How to Improve at Building Links for SEO

It’s hard to do, but improving your link building will elevate you above your competition. Link building means acquiring hyperlinks or backlinks (links) from other websites to your own site. High-quality links help you rank higher in search results, which means more people see your content. You get more traffic and build your brand — plus, you generate relationships with external websites that are relevant to your business and industry.

Why is building links so important?

Think about links as an endorsement of your page — an external website wouldn’t link to your page if they didn’t believe you deserved it, right? That’s why search engines consider links to be indicators of a quality webpage. According to Moz, links are the biggest component in Google’s search result algorithm.

How search engines use links

Search engines crawl entire pages looking for links between websites and between pages on your own website, and what they find determines how well the page ranks among their results. They look at the number of links pointing to each page from external websites as well as the quality of those websites. When more high-quality websites link to you, you’re more likely to rank higher in search results and see more traffic.

How to build more links

Building links for SEO isn’t just a scratch-my-back-and-I’ll-scratch-yours tactic between websites. Search engines aren’t fooled by low-quality or spammy links: They constantly hone their algorithms to discount manipulative link-building techniques and penalize websites that use them. Focus on generating content that’s worth linking to and you’ll stay on good terms with search engines, link targets and your audience.

Identify the right people to ask for site linking

Not everyone is interested in the same piece of content. For example, think about who would care enough to link to a listicle versus a testimonial. To find prospective link targets, start with a high-level Google search — like “new construction bloggers” — and see what comes up. Next, think about the new construction personalities you’ve heard of or even follow on social media. That might include marketing executives, content experts and industry researchers, or even local online newspaper editors, community organizations and bloggers who write about your city.

Once you have a spreadsheet of names and websites for new construction influencers you want to work with, you can use online tools to discover more about them, including contact information, what kind of content they like and which sites they currently (and most frequently) link to. You can also get help prioritizing your list to identify the people who are both appropriate and likely to help you. A bit of research will help you pinpoint influencers who can help distribute your content more broadly.

Digital marketing expert Neil Patel recommends getting links from diverse high-quality sources. Having only one external website providing links to you jeopardizes your search result rankings and your position as an industry expert.

Give site owners a reason to link to you

Sharing relevant, unique and insightful content with influential editors or bloggers will position you as a new construction expert worth linking to. This content can be an infographic, how-to guide, image gallery or a white paper — just make sure it’s compelling enough to merit a link. What’s relevant and compelling? Take a look at your social media feeds and see what industry posts people are sharing and retweeting. Look for trends: Do funny posts get a lot of play? Are roundups popular? Do people share links to long-form content more on LinkedIn than on Facebook or Twitter?

Play on egos by mentioning influencers in your content, and you just might get their link. A list of new construction experts’ most inspiring mentors or roundups of their go-to marketing tools is a compelling way to get an influencer’s attention and goodwill for a link back to you.

If your link target likes what they read and links to it, you’ll gain credibility with industry movers and shakers as well as exposure to their audiences. Links you don’t have to ask for are the rarest of all and the ones search engines value most.

Reach out and ask for links

On the other hand, there’s nothing wrong with asking external website owners, editors and bloggers to link to you; reaching out like this is the most common site-linking technique. Make sure your contact is relevant to new construction and your content is worthy of their link. Once you reach out, follow up with a brief, direct email if necessary.

Consider guest blogging

Find a high-profile website that’s relevant to new construction and your target buyers — and allows guest posting — and offer to write a content piece. Often, a blog will have guest-posting guidelines to help you get started. In addition to credibility as a thought leader, you’ll get exposure to their audience and increase traffic to your own site through link building.

Zillow is always seeking compelling content for its New Construction Resource Center, allowing an opportunity for link building! Email whatsnew@zillowgroup.com to suggest a new construction topic.

Pick up and fix broken links

Broken links are everywhere, even on high-quality pages, but with the right tools they’re easy to find. Check out relevant industry pages for broken links, then contact the site’s webmaster to suggest redirecting the broken links to your updated content.

Perform the same exercise on your own website by reclaiming links that are broken or point to content that’s of little SEO value. These might be links that lead to 404 error messages (pages that no longer exist), don’t mention your name or embed your copyrighted images without attribution. A redirect or link change can fix the 404s. And politely contacting sites that link to you but don’t mention your name or credit your images might result in a high-quality link.

Building links for SEO takes time; the continual focus on creating quality relationships and delivering relevant content is not for the fainthearted, but the payoff — increased exposure and site traffic — is always worth the effort.