What is link building?

Link building is one of the three foundations of SEO. With link building, you actively look for relevant and reliable links from external websites to your content. The aim is to build a good backlink profile and thus increase the authority of your website. If you do this sustainably, your website will end up higher in the search results.

The following applies to links from external websites: The higher the quality and relevance of the links to your website, the stronger your backlink profile and the better the authority of your website.

  1. Active search for relevant and reliable links from external websites
  2. The higher the quality and relevance of the links, the more authority you may expect

All backlinks that link to your website are called the backlink profile. With a quality backlink profile, you ensure more authority for your website within the search results. And thus a better findability. It is therefore important to ensure that links to your website are from qualitative websites.

Link building is essential for top positions in Google

To rank high in the search results of Google, technical SEO and quality content are essential. Without quality content – content that visitors actually read – you will get no results. If your website is not technically up to scratch, ranking high in search results will also be a difficult story. But even if you have the technology and the content on your website in order, without authority, achieving the highest positions in search results is not realistic. Every large website has invested in manual link building.

It is good to know that Google looks at your backlink profile to determine the authority of your website: how many websites link to your content. Because, so they reason in Silicon Valley, the more qualitative links, the better the content will be. We see this as voting. When you get a vote from someone important, that vote has a big influence on a decision or a choice.

Of course, you can wait until someone is kind enough to link to your page. In practice, unfortunately, you don’t just receive links. Many website owners and marketers know by now that a backlink is worth something because you will rise in the search results. Therefore, you have to do the work yourself to increase your authority. You can do this by actively collecting relevant and reliable links. That’s right: link building!

Is link building allowed or not?

The answers to whether link building is allowed by Google are very diverse. Some marketers say that you should not do any link building, while others swear by it.

The short answer to whether it is allowed by Google is: Yes. However, there is one essential condition: Do it the right way!

Methods that are permitted: ‘White-hat’ link building

Google considers it important that the links pointing to your website are relevant, of high quality and offer an added value. Actively acquiring backlinks that meet these conditions falls within the ‘white-hat link building methods’. A backlink profile with many relevanthigh-quality and value-adding links is rewarded by Google with a higher position in the search results.

Obtaining such backlinks is done by manually obtaining links and building a natural backlink profile. A natural backlink profile consists of links coming from various reliable and qualitative websites. The links in the backlink profile should ideally point to different pages on your website.

Next to that, for a natural backlink profile, you must build up the number of links slowly. If in one go many links point to your website, that is not natural. Google also notices this, and the chance that you will receive a penalty is great. There are, of course, exceptions, such as backlinks obtained through a press release. Do you have a real scoop? Then there is a good chance that a press release will give you dozens of links to your website at once.

On the page about link exchange programs, Google itself describes what is and what is not allowed regarding obtaining backlinks.

Use a solid manual link building strategy

To rank higher in the search results and avoid penalties, you need a rock-solid manual link building strategy. With a good link building strategy – which is also part of your total search engine optimization strategy – you build a natural and valuable link profile. This boosts the authority of your website and improves its findability in the search results.

Planning to do link building yourself? Then think about the following things to get a natural link profile:

  • Provide relevant links.
  • A natural backlink profile consists of qualitative links, but also of less qualitative links.
  • Gather backlinks over time.
  • A large part of the links should link to the front page of your website.
  • Also link backlinks to your landing pages.
  • Vary the anchor texts with which backlinks link to your website.
  • Provide diversity in links.
  • Obtain your links manually.

Building and maintaining a natural link profile is not easy. Manual link building is a time-consuming task, and an ill-considered link building strategy carries risks. If you don’t know exactly what you’re doing, the chance of penalties is high and your website may sink or even disappear from the search results.

Outsourcing link building to professionals?

We work on the authority of dozens of websites every month, using a good and manual link-building strategy. Do you also want more authority in the search results? Then contact us without obligation. Together, we can make your authority grow in the right way!

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Link building cowboys: Don’t fall for it!

Link building is a very tricky business that involves risks if you don’t use a proper and well-thought-out link building strategy. There are dozens of link building cowboys active, who promise you high search engine positions. These “SEO specialists” apply link building methods that deliver short-term results. In the long term, however, such strategies cause damage to your positions in the search results.

Several link building methods that you should not apply and that risk a penalty are:

  • Obtaining irrelevant links that have nothing to do with your field.
  • Obtaining links from "free blogs" websites.
  • Obtaining links from blog aggregator websites (so-called PBNs).
  • Setting up an AB link exchange (you link to a website and the same website links back).
  • Obtaining links from vague foreign websites, from Russia or China, for example.
  • Use automated programs that post links in bulk.
  • Accepting promises that you will be high up in Google within a few weeks (this is simply impossible, good link building takes time).
  • Obtaining links from hacked or spammed websites.
  • Buy link packages, where you buy numerous (worthless) backlinks at once.

Outsource link building to efficiently build a quality backlink profile

Fortunately, our link building specialists do know what to do. To build a healthy and qualitative backlink profile, we only collect relevant and reliable links. This way, we make sure your website gets and keeps a natural link profile, and you avoid penalties. With this natural backlink profile, the authority of your website grows, meaning your search results do too!

To ensure a healthy backlink profile in the long term, we make sure that we are constantly up-to-date with changes in Google’s algorithm. This not only reduces the risk of penalties, but also ensures maximum results.

We have a large network to efficiently collect relevant links for your website. By outsourcing link building to a link building agency, you ensure a reliable and sustainable backlink profile. This ensures good positions in search results in the long term. In this way, we earn ourselves back quickly.

Our method for a good, manual and sustainable link building strategy

We always start our work with a tailor-made strategy. This is how we build a relevant and authoritative link profile for you.

By applying a sustainable and well-thought-out link building strategy, you collect backlinks responsibly. We carry out our work manually and do not use automated scripts to obtain links. After all, this is against the rules of Google (“Using automated programs or services to create links to your site”).

Of course, we also maintain your link profile so that we can immediately remove any harmful links. To draw up and implement the link building strategy, we use a number of clear steps.

  1. Analysis of the existing link profile.
  2. Determining the situation and the plan of action.
  3. Development of a link building proposal based on your situation.
  4. Setting up a link building roadmap.
  5. Execution of the link building work on a monthly basis.
  6. Monthly contact moments in which the results and strategy are discussed.

Can we help you with a sustainable link building strategy?

Are you curious what we can do for you? Please don’t hesitate to contact us, so together we can see how link building can be implemented for your website.