Search engine optimization beginners and aficionados alike know that link building is an integral part of search engine marketing. The presence of your links on other websites tells Google’s algorithm that your own website is a quality source of information. Without these connections, Google might send your pages plummeting on its results lists.
Unfortunately, getting your links on other websites, or backlinking, isn’t an easy process. After all, you probably don’t have access to many other webpages, so you can’t just post your links and climb to the top of the results list.
To make matters more complicated, when done improperly, building backlinks on other sites can actually harm your rankings. Without a careful eye and light tread, your efforts could be worse than wasted.
Ensure your backlinking strategies do more good than harm for your rankings by avoiding these two critical mistakes:
2 Common Backlinking Mistakes
1. Not Varying Your Anchor Text
Anchor text refers to the highlighted words that lead readers to your desired page when clicked. Ideally, the highlighted text should vary at least slightly from link to link. If the same two or three words are used as anchor text every time your link appears elsewhere on the web, your site looks less useful and inauthentic to Google’s algorithms. Also, use descriptive content that directly relates to your page as anchor text– if you use “click here,” the backlink won’t be as helpful your rankings.
2. Only Building Links to Your Home Page
Again, the point of backlinks, and SEO in general, is to help Google recognize that your website is relevant, useful, and informative. If all of your links lead to your homepage, Google will notice that you’re simply looking for more traffic and not actually providing readers with helpful content. Instead, vary your links to connect to blog posts, “about” pages, and any other media or content that readers and customers might find useful. This strategy will also help you rank for multiple keywords, rather than just the keywords featured in your home page text.
Only a quarter of SEO occurs on-page– the other 75% takes place off-page, meaning that backlinks occupy a huge portion of the optimization process. Unfortunately, backlinks don’t grow on trees. Creating quality backlinks requires genuine connections with other industry sites, luck, and well-written content to begin with. By avoiding these rookie mistakes, you’ll be better able to create a strong backlinking strategy. For more great online marketing tips and SEO services, check us out at Think Cre8tive today!