OSEOLINKBUILDING

If you’re a small business owner or a business of one, chances are you’ve discovered the importance of using the Internet to build your brand and connect with the right consumers.

Any web presence you can build for your business is valuable. That could be a standalone website, Twitter account,Facebook page, or even a presence on Instagram or some other up-and-coming social platform. But you can increasethe value of your web presence by optimizing your pages for search with SEO backlinks and SEO articles.

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SEO linkbuilding 101

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SEO backlinks and SEO articles show search engines that your pages or sites are offering valuable information. By linking to other relevant content, you’re inserting you and your brand in to the larger online conversation and showing that you’re there to be a real service to people rather than a spam site.

If you want to use SEO backlinks, SEO articles, and other tools to raise awareness about your brands, you need to go in with a plan. And as with every plan, you need to start by learning the basics. The following guide will give you the tools to create a solid web presence that pushes you toward the front page of desired search results and connects youwith the customers that need youthe most.

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What is SEO?

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SEO stands for search engine optimization. When you applySEO to your website or otherdigital presence, you’re helpingit get closer to the top of a search engine results page.

When someone goes to Google and searches best housepainters in Kentucky, Google uses a complex

algorithm to fetch content that it thinks will be helpful to the person doing the search. Google analyzes how closely the content maps back to the original search request in myriad of ways.

One way it does this is by studying the retrieved content to see how closely it relates to the words in the original

search. Another way it does this is by examining the links within the text,as well as other articles that link to the piece of content, to see how useful it’s been to other content creators.So anyone can build a website and push it live, but if you want your website to show up in search results, you need to have an SEO plan.

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Start Creating ContentIn a story by Eric Enge on Search Engine Watch, the author notes that Google is cracking down on spammy, black-hat linkbuilding practices (example: sending out a digital press release riddled with backlinks that all take a reader back to your site). However, he says linkbuilding isn’t “dead” or “illegal,” as some have recently proclaimed. Rather, he says the best way to build links and rise in search rankings is to create great content, both on and off your site, and to promote it on social media.

The next step is coming up with a smart content plan. That means regularly creating articles or other interesting items that are meant for sharing and useful to your customers.

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If you’re a high-end baker, create regular blog posts where you show off the creations you made that week. Offer occasional how-to’s that allow people to make pies, pastries, and killer coconut frosting in the comfort of their own home. You can even attempt to become a guest blogger on another pastry-related site and create content for them. All of this gets your name out there, which is helpful when an Internet user goes to Google to find the best high-end bakeries in Kentucky.

In Neil Patel and Brian Dean’s The Advanced Guide to Linkbuilding, the duo note that guest blogging on other platforms is just as helpful as having content on your own site. So look for other online outlets where you can write about your brand, business, or industry. And of course, be sure to return the favor by allowing others to guest blog on your site. This will boost both of your search rankings.

You may be thinking... The answer would be:

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I have to blog about?

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Being Smart About SEO Backlinks and Anchor text

Dropping SEO backlinks throughout your content is going to be the way to get noticed in search results. However, Google watches the way you link, and if it looks like you’re linking too much, it may think you’re trying to game its algorithm to get a quick bump in search results. Those can leadto some annoying penalties, like not showing up in search rankings at all,so you definitely want to avoid that.

Obviously you’re going to want to include links in whatever content you create. These links will help other business owners, get you noticed, and maybe even earn you some mentions. However, you need to know thecorrect way of doing this.

In their guide, Petel and Dean point to Majestic SEO as a tool that can helpyou determine how well your SEO backlinks are working, particularly in terms of the anchor text you’re using. If you don’t know already, anchor text is the word or words that you link within an article.

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The website OnlineMetrics divides the type of anchor text into five categories:

In this case, if you were looking to optimize the term wedding cake your content

would contain this exact term, along with a link.

Using the above term, a partial match might be chocolate wedding cake, best

wedding cake, or wedding cake in Kentucky. Basically any variation on the term

you’re searching for will qualify as a partial match.  

This is anchor text that contains the name of your business or website (in most

cases, these two things will be identical). So if your website is JuliesCakes.com,

including that full URL in an article and linking it would be considered a branded match. 

This is when the anchor text is thematically close to you’re the term you’re looking

to optimize. So if the terms were wedding cake, wedding desserts or special event

cake, they would be related matches.

This is when your anchor text only makes sense in the context of your article.

For instance, take the following sample sentence. “This website tells you how to

decide on a wedding cake that will thrill your guests.” If you link the first words of the

sentence (“this website”) to a site that talks about wedding cakes, it makes sense

in the context of the article. Google likes to see this, as it believes that your site is

being helpful. The lack of a brand mention or SEO keyword is a nice switch up.

Exact match

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Be Helpful!The number one rule when building links andcreating content: be helpful!

google rewards websites that organically help consumers. So when you sit down to write content, raising your SEO ranking should always be yoursecond priority.

Your first: being a helpful content producer and businessperson.

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