Link strategy: A deep dive

Links rarely come unearned, which is why it’s a good idea to have a plan for attracting them from other websites to your own. These links are commonly referred to as backlinks. This adds up to what we refer to as a link strategy.

In my experience, it’s easy to focus on making improvements or content for a page solely aimed at generating traffic. There’s nothing wrong with that, of course! But do also weave in a strategy for building or maintaining links when planning your content.

Quality over quantity: Focus on building high-quality links from authoritative websites within your industry. A single high-quality link is often more valuable than many low-quality links. Read our guide/rant on purchased links for an in-depth look at the risks of accumulating junk links.

Relevance: Ensure that the websites linking to your site are relevant to your subject area. This increases the value of the link.

Organic links: Avoid using tactics such as buying links or excessive and forced link exchanges. Google tends to value natural links that result from high-quality content.

Create shareable content: Create content that is valuable enough for other websites to refer to it naturally.

An effective link strategy requires continuous monitoring and maintenance. You should regularly check your links, identify any issues, and follow up on the results of your link strategy. The most common low-hanging fruits we encounter are mentions that lack a link or links to broken pages.

Links are a classic metric for a site’s relevance, but as a wise man once said: content is still king. The first step should always be to ensure the site has good content and performs well from a technical perspective. Why would anyone link to your content otherwise? The ultimate goal is to build authority, which is also achieved by having strong content on the site that is informative, not just a wall of text, and covers the area your business operates in.