Link building is a cornerstone of SEO—but it’s still one of the most misunderstood aspects of the digital marketing puzzle. 

A simple way to understand link building is to view it as a way of earning “votes” for your website. Much like a candidate running for office, these votes, or links, tell search engines that your site is worthy of trust. In the SEO space, this worthiness leads to higher rankings, more web traffic, and ultimately, the success of your online presence. Let’s explore why it matters and some tips on how to execute a link building strategy effectively.

What Links Mean for Search Engines (And Your Audience)

Links are a form of currency on the internet, determining the value search engines assign to your website. Each link is a signal, an indication that another site regards your content as valuable—a nod of trust and credibility. Search engines use complex algorithms to evaluate these links, considering both quantity and quality to decide where your content should rank on the search engine results page (SERP). 

A Link Building Example

Let’s pretend you’re an online education company that offers virtual programs for students in grades K-12. You decide to create a piece of content that includes 100s of helpful math practice problems for 5th graders, and you post it on your blog page. Then, once published, you create an outreach email campaign to send to influencers, site owners, or journalists within your niche — in this example, you might consider reaching out to journalists who recently wrote stories about the benefits of online schooling. You’d send them the link to your newly published math problems piece and ask for them to link to it within their article or on their site. In your message to them you could share that you’d love to support their audience with this exclusive and highly valuable piece of content. 

Tips for Getting Your Links Placed 

Now that you get the gist, it’s time to get some links placed. Here are some techniques to consider when creating your link building strategy: 

• Produce high-quality content that naturally attracts links — if your content is filling a knowledge gap in the space, you might not even have to ask for a backlink! Related sites that find it will be linking to it because it’s THAT good. 

• Use ethical outreach practices to build relationships with journalists, site owners, influencers, etc. 

• Engage influencers to share your content on social media. 

• Publish data-rich studies or reports that garner citations. 

• Collaborate with other creators for wider content dissemination. 

• Tailor your outreach emails to the individual, not just their website. 

• Highlight a clear value proposition for the person’s target audience in your outreach email. 

• Stay persistent with follow-ups, but respect the recipient’s time and don’t be too pushy. 

Overall, link building does more than improve search engine rankings—it enhances your entire business by increasing visibility, establishing credibility, and driving engaged traffic to your site. It also forges connections within your industry, which can lead to collaborative opportunities and a stronger online presence. Link building is not just an SEO strategy, it's a comprehensive business development tool.

Are you looking for support to flesh out your link building strategy? Contact our team to learn more about our link building services.