Link building isn’t the first thing beginners learn about when they venture down the SEO rabbit hole, but anyone who has been developing websites, creating content, or working in today’s marketing industry will eventually come across the term. As part of an overall semantic SEO strategy, link building plays a vital role.
There is some controversy over just how effective link building is. However, as the internet in its simplest form is just a series of connections, it is common sense that building more links to a site can improve the likelihood of increased site traffic. Further, many case studies support the fact that properly implemented link building improves a site’s attractiveness to search engines.
Having said that, there are many methods of link building, and they were not all created equal. How do you tell which methods are good and which may be harmful?
The Difference between Black Hat and White Hat Link Building
As with everything else in tech, “Black Hat” refers to using shady practices, and “White Hat” means the opposite, in this case, creating good legitimate links.
Black hat link builders generally focus on building as many links as possible without any concern for the quality or relevance of the content related to those links. In recent years, these “Black Hat” methods have come to do the opposite of what they set out to do. The major search engines dislike the types of linking that black hatter’s use and deal out penalties accordingly.
White hat link builders spend time choosing links that are reflective of a website’s content and that follow the guidelines set out by major search engines, such as Google. White hat methods may be a bit more difficult to implement but in the long run, the efforts pay off.
Why Hire an Outside Company to Build Links instead of Hiring In-house?
Here are just a few reasons why outsourcing your link building activities to an outside company is a smart investment.
Depth of Knowledge
If you spend a little bit of time trying to learn about link building, you may wind up being confused. One article will promote one way of doing things, while another has an entirely different view.
This doesn’t mean that either “expert” is entirely wrong, or at least, not at the time they wrote the article. Constant changes and updates to complicated search engine algorithms and guidelines make it difficult for individuals to stay up to date on the latest best link building practices. Custom link building solutions are sometimes needed, so there is not a one-size-fits-all answer to the question of what needs to happen to ensure optimum link building to your site.
If you have priorities, other than learning about link building, that need your focus, delegating the process to a company that specializes in search engine optimization is an excellent option.
Specialization
In addition to accessing a knowledgeable resource, another benefit of delegating link building “out-of-house” is the advantage that specialization offers. Batching similar tasks has always been one way to work very efficiently. For example, in an auto factory, there are specific machines to make each unique engine part. If the factory tried to make all the parts of the engine on one machine (assuming it was possible) it would take much longer. Looking for a way to delegate tasks usually makes good business sense. Because they are specialists, a link building agency can provide better quality, faster service at a lower cost.
Relationships
When quality links are pointing to a site, the search engines start to see that site more positively. Just as the ability to build influential connections in the business world can mean the success or failure of a venture, the same applies to building connections for your site in the virtual world.
Part of good “White Hat” link building is building relationships with strong brands and high ranking websites. This can be a time-consuming and sometimes frustrating process. When you hire a reputable link building company, they have already spent the time to develop a strong network of relationships necessary to successfully grow organic search results through linking.
Link building is just one part of the puzzle that makes up search engine optimization of a site, but it is a key piece, and it is important to get it right.
