What's Link Building... and what's it have to do with SEO?

Backlink Building 101

I was explaining how Search Engine Optimization works to a local Connecticut Small Business owner on a call earlier today.  He had a lot of questions about what link building is and what it has to do with SEO.

So what is Link Building?  and How does it help my SEO?  (what is SEO?)

Now that makes SENSE!  Thank goodness for Infographics! (made those on piktochart.com in like 5 min)

It's literally building links from other websites that LINK to your website.  

Featured above we have 3 websites:

• TheDanburyReview.com
• ConnecticutBusiness.org
• DanburyChamber.com

Having links pointing to your website from the sites mentioned above will greatly improve your SEO, Web Presence and how many people find you online.  

Great.. but how do I actually Build Links?

You can go ahead and join the Danbury Chamber of Commerce for an easy link.  It's only $300 a year.  

Oh, by the way you'll need a few hundred quality links to rank your website in the Search Engines.

Sounds expensive right?

Here's a couple easy ways to build links!  Pressed for time?  Check out the quick videos I recorded about how to build different kinds of links.

Link Building Recap

Link building is a great way to get backlinks which will "power up" your website.  A turbocharged website attract more traffic, leads and customers for your business.  

Here's a little recap of what was discussed in the video:

1) Blog Commenting​

Head on over to the Google Search bar and type in:

Niche + "2 Comments"

Look through the list of websites that pop up.  See if there are any websites with blogs containing at least 2 comments in here.  Make sure the blogs you find have a recent post in the last year or it'll take forever for your comment to actually be approved or not!  Find the most recent comment and click their website.  

Put their website into Majestic to see their Trust Flow and Citation Flow.  Trust Flow and Citation Flow are two big metrics used by Majestic to judge whether a website has authority in the eyes of google.  Dive into their backlinks to see if they have that same blog giving them a good link or not.

When you find their link take a look to make sure that the Trust Flow and Citation Flow are about even.  If so, go back to the original page and put your comment up.  Given the fact that this whole process already took 10 minutes make sure to write something RELEVANT so it's actually approved by the site owner.    

2) Links from Directories

Head on over to Google and type in:

Niche + Directory

Take a peak through the list of websites to see what pop up.  Go through the list of websites to make sure you grab one with that's from the USA.  Some SEO specialists grab directories from other countries, but I'd rather not.  Look through the directory to find a website that's from a directory link.

Grab that website's URL and put it into majestic.  Look up the strength of that backlink and build away. 

Four important things to note when building links through directories!

1. If the directory is FREE... stay away!
2. If the directory wants a reciprocal link...  don't do it!
3. Make sure you're paying for a link from the directory.  Most directories cost about $10 - $49 a year.  The good ones are lifetime links.  Never pay more than $50 for a link!  
4. Be certain that less than 30% of your back linking comes from directories!  As you can see this is a very easy way to build links.  Google will flag your website if you've got 100s of directory links and no other links coming in.  

Building Links 101 - Wrapping Things Up

Building Links is one of the best ways to improve your search engine optimization, web presence and therefore get in front of customers looking for your business.  Link building with blog comments and link building with directories are just two of the many ways to get links.

Through the years we've compiled a list of blogs with high trust for commenting purposes.  Likewise we've also searched through the internet for months to find the very best directories.

I'm going to give out 10 of my top blog comment links and the three local directories that I use with all my clients in Connecticut.  Just email us at [email protected] receive 13 links you can build right now!  Each month I'll be sending you tips & tricks for SEO, Marketing, Lead Generation and Click Funnels.