Links are what make the web ‘the web’. The more websites that link to your website the more ways people have to find you, but links also have another very important role to play in the success of your web marketing.

When Google was first launched the founders discovered that basing their ranking algorithm on links produced much higher quality results than the other search engines were doing at the time. The algorithm has changed a lot since those early days (Google reports that they make up to 500 changes per year!) but links remain vitally important for getting your website to rank better in the search engine.

Link Types

In the old days it was all about quantity whereas nowadays quality and relevancy are much more important and should be your focus when trying to get links. Search engines are primarily looking to reward sites that have ‘editorial links’ which means links that you’ve actually earned and were given after an editorial choice by the source website (website that is linking to you) rather than being paid for in some way.

My 9 top tips

Here are some of the ways I get more traction for my clients, upping their search engine results:

1. Stocking a product – if you sell other people’s products, make sure you are included in their ‘stockists’ lists along with a link to your website
2. Getting a website developed – ask that your website be included in your developer’s portfolio along with a link (can also be used for designers, copywriters, consultants etc.)
3. Hosting an event – tell local bloggers, press etc. who might write about your event and include a link to your website
4. Collaborating on a project – if you collaborate with another business on a project and they write a blog post, case study or portfolio piece about it you can get a mention and a link
5. Exhibiting at a tradeshow – the tradeshow website will probably have section for exhibitors so make sure your links is in there but you’ll also be putting yourself in front of people interested in your industry who have websites and might write about you
6. Doing something newsworthy – getting press coverage is a great way to get links from high quality websites. For the best results hire a PR company….maybe someone like….hmmm….Rhetoric Communications (!?)… to help craft the best angles and do the legwork to get you maximum exposure
7. Getting interviewed – find websites in your industry or related industries that do interviews and pitch yourself for an interview
8. Identifying non-competing businesses that share your target customer then ask them what questions related to your industry that their customers always ask them. Write detailed articles answering each of those questions and tell those businesses about them. Some of them will realise they can save themselves a lot of time and effort by sending their customers straight to your articles to answer their questions and hopefully they’ll do this with a link
9. Writing a comprehensive, long form article about a particular topic related to your business. Spend the time and money necessary to make it the best guide on the topic in your industry. Use a search like: inurl:links.html [keyword] to find link and resource lists in your industry and reach out to them to pitch the inclusion of your awesome resource to their list

Nick Morris is the head honcho at Wicked Cow Marketing, a Search Engine Optimisation (SEO) services business focusing on content creation and link building for Aussie small businesses. Aside from the Wicked Cow website, Nick and his team also run Adelaide Business Events, Web Marketing Adelaide and Adelaide Experts – three content sites to help Adelaide small businesses succeed.

*Featured image sourced from http://www.zazzle.com/googledoodles/ (awesome website where you can purchase all the Google Doodles (their logo changes for special holidays) as a baby grow, mug or other cheesy piece of merchandise!)