In 2013, a list of over 200 Google ranking factors was released. At the time, this was intimidating for many marketers. However, when you take some time to evaluate all the factors Google considers, you will quickly find there’s one that stands out from the crowd: link building.

If you want to rank well in search engines, you have to invest time, energy, and money into link building strategies. Unfortunately, this isn’t easy. If it were, everyone would be doing it, right?

While this is true, there are some link building solutions and tips you can use to help you develop a strategy that enables you to achieve the results you want and need. Keep reading to learn what those tips are.

1. Ask for Links

For quality link building, you must develop good relationships. There are many opportunities to create and build new relationships, beginning with niche related forums or communities.

Be sure to make the first move and contribute with relevant and interesting posts and comments. Be sure to add some type of contextual value to each discussion you join.

When you actively participate in these online communities that are focused on your niche, you will gain quite a few quality backlinks. You will also have access to the latest industry news and be able to connect to interesting people who share the same passion.

2. Acquire Local Business Citations

If you own a local business, then local link building is an excellent back-linking opportunity you need to jump on. You can get quality links and get more traffic from people who use local searches to find businesses nearby.

Are you ready to improve your position in local search results? If so, local business citations are a must.

Local citations have the three terms that are named “NAP,” which means Name, Address, and Phone Number.

When you are creating a local business citation, be sure you add the same address that you feature on your website. The citation links are crucial for your local rankings and help all search engines (beyond Google) to verify your actual business location.

Links from Bing Local, Yellow Pages, Yahoo Local, and Yelp help create authority for your website. This can help you build trust and improve your rankings in the local search results.

3. Consider Guest Blogging

Believe it or not, guest blogging is one of the oldest link building tactics out there.

But how does it work? If you have never done this before, how do you even get started?

Guest blogging is quite simple. You write an article for a different website in your industry or niche. They will publish the article you wrote.

Then, link to your website in your article. It is that simple.

4. Give a Testimonial

Using testimonials as a link building solution is a win-win scenario. Some businesses give you the chance to say a few words about the products you used. This is an excellent way for the company to build customer trust.

However, that’s not all. It is also a good way for you to get a backlink and potential traffic from the website. Also, the approval rate is much higher than traditional emails requesting a link.

The company receives a testimonial to put on their site, and you get a new backlink. It’s great for everyone.

5. Use Trusted Sites for Building Links

There are many spam sites out there. While you can avoid some of these sites by learning how spam works, this isn’t always effective. Google has committed to weeding these sites out, but you also need to make sure you are creating backlinks on trusted websites.

When you build a link on a trusted site, you will further establish your site’s authority and elevate it to a top spot in search results. If your website gains backlinks from trusted sites, it lets search engines know that you are an authority on the particular subject.

For example, many blogs and websites mention Wikipedia in their content. A mention from these websites to Wikipedia increases the backlink count and the overall site authority. This means that search engines consider Wikipedia to be a very relevant source, which means it shows up higher in SERPs.

While this is true, search engines also consider links from the spammy sites. These don’t provide any benefit to a website and cause them to be marked as being untrustworthy. This can lead to adverse effects on your search rankings.

Modern algorithms used by search engines don’t provide recognition to websites with links on sites that have nothing to do with the business or products offered. If the site where you are trying to earn backlinks is not related to what you do or offer, it is considered irrelevant and will not provide any benefits.

Also, if you build too many links too quickly, this is considered spam by search engines. This is why you have to carefully plan what links you will create and what sites you will use.

Link Building Solutions: Now You Know

As you can see, there are several link building solutions you can use to begin creating links to your site. Be sure to use the right tactics and avoid some of the more questionable ones. This will help ensure your success.

If you aren’t sure you can handle the link building process alone, contact us for a free consultation. Our team can help you develop a link building strategy that will get the desired results.