The Future of Link Building: 5 Important Ways

Importance of links is very crucial in SEO and it will not decrease though, there are many changes along with those new technologies are being emerged. Apart from basic concepts such as indexation, crawl ability, duplicate content etc., link acquisition is of high consideration and is active.

Still links are the strongest signals for which Google will be giving importance. If the aim of a site owner is to increase the search visibility, then it can only be done with the help of links and it has to be of primary consideration.  Though Google is strict on spam links after observing many updates following points can be stated:

·         Still Google algorithms consider links as core.

·         Basically link building and content marketing are both different.

·         It is tough to do content-marketing well and be successful in it. Generally SEO professionals do not have those skills to create high level content.

·         There are chances that content marketing efforts can be supercharged by link building.

·         Though your site does not have great content still there are chances of building links.

Still Google Algorithms Consider Links as Core:

Even now links are enormously powerful which is noticed by following:

1.       Ranking factors for Search Engines in 2013 as stated by Moz.

2.       From two of the Matt Cutts videos that are “Is there a version of Google that excludes backlinks as a ranking factor?” and “Are pages from social media sites ranked differently?”

As it is known that Google search algorithms still consider links as core, most of the people who used to work on building content just for sake SEO are now creating content to build links.

Basically link building and content marketing are both different:

Content marketing and link building or SEO are both completely different in their aspects. SEO is considered and that which helps in increasing visibility of a site in Search Engines. While content marketing is that where valuable content is created and which has worth when shared.

Tough to do Content Marketing Well:

Most of the SEO professionals do not have the ability to build great content. Basically content creation will require potentially:

·         Industry experts

·         Writers

·         Editors

·         Designers

·         Technical (coders, web dev, app dev, etc.)

In general, content marketing requires help from people who have diverse skills, creative, technical knowledge, industry experts, graphics etc. This indeed will lead to create content which is unique, valuable and is engaging.

 

Content Marketing efforts can be supercharged by link building:

It is highly important that each and every content marketing campaign must deal with SEO. It is not sufficient if good content is created but instead it also requires marketing and that is possible with the help of SEO.

Links can be built even without building good Content:

Though content marketing and link building are two different aspects but still they are compatible with each and both together create a good marketing flywheel. But at the same it does not say that it is compulsory to have content for building links. Apart from content building we can build links using following ways:

·         Fresh Mentions

·         Local links

·         HARO

·         Broken link building

·         Relevant niche or local directories

·         Contests

·         Reviews

·         Community engagement

So, we can conclude that real link building should always be creative endeavor and requires added value.

Content Gap SEO is an Potentially Untapped Opportunity

Google has made several changes in ranking of content since the advent of Hummingbird. It is particularly concentrating on content it ranks; it is also checking the query which does not have much data but that gets high number of user clicks. Even it is particular about the content which users are engaged in, which data users are ignoring and also will watch the behavioral habits of users on the site.  But much of the Google ranking factors can be observed from these few main factors:

·         Links

·         Domain Authority

·         Keyword Matching

·         Relevance

·         Freshness

As we know that Google has implemented complex algorithms since 2010 to 2012. It will be better if we say that majority of ordering in searches rank will be explained through the elements of these broad categories.

We can observe in present that most of the rankings which will be connecting with brand signals, user/usage data, consideration of links, authority and also relevance but still most of the part will be unique. It will be seen especially in queries that have information gathering intent, also we can observe in that a set of ranking signals which are related to that known as relevance to alternative searcher intents.

Let us consider following image which displays “space pen” Google search results in US.

Here we can observe three potential popular “intents” which searchers will have around this query:

1.       Here there are users who specifically seek Fisher’s branded Space Pen.

2.       There are users who are searching particularly to learn about oft-repeated myth which is regarding the costly development of Space Pen by NASA.

3.       Even there are users who are searching for Space pen framework for Coffee script.

Google has understood the requirements of three types of searchers and populated those SERP’s exactly with the results for all the user queries. This can be named historically as “QDD” which can be elaborated as “Query Deserves Diversity”.  But we can also think these results as an evolution of raw “diversity” inputs of that model which highly sophisticated.

Let us consider highly sophisticated model image for Google search results with the search query “most flavorful steak”.

We can observe multiple intents regarding this query but here these search results are far more subtle when compared to  query “Space Pen”. Here it is displayed what searchers are looking for such as description that is interesting which drags their attraction. We know that Google has made many remarkable changes in queries such as above in the previous two to three years.

Let us consider true Google intents for the adjective “flavorful”. It shows results that touch on expensive cuts of steak, types of beef, what makes a steak more flavorful. We can check with one of the sites that seem totally out of place when we look at the numbers, but it will be making sense as it is a highly co-cited brand name.

From all the above we can think that Google is using inputs such as below:

·         It is concentrating on relationship between words, phrases, concepts and entities which help in understanding a language also evaluation of content quality.

·         There are patterns detected in how authoritative pieces are written about the keywords.

·         It will be input user or user usage data signals which will look into different aspects such as multiple sessions, multiple queries and also identifies patterns of searcher satisfaction.

Following is strawman concept that will help in starting out with some Content-Gap SEO:

First Step: It is important to identify target keywords that will best fit in the backside of the chunky middle and long tail.

Second Step: It will be the best method to prioritize a list that will be based on most valuable terms or phrases.

Third Step: It would be better to write down top most four to six types of intent or unique pieces of information which you think that searchers might use them while performing search query.

Fourth Step: The best thing is to perform search query in Google and check out the top 10. Next write down all the intent types that you have missed.

Fifth Step:  You have to use your number as potential prioritizer for creating or modifying content. Then check out this in Google whether it shows same way and begins rewarding you for this work.

How Can Mobile SEO Help a Non-Mobile or Local Business?

Google has estimated and gave an approximation that by end of 2014 search volume through mobile is going to be increased compared to search volume through desktop. There is no reason to get worry about it rather there are few tips to trend than most of them realize.

So as Google announced mobile search will exceed searches through desktop or laptops, then from 2015 we will be able to see world with huge number of mobile searches than desktop. But it is very important to think that even though I don’t have a mobile site or local businesses how i will be able to take help of mobile SEO or mobile search in my business.

The first and fore most things which is highly important will be in the statistic are some intricacies but don’t mistake them with flaws or inaccuracies. In most of the developing as well as under-developed countries importance is being given to mobiles as first option followed by desktops or laptops. It is commonly seen in young people though they are not yet employed. It would be better option to know who are really accounting for this type of growth. Chances are there, that they may not be in target demographic, psychographic, age range, and geographic groups.

One of the reasons behind excessive use of mobiles is that they offer similar features to laptops. Most of the times the features offered by mobile devices even make us think as a slightly-less-convenient for long typing laptop. But looking at the statistics it can be said that most of the companies, executives and marketing people are shocked by thinking about their mobile strategy. Still the mobile usage is just around 3% to 4%, which has been rising since one year. Most of the researches show that a personal blog with responsive mobile site gains less percent of traffic compared to the main blogs.

Let us consider some of the tips in Mobile SEO. It is utmost important to have good informational and navigational structure in mobile SEO as it gives a good experience to searchers. It can be done by figuring out most important pages with the help of analytics by checking which pages have more mobile searches. Apart from fixing and making assured that these mobile pages will give positive experience to searchers, but the caution is that google has some biasing on mobile. If these changes are made then it will make you understand the cost you need to invest.

Second thing we can observe as a mobile user that most of the times an application will be pushed or forced on which means that there are chances of getting in to your fold potentially. And at the same time assuming that they ever used application but very rarely it will be the best user experience.

Third one will be that even if the site is not having responsive design then also there are many areas that help in improving performance of the mobile pages. It commonly includes to speedup downloading speeds at the same time limiting ads particularly in overlays.

While the fourth one will be, that in the sites which perform conversion rate optimization the mobile limiting choice will be more important compared with experience of desktop or laptop.

Apart from the one mentioned above there are many more things that help out in mobile SEO but it will be a good decision to make start with the above points.