Whether you are starting a business or looking to expand your current business, you need to know how to build links to get higher rankings. While you can hire a company to do this work for you, there are also ways to get your website linked by other websites. Here are a few tips to help you get started.
Check for broken links
Having broken links on your website is not a good idea from an SEO point of view. It can create a bad user experience, increase bounce rate, and lead to a poor search engine ranking. It is not a difficult task to fix these links, however.
The first step is to check your website for broken links. You can use a free tool, such as the W3C Link Checker, which can scan your website to find broken links. If you find that you have a lot of broken links, you can either remove them or redirect them. You should also check your external links. These links are external web pages that are linked to your website. These links can affect your ranking, but they are not a major factor.
There are many broken link tools available, and you should choose the one that best suits your site’s needs. You may need to scan your site regularly, especially if you have frequent updates to your site. You may also want to choose a broken link tool that offers bulk action.
A web-based SEO audit tool, such as Ahrefs, can help you find broken links on your site. With Ahrefs, you can check for dead links as well as internal and outgoing links. You can also filter internal pages by HTTP status codes. You can also access all kinds of reports for your site.
To use Ahrefs, you need to create a project and input your site’s address. The tool will then scan your site and provide reports. You can then export any report as a CSV.
Ahrefs’ Content Explorer is a searchable database of billions of webpages. This tool can also search for broken pages. When you find a page that is broken, you can see the title of the page, the URL, the source, and the number of backlinks.
Xenu’s Link Sleeth is a free PC app that can scan your entire website for broken links. It has a similar functionality to the Screaming Frog SEO tool, but it gives you the raw data.
Find websites that link back to your competitors
Identifying websites that link back to your competitors is one of the most important aspects of link building. By monitoring competitors’ backlinks, you can stay on top of your SEO strategy and find new backlink opportunities.
The first step to finding websites that link back to your competitors is to create a prospecting list. This list can be generated by identifying the top competitors for the key terms you are targeting. Next, note websites that appear frequently. This will help you identify the referring site.
You can also use a backlink analysis tool such as Ahrefs to see what domains are linking to your competitors. This is an ideal way to see what sites are providing the best value to your target audience.
The first step is to find the top page-level competitors for the key terms you are targeting. You should look at domain authority scores to identify which sites are likely to rank well on Google. The Moz Link Explorer is an excellent free tool that allows you to identify unique domains that link to your competitors.
You will also want to look at the last seen column. This will show you pages that have been referring visitors the most recently. This is because a recent visitor is more likely to click on a backlink. The Moz Link Explorer has a premium option that will allow you to see the top backlinks on a competitor’s site.
The link-intersect tool is another great way to find websites that link back to your competitors. This tool takes your list of search competitors and compares their backlink profiles to determine which websites are more likely to link back to you. You will also need to create a website for your own link-building purposes. You will then want to add your website to the list of search competitors.
You can also use a tool such as Ubersuggest to find sites that link back to your competitors. This will help you get the most out of your link building strategy. The tool will also help you see the top competing pages for key terms.
Avoid toxic backlinks
Keeping an eye on your backlink profile can help you avoid toxic backlinks. These links can damage your rankings and your website’s reputation with search engines. Identifying these links can be difficult, but with the right tools, you can eliminate them.
Search engines have become smarter and more sophisticated at detecting spammy, low-quality links. They’ve introduced algorithms that penalize sites for manipulative link-building tactics, and they’ve added manpower to help them penalize errant websites.
One way to identify toxic backlinks is to use an SEO site audit tool. Using a tool such as SEMRush or Ahrefs can give you a good idea of how many toxic backlinks are out there. You can use this information to make a removal request.
Other methods include contacting the webmaster of the site that has the link and asking them to remove it. You may also have to do some manual removal, using link analysis tools.
Google has also introduced a disavow file that you can use to tell the search engine which links to ignore. The file is created by uploading a text file with the domain to the Google Search Console. The instructions for creating a disavow file are available on the Google website.
However, the use of the disavow file should be limited to only significant spammy links. Disavowing links will not restore your rankings and will not help you avoid the Penguin Penalty.
To avoid toxic backlinks, you should perform a backlink audit on a regular basis. This will help you avoid links that are inactive or that you don’t want to remove. You should also make adjustments to your link strategy on an ongoing basis.
The process of identifying and removing toxic links can be time-consuming, but it’s worth it. Having a healthy backlink profile will give you a better chance of ranking in the top positions on the SERPs. It will also increase your trust flow and citation flow.
Using tools like the WebCEO’s Backlink Checker can help you keep up with SEO algorithms. This can help you avoid toxic backlinks and ensure your site’s longevity.
Optimize anchor text
Choosing the right anchor text for your links is one of the most important parts of your search engine optimization strategy. Not only is it important for ranking, but it can also affect your overall user experience. Here are a few tips to keep in mind when selecting anchor texts.
Anchor text is important for SEO because it helps Google understand what your page is about. You want your anchor text to be relevant and descriptive. It should be a blend of your target keywords and other relevant keywords. However, you also want to avoid over-optimization. This can lead to Google penalizing your website.
Google’s Penguin algorithm was introduced in April 2012. This algorithm penalizes websites with spammy links. This update affected websites across the web. It also affected revenue and traffic.
In addition to penalizing spammy links, Google also punishes websites with irrelevant backlinks. You want to avoid this by having a variety of links with different anchor text on your website. You can increase the strength of your anchor text by linking to websites that are relevant to your topic.
If you are a brand or product, you should use anchor text that is similar to your target keyword. This will help you rank for your target keyword. However, you want to avoid using exact-match anchors, which can make your links look spammy. Instead, use natural-looking anchor texts to help them stand out.
It’s also important to use a mix of anchor texts, including descriptive alt tags for images. This helps Google understand the images on your site and allows visually impaired people to see them. You can also use different anchor text methods, such as title tag anchors or image anchors.
One of the best ways to avoid over-optimization is to use a variety of keyword variations. This maximizes Google’s understanding of your content and minimizes the risk of manual action. You can also use synonyms instead of your target keywords.
You also want to avoid over-optimization by using anchor text that is not exact-match. Exact-match anchor texts can appear spammy and trigger Google’s spam filter. You can avoid this by choosing natural-looking anchor texts and using synonyms.
