When is link building an SEO priority? (vs. something else)
-
I'm considering hiring an SEO vendor for link building, and assessing whether or not my website really needs link building, vs. another SEO priority (for instance, I KNOW there's an opportunity for local SEO). What factors should I look at to determine if link building is a high priority? Should I just compare the number links my site has with competitors, using a tool like Open Site Explorer?
-
My company just put up a website recently and I put speed, content, design and architecture first. But then when I did links this past month it gave rankings a huge boost. I still need to do on page optimization but have decided to design great landing pages first, then a blog then onsite seo last. As a warning though I would choose industry links and some general high reputation links to start. My website domain authority doubled last month and my page authority increased 33%.
I did the links myself. I would also be very careful about others building links especially the kinds that are automated.
-
check out yext.com. Citations are more important for local factors than link building. Manual link building almost becomes too tough and time consuming unless you are running your own affiliate gateways or running your own website where top position in the SERPs means A LOT, and you don't have to spend a lot of time talking with clients, making business deals - you know the whole 9 yards for agency stuff
-
Links are website fuel. A fueled up Pinto can beat an unfueled Formula 1 car in a race, so from my perspective, link building is always an SEO priority. You can rank a page with poor to mediocre on-page optimization if you have enough high quality links pointing to it.
Put your effort into acquiring links and make sure you have the on-page basics covered (keyword in title tag, meta description, h1 tag, page copy).
-
Thanks to both of you, I appreciate your reply and that post was helpful. The website I'm talking about is very well optimized w/onpage content, conversion points, etc., and has a strong number of links compared to competition. Local SEO could really bring some strong results for them, so I might go that route.
-
Local SEO involves link building too, so not sure what your question is there?
If you're looking to improve your SEO, you have to look at 2 things: your onsite optimization (is your site optimized for search engines?) and offsite factors (link building). If your site is already good, you should focus on link building. If your site could use some work, it could make sense to focus on that first before focusing on links.
Here is a good article on the topic:
http://www.seomoz.org/blog/whats-better-on-page-seo-or-link-building
-
I think link building can become a priority after these other important factors are in place.
Easily Crawlable
Good architecture and UX
Nice design
Great content
Acceptable conversion rate
Got a burning SEO question?
Subscribe to Moz Pro to gain full access to Q&A, answer questions, and ask your own.
Browse Questions
Explore more categories
-
Moz Tools
Chat with the community about the Moz tools.
-
SEO Tactics
Discuss the SEO process with fellow marketers
-
Community
Discuss industry events, jobs, and news!
-
Digital Marketing
Chat about tactics outside of SEO
-
Research & Trends
Dive into research and trends in the search industry.
-
Support
Connect on product support and feature requests.
Related Questions
-
Link building for a new site... where do I start?
Hi all, I'm new and have just launched my website. I need to start building my backlinks and I need to know how I can go about getting started? I read the beginners guide but still stuck on where to start? Any advice Thanks
Link Building | | edward-may0 -
Internal Linking Building
I'm launching a new blog for my new website. What's the best way to do internal link building for 3D Scanning? Do I link 3D Scanning to another page on my website or on a different website that has high authority for 3D scanning? Thank You in advance! -Nick
Link Building | | X2Metrology10 -
When pitching a whitepaper as Push Content for Link Building, is it ok to give the person I'm pitching a link to a landing page with a form on it?
When pitching a whitepaper as Push Content for Link Building (i.e. pushing out content that my client has created), is it ok to give the person I'm pitching a link to a landing page with a form on it? Or should I create a landing page with the whitepaper included on it? I’m not sure if the client will be ok with this b/c I know they use the whitepaper for sales purposes to gain leads. For example, my pitch email would include a line such as this, "the whitepaper can be found at LINK and I'd love if you could share it with your readers." I think it may be weird/a little wrong to ask a webmaster to include a link on his site to a landing page with a form to get the whitepaper. Does this make sense? What have others done with whitepapers as Push Content for link building?
Link Building | | ArketiGroup1 -
Best way to contact webmasters for link building
So I have my list of domains and contact information for link building. What is the best approach to contact webmasters to link build? Is there any standard way to ask them to add my link on their page? Does anyone have a generic boilerplate email?
Link Building | | BrandmanU1 -
Using Online Communities for link building..
Hello. All I have a question in regards to online communities. Is joining an online community( i.e. Industry related forums, commenting on industry related news sites, responding to blog post) a good way to do link building? I don't mean in the sense of spamming but actually being an active part of a online community and adding valuable to the conversation. I have tried posting blog post on a industry related online community: biggerpockets.com but this site does not show up as a link when I pull an open site explorer for my website. Any suggestions ?
Link Building | | AubbiefromAubenRealty0 -
I need help finding a link building professional
I understand that some may respond to this question advising that we should concentrate on building good quality content, and eventually the links will come. And I do agree. The problem is that while we are implementing a content strategy and we're absolutely focused on creating unique, quality content for our audience, we're also a brand new business with a current grand total of (wait for it...) - 4 back-links! So while we're devoting our efforts to create the most engaging content we can, we need to find someone that can help us build our back-link profile and help to promote our brand and content in the most legitimate way possible. Obviously typing "SEO" into Google is not necessarily the most effective way to find the right person for the job and I'm a bit apprehensive about posting ads on eLance, oDesk, etc Does anyone have any idea how we can find someone smart and highly experienced that understands the importance of doing this right? We are Australian based but they don't have to be local. Thanks in advance. Stu
Link Building | | stuart_h_19780 -
Reputable Link Building Company
We are looking for a company who can build high quality links, from high quality domains to specific pages of our website. We are not looking for companies who create content or add to directories or post on blog rolls. Has anyone had any experience and can anyone recommend a link building company who can build high quality links to specific pages of a website? Thanks!
Link Building | | torontojon0 -
Are you using ArticleBase.com for link building?
I'm digging my way through my competitors' link profiles on OSE and came across one that had been using a site called ArticleBase.com Apparently you can publish articles for free and browse other published articles for usage on your own site (provided you follow their TOS). It actually seems like a nifty idea. I'm wondering if anyone has utilized this site for re-publishing content and building external links. Worth the effort? Thanks!
Link Building | | TBiz0