build a credible brand online without link building and vice versa. Semalt has the best tools in the industry to help you with both link building and brand building for the overall success of your business.