Link building methods and other SEO techniques come and go. Methods like reciprocal linking prove effective for a while and then Google update its algorithms or changes its ranking factors a little and they offer no benefit. Paid links have gone a similar way, while techniques like article marketing may have some use but even this has become limited. In the modern SEO world, you are expected to earn your links rather than build them and while this may mean greater effort it can also mean longer term and better quality results for your effort.

Web Content Quality

The first thing to bear in mind is the quality of your website. If you want other webmasters, website owners, and marketers to link to the content that you serve then you have to make sure that it is the best quality possible. Content should be unique or it should be better written or offer a unique twist on an existing story or article. Of course, it doesn’t have to be made up purely of words and you can add images, video, inforgraphics, and other forms of content to attract and excite.

Out With The Old

Throw out old techniques and ignore the lure of directory submissions. Forget buying links and limit your article marketing and guest posting only to those sites that are really picky about which pages they link to and what content they add. If you find a highly authoritative blog that accepts guest posts only very rarely and you can get an in, then make sure that the post you provide is seriously good quality so that you benefit the most.

Quality Repositories

Similarly, while directory submissions do not work and you certainly shouldn’t be looking to submit to hundreds or even thousands of directories at a time, you can look for the high quality directories; this basically means those directories that are hand edited and are managed as repositories of top quality information and resources. Such directories were once the backbone of the Internet and, at least in terms of directories, they are rising to the top once again. The effect of quality rising to the top is something that we should get used to as search optimisers.

Leveraging Social Media

Use social media websites. You can develop a community of followers on such sites and these people can help you to further improve the performance of your website. Get involved in genuinely useful conversations, take part in the community around your website, and attempt to build your own online community of followers. Social media websites, including the likes of Facebook as well as smaller niche sites, can help you in this respect.

Earning Links

The days of building, buying, and exchanging links are long gone. Content reigns, once again, but ensuring you have high quality content and encouraging others to provide good quality links to that content will still help to develop a strong following and give you the kind of beneficial search engine results that you are looking for.

About The Author

Richard Hartley is the Head of SEO at Big Red Rocket.

Big Red Rocket are an industry leading Digital Marketing and SEO Company in Manchester. You can contact Richard through Big Red Rocket by clicking the SEO Manchester link.