It’s a fact that there are no more shortcuts to the road of link building. Google re-defined the rules for SEO once again. Now Google is slowly trying to shift the concept of ‘hunting for links’ to ‘growing the links naturally’. Frankly speaking, there are no full proof future based link building techniques that everyone can implement. This is because we all are swimming in the sea of uncertainty. No one can predict the decisions of Google and the path to the most useful SEO techniques.
The algorithms created by Google seem to be going in the exact direction they were planned for. In the light of the fact that they were always trying to dominate the curve, Google is releasing update after update. The main goal is to make the search results impossible to modify for the ill-intentioned search engine optimization. Since the backlinks are one of the most crucial factors for ranking high, Google needs to find a way in order to make it harder for the webmasters to influence these factors. Any efficient SEO campaign needs some amount of link building strategy and this is not a difficult task to perform. This is the reason why over the years, there has been a lot of negative impact on the general links. In most of the cases, Google also adapted and dissolved those SEO tactics.
The common aspects for which all these strategies were declared unnatural are excess links and abuse of links. One can clearly understand why Google intends to destroy the old link creating strategies. Have a look at Matt Cutt’s recent decision of hitting guest blogging. At once, guest blogging was a valuable resource for link building and it was solely used for creating links but now the picture has completely changed.
The Reverse Concept Of Getting Links
All the SEO professionals and website owners focus on building links and at the same time they would like to run alongside Google. According to the ‘old school’ of link building mentality, it is important to spend a lot of time for obtaining links and thereby become relevant in the search engine rankings. The new link building mentality – Create relevant, informative and engaging content or building a reputation in the community and then get your website linked.
There have been many discussions about how content establishes links that boost the rankings for your preferred keywords. If it is done right, the content from your website draws the interest of the people, not just through the influencers but from all kind of people from your niche. When people start talking about you and your website, you will get more mentions and links and thereby your online reputation will improve.
This is the time to build authority in the eyes of Google and once Google starts trusting you in terms of the topics you generally write on, your rankings will be boosted even without the use of any ‘rich anchor text’ pointing at your web pages.
Links have become the by-product of the chain of the marketing process!
It is important to create similarity between links and content; however, it would not be justified. If you are only working at having a higher ranking in Google’s search results, there is no need for you to go through all the trouble of creating informative and authoritative content and promoting it. Probably, you are also not going to be satisfied the immediate short-term results. Creating quality content is a part of long-term strategy and you should not expect results right away.
Right now we are living in a society that follows the concept of ‘here and now’ and everyone is interested in seeing the results right away. This is why it is so difficult to grasp the ideology of true content marketing but this is the only option to survive!
The Impending Dangers Of Link Building
The traditional link building methods seem to be fading away however they still exist in some forms. Google gets extremely impatient with the traditional and generic link building methods and therefore it has started to penalize websites either through the algorithm or through manual actions. Google has even done this for a couple of unnatural links. They have had it enough with link chasing and link trading, and know they wish to abolish the concept of ‘link acquisition for SEO’ permanently. This is the reason why they considered ‘penalization’ instead of ‘ignorance’. They could have simply ignored the irrelevant links, but it seems like their purpose is to prove it to the website owners and SEO professionals that these link building strategies are not longer acceptable.
It might be the case that Google doesn’t even care about how many big or small websites they hurt with the changes in algorithm. Google will continue going forward with the changes if they are sure that this is in the best interest of the users. This is done for helping the users with the most relevant, qualitative and useful search results.
As far as the ‘SEO focused’ people are concerned, there is a constant dispute over the ways that Google appreciates irrespective of whether a website is relevant or not for any specific topic or query. Undoubtedly, Google is one of the biggest authorities or you can say the only authority when it comes to search engine relevance modeling. If you wish to rank high in Google, you will have to embrace this reality first, otherwise you might end up on the other side of the road. The urge of link building creates a mindset and then people are allured for doing the wrong things as well. Basically, the conclusion of all this is that Google does not want you to search for any link building strategies and plan the online marketing campaigns accordingly. Google is more interested in the natural flow of events. So if you are doing anything online solely for the purpose of increasing the rankings, you will never get there!
Link Building Turns Into Brand Building
A few years back, the SEO professionals concentrated on optimizing websites for the search engines through some specific technical ways. Today, we see the SEO specialists using the information from other domains like branding, copywriting, content marketing and public relations. It is crystal clear that SEO is transforming into a new form of marketing that is connected with all the knowledge areas around. Everywhere you see, you will come across advice on the long-term strategies and less information on the short-term and quick techniques.
There is no point in seeing any more information and tips on creating links, rather one should focus on creating people’s engagement and promote the brand on the internet. Any of your online link building techniques should not be focused on just link building anymore. The aim is to create a strong reputation in your niche and establish yourself as an influencer and an active participant. If you follow this strategy, you will get the desired links that will help in boosting your rankings.
Conclusion
Link building has changed and it has constituted to be something that is more improvised and relevant. The method of creating links has changed a lot over time and it will continue to evolve further! The formula for perfect SEO is more complicated now and it calls for more elaborate planning. Even though Google is trying to declare ‘link building’ as outdated and creating an atmosphere or salvation around the relevant content, they have also not completely uncovered the recipe for acquiring unbiased rankings in the future. Improvising on the link profile was always a tricky task for the SEO professionals and therefore they kept moving from one viable link building strategy to another.
Google made the best attempt to render the link building strategies useless. We have all experienced the wrath when it comes to penalizing those who don’t abide by Google’s guidelines.
If you want to secure a good ranking in Google search results, the best way is to stop struggling for finding ways for ‘manufacturing’ links and adopt the long-term brand building strategies.
