The ups and downs of link building

You have probably read somewhere that links are a good thing, or your colleague mentioned in passing that you really should consider getting links to and from your website to improve search engine traffic.

The truth of the matter is that links are good – they are the virtual world’s answer to “it’s not what you know (your content) but who you know (how you are linked).” In reality – for search engines at least – it’s both that matter; ie you need good content and links.

However, links are not without their downsides.

Firstly, it takes time to establish good links – you need to forage the web and often apply to be linked from certain sites that are relevant to you. You may also need to pay for some links.

Secondly, links can be transient – places you are linked from today may not be there tomorrow and so your nett inbound links can decrease unless you monitor them. The same is true of out-bound links from your site. The nature of sites where your links are can also change, in turn changing the way search engines view the relevance and importance of the link; positive links can turn into negative ones if the nature of the linking site changes significantly (fortunately this is very rare, but it can happen).

We have a client who had linked to a small, independent search engine from their website. The link had been there for a couple of years. Without any warning, the owner of search engine website sold the domain to a spam portal promoting everything from gambling to porn. Overnight, a respectable referral from our client turned into a case of bad PR. Needless to say the link was removed, but it is important to check your links – in and out – regularly.

Thirdly, the actual copy that you use to link to your site has an effect on the value of the link itself – get it right and search engines will love you; get it wrong and it could be seen as an attempt to spam the search engines resulting in your site dropping in the search engine results.

So, how many links should you look for? And should you do it yourself?

The first question has a relative answer. It’s relative to how much you want to increase your targeted traffic and also relative to what other competitors are doing in your market. Remember that links include traffic from members-only directories – these links can provide much better targeted traffic for your product or service, while public links can increase your overall search engine position.

There are tools such as Market Leap’s link popularity check which provide a comparative review of your site alongside your competitors and such tools are an excellent start-point for your link building campaign.

The second question is simply one of time and learning. When you embark on your own campaign there will be a learning curve – lots of reading and some trial and error. You need to assess each potential link partner and, once linked, ensure they keep your link alive. You also need to link out from your site appropriately so search engines see you as a good referrer – a “links” page is treated with less relevance than links embedded within key content on your site for example.

If you haven’t got the time and don’t want to climb the learning curve, find a good agency to do the work for you. They should always present any candidate link partners to you – after all it’s your site. They should also present a report of their initial investigation or rationale behind the number and types of links they recommend.

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