Once web pages are built and the “on-page” SEO is complete, the next step is getting inbound links so you can rank on page one for your most important keywords.
Setting up the site properly is like laying the groundwork. The pages need to be in order to even be in the running. However, it is the number of QUALITY inbound links and web references to those pages that is going to determine placement.
30% of SEO is On-Page type work
The other 70% is Link Building
Building the pages is just the beginning. The only way to get your site to rank above your competition is by having MORE quality inbound links and citations to your site.
Again, if there is any secret to ranking well in the search engines, it really is links and authority. The major caveat? You can’t just use rubbish links. You don’t want to just have a thousand links. When I say links, I’m referring to other websites hyper-linking to your website, which I’ll explain a little bit more with specific examples.
The latest algorithm changes involve Google trying to prevent spam. A lot of Internet marketers and SEO coordinators realise it’s all about the links. That is what the Google algorithm was built upon. They figured out ways to get a variety of links with random anchor text pointed back to the pages that they want to have ranked. Google has recognised that if those links are not relevant, then they don’t add any value to the Internet.
Bad or irrelevant links can actually hurt your ranking more than help it. It’s about getting quality, relevant links back to your home page and subpages through content creation and strategic link-building. How do you get the links? Where do you get the links?
- Association Links – Be sure that you have a link to your site from any industry associations that you belong to (e.g. BALI).
- Directory Listings – Get your site listed on as many directory type websites as possible (e.g. Yell.com)
- Create Interesting Content/Articles – This is probably the number 1 source of inbound links. For example, you can write an article about a particular service offering in your industry and push it out to thousands of people through article directory sites that may each contain a link back to a specific page on your site.
- Competitive Link Acquisition – This is the process of using tools like Semrush and Ahrefs to see what links your top competitors have, and then get those same or similar links pointed back to your website.
Directory Links
There’s a number of what I like to call “low-hanging fruit” links.
It all starts with your online directory listings.
Some examples include Google Maps, Bing and Yell.com. All of those online listings let you display your company name, address, phone number and a link back to your website. Some of them even allow reviews.
For the most part, adding your business information to those directories is completely free of charge. You want to make sure that you have your company listed on as many of the online directory listings as possible for authoritative linking reasons.
They’re also valuable from the Google Maps optimisation perspective because they give you citations which are very important for getting ranked on the map.
A great way to find additional online directories to add your company to would be to run a search in Google for “Your Company Type – Business Directory” or “Your City – Business Directory”. This will give you a great list of potential directory sites to add your company to.
There are also tools for this like BrightLocal and White Spark that can provide you with a list of directory sources based on your industry. After beginning with online directory listings, you want to look at any associations you’re involved with.
Association Links
This is based on the assumption that you are involved in some type of association.
Visit the websites of those organisations and get listed in the member section. This will give you citations and the opportunity to link back to your website.
Supplier Sites
Look at the suppliers you purchase from and try to coordinate a deal with them. Oftentimes, the places where you buy your supplies will have a section on their website that mentions the companies that use them. You can get a link from those.
Social Media Profile Links
The other “low-hanging fruit” links are social media profiles. We have a whole chapter about the power of social media and how you can harness it to get repeat and referral business.
Simply from a link-building perspective, you should set up a Facebook page, Instagram account, LinkedIn profile, Google Business Profile, Pinterest profile and a YouTube channel and place a link to your website on each.
All of them will allow you to enter your company’s name, address, phone number, a description and, of course, a place to put your website address.
Local Associations
Other local associations that you’re involved in. If you’re a member of the Chamber of Commerce, a networking group, or if you’re involved with a local charity, find out if they list their members on their websites. Another great place to get links is by typing in your city directory.
Competitive Link Acquisition
You might be surprised that if you really tackle these elements and you don’t do any of the other things we have discussed, you will probably have enough links to outrank your competition in your area.
I want to share some additional thoughts and strategies on how you can accomplish even more from a link building perspective. A very powerful strategy that you can implement is called Competitive Link Acquisition.
The way I like to think of it is that if quantity inbound links are the secret to outranking your competition, and if we could figure out who’s linking to your competition or what links your competition have, and we can get those same or similar links pointed back to your website, then you can outrank them, because you’ll at that point have more authority.
Competitive link acquisition is the process of figuring out who is in the top position for your most important keywords, reverse engineering their link profile to see what links they have, and getting those same or similar links pointed back to your website. A simple way to do this is just to go to Google.com and type in “your location + your service,” and find out who is in the top few positions.
Let’s take a look at the number one placeholder. They are there because their website is optimised well and Google knows they should be ranked well based on the quality and quantity inbound links compared to the competition.
Once you know who they are, you can use a couple of different tools such as Majestic SEO and Back Link Watch, and you can take their URL, input it into your tool of choice, run the report, and get a list of links in return.
So, your number one competitor is competitor.com. Google produces a list showing they have 392 inbound links.
- They may have a link from the local Chamber of Commerce
- They may have a link from a charity they support
- They may have a link from an article that he posted in the local newspaper
- They may have a link from the local networking chapter
By analysing the types of links they have, you can systematically mimic those links and get them pointed back to your website.
Don’t just do this for your first competitor, but also for your second, third, fourth and fifth competitors. By doing this on a consistent basis, you can start to dominate the search engines for your most important keywords.
If you build out your site for your services and sub-services, optimise the pages using SEO best practices and then systematically obtain inbound links, you will start to DOMINATE the search engines for your service-related keywords in your area.
