As you will discover below, there are many benefits of link building that apply both directly and indirectly in a backlink campaign.
While the most common link building benefits are improved search engine optimization and rankings, there are many other ways that backlinks can contribute to your digital marketing strategy. This guide will cover these benefits of link building so that you can fully understand the importance of inbound links to your online business.
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What Is Link Building in SEO?
Link building is the practice of getting links from other websites to your own website. The main purpose of link building is to improve your website off page SEO by sending signals to search engine algorithms that your content is popular and deserves to rank higher in the SERPs.
In the SEO world, these links from other websites are called backlinks. Backlinks serve as votes for search engine algorithms to evaluate the quality of your content for indexing and ranking purposes.
Link Building Benefits
1. Link building benefits help SEO
The main benefit of link building is that your website will benefit from better off page optimization for search engines. This is an important thing because Google's ranking algorithm evaluates the quality and number of inbound links in a website's backlink profile, and the more quality backlinks your domain or individual web pages can get, the better the overall SEO score for those URLs will be.
Two of the most important metrics for SEO are domain authority and page authority, which are explained in link building benefits #6 and #7 below.
2. Improve ranking
The second best and most talked about link building benefit is the increase in keyword rankings in search engines like Google, Yahoo, and Bing.
Google's ranking algorithm, for example, is built on a system called PageRank. The fundamental elements of this algorithm are the quality and quantity of backlinks pointing to a particular web page. The value assigned to a URL is measured by its popularity and this is what determines the order in which the web page is ranked in the search engine results page (SERP) for relevant queries.
Therefore, more and better quality links can help improve your website position in the SERPs. The most effective link building campaigns focus on both of these characteristics, not just one of them.
3. Increase search engine visibility
The higher the keyword ranking of your content, the more visible your website will be in search engines. In addition, higher ranked URLs tend to rank for more keywords, which is an important side benefit of link building.
So, another positive aspect of acquiring backlinks for SEO is that your web pages can be discovered by a wider range of search queries that you may not have specifically targeted with on page SEO. These additional search terms that your content is ranked for are called "secondary keywords".
4. Increase referral traffic
The benefits of link building don't just apply to getting more direct traffic from search engines through higher rankings and keyword positions. A good link building campaign can also send high quality referral traffic to your website indirectly.
This process occurs when people click on the hyperlinks in an article or blog post and land on another site's web page. One of the main benefits of referral traffic from link building is that your website receives visitors who are clearly interested in reading your content. People don't simply click on the link for the sake of clicking on the link. There is usually a compelling reason why the user wants to navigate to your content through the backlink.
Therefore, a good backlink on a quality website can increase the awareness of your content without you having to fight directly in the SERPs for user clicks.
5. Increase revenue
If you combine the first four benefits of link building we've already discussed, you'll quickly understand how backlinks can generate more revenue for your business.
As your website gains higher SERP rankings and organic visibility, and as the number of people clicking on links from other websites to view your content increases, the total number of visitors that come to your site increases. This combination of benefits can lead to a higher percentage of visitors purchasing your products and services.
Therefore, link building can be a crucial strategy for increasing your company's revenue when you build links effectively during an SEO campaign. The initial costs and time spent on backlink building can pay big dividends in the future.
6. High domain authority
As we mentioned in this guide to the benefits of backlinks, one of the main SEO metrics that experts consider when measuring the quality of a website is called Domain Authority (DA). This metric is a rating factor that estimates the strength of the overall website.
Domain Authority was developed by a company called Moz and the scores range from 1 to 100, with high domain authority scores indicating a better possibility of ranking in the SERPs for a specific website. The most important factors of domain authority are the quality and number of backlinks to the website as a whole.
A good link building campaign can improve a website domain authority by increasing its score, making it stronger for SEO. Keep in mind that Google's ranking algorithm does not take domain authority into account when ranking websites; however, there is a strong correlation between high domain authority scores and better keyword rankings.
7. High page authority
Another popular SEO scoring metric based on backlinks is called Page Authority (PA). Page Authority was also created by Moz and measures the strength of a URL on the page level, not the domain level like Domain Authority.
Page Authority scores range from 1 to 100, with higher Page Authority scores indicating a better chance of a web page ranking in the SERPs for targeted search queries. Like Domain Authority, the Page Authority metric is also based on the quality and quantity of inbound links, but it only takes into account backlinks pointing to a particular URL.
Like Domain Authority, Google's ranking algorithm does not take Page Authority into account when ranking web pages; however, there is a strong correlation between high page authority scores and better keyword rankings for individual URLs.
8. Increase brand awareness
Brand awareness is one of the main link building benefits in SEO, for both new and established websites. And for many businesses, brand awareness can be an important factor in consumers' decisions when comparing one or more companies for a product or service.
In other words, the brand with the highest online awareness often wins consumers' attention and makes more sales. That's why having backlinks from high authority websites in your niche, and in large numbers, can help your brand stand out in a crowded marketplace.
Consumers who see your brand name and hyperlinks appearing repeatedly on related websites usually associate your company with a larger market share, even if it's not yet the case. So there is a great indirect benefit to using link building to establish yourself as an authority in your niche, even if people don't click on your backlinks on other websites.
9. Boost business credibility
Link building also has the benefit of creating more credibility for your business. Having backlinks on other websites serves as third-party indicators (or votes) that consumers can see. These links also help search engine algorithms evaluate the value and popularity of your web pages in order to rank them well in the SERPs.
For example, Google's mission in search is to provide users with the most relevant results. To achieve this, the ranking algorithm must analyze every web page in its index to determine which URLs are the most popular and important for each search query. The point is that when Google ranks your content high in the SERPs, it adds additional credibility to your business in the eyes of searchers.
10. Increase conversion rates
As mentioned in the previous benefit, backlinks serve as a vote of confidence for a target webpage. Having another website link to a URL means that the website owner trusts the content enough to recommend it to their readers.
This is another way link building can give your business an online advantage. Studies show that people are more likely to spend money on a product or service when recommended by a friend or trusted person. As a result, backlinks can drive more customers with less friction during the sales process.
11. Constant website promotion
Another major link building benefit is ongoing website promotion. The advantage of building backlinks on high quality websites in large numbers is that this strategy can help keep the wheels of your SEO campaigns turning long after the initial links have been acquired.
A good quality hyperlink will continue to send referral traffic to your website as long as that link remains in place. This is continuous promotion of the website at its best.
Also, the higher the domain authority for the linking website and the higher the page authority score for the linking page, the more PageRank value will be passed on to your website for SEO. Thus, your website's target URL can be ranked higher in search engines for relevant keywords.
While link building may cost you time and money at the beginning of a campaign, the truth is that this digital marketing strategy does not require an ongoing time or financial commitment for each backlink acquired. It is a one-time process.
Also, for some websites, you don't need to do a lot of link building after receiving a large number of quality backlinks. The hyperlinks that make up the website's backlink profile are strong enough to help the content of the entire domain rank in search engines for its target queries. In other words, your web pages can rank high in the SERPs almost immediately without the need for backlinks to the page, as a great authority has been established for the website through previous link building campaigns.
12. More shares on social media
As an extension of the last benefit, the more you focus on link building, the more people in your target market will find your content. And that can lead to more shares on social media that you don't have to encourage.
13. Faster indexing on Google
One of the ways Google finds new content to index in its search engine is by hyperlinking around the web. And if you're having trouble getting your content indexed in the SERPs, a good link building strategy can help your URLs get found and crawled by search engine spiders.
14. Greater relationships in your industry
We can't overlook the importance of building relationships in your industry when it comes to link building. We shouldn't just focus on improving SEO metrics, keyword rankings and revenue.
Building personal and business relationships with other influencers in your niche can lead to other opportunities in the future. For example, a good link building partnership with another website owner can be beneficial during product launches, promotions, industry events, case studies, client referrals, etc.
In fact, you can help each other in various aspects of growing your businesses, in addition to link building. Strategic partnerships with the right companies can lead to huge growth in other areas that are not directly affected by backlinks.
15. Lower bounce rates
The final benefit of link building is an improvement in average time spent on website and pageviews per visitor.
Every time someone clicks on a backlink to visit your website, it's another opportunity to capture a high quality lead. This allows users to spend more time on your website and visit more than one page per visit.
Bounce rate is one of the key SEO metrics that website owners are trying to reduce. Bounce rate reflects the percentage of visitors to a particular web page who leave that page after viewing it. What you want these visitors to do when they land on your page is to take a positive action, such as purchasing a product or service, signing up for your mailing list, or navigating to another web page. A good link building strategy can help improve all of these metrics for your website, as you get higher quality visitors.
Why Is Linking Important?
Originally, Google's method of ranking websites in search results was primarily based on the number of links on a web page. The basic concept was that the more links a web page had, the more likely it was that the web page had good content.
In essence, links to your websites are popularity votes, and the more votes you receive, the more popular you are in Google.
Why Is Content Based Link Building Effective?
Higher quality links will have a greater impact on your SERP; inbound links will also boost the performance of your website optimization efforts. Overall, link building will accurately affect the number of possible conversions you potentially receive from your online marketing efforts.
How Many Types of Link Building in SEO?
These are the 5 types of link building that matter for SEO:
1. Internal Links
2. External Links
3. Natural Links
4. Manually Obtained Links
5. Self-Created Links
Is Link Building Still Relevant to SEO?
As you improve your website visibility, you should know that link building remains one of the most effective SEO tactics. As Google continues to consider high quality backlinks in determining a website credibility, investing in a link building campaign can potentially offer you more ranking and conversion opportunities.
Link Building Benefits Summary
As you have discovered, there are many benefits of link building that you can experience as a website owner. The most obvious benefits are better search engine rankings and visibility on Google, Yahoo and Bing. However, another key benefit of link building is referral traffic from other websites, which you should consider when running an SEO link building campaign. When used correctly, backlinks from other websites can help improve your website's SEO metrics, as well as increase your brand awareness and business revenue.
