Link Strategies That Stand the Test of Time

For those that are familiar with SEO and in particular, link building, the name Eric Ward is probably familiar. Eric was considered a link building pioneer in the industry and gained the nickname ‘Link Moses.’ Sadly, Eric passed away in October 2017 at the age of 58.

Eric was known for his unique approach to quality link building. Instead of trying to manipulate Google’s algorithms, he viewed link building differently. He used links as a way to promote a website and build value instead of viewing it as a game. Many internet marketing companies learned a lot from Eric and below are some of his top link building strategies that have stood the test of time.

Why Should Businesses Link?

According to Eric, businesses should link for three main reasons:

Non-Financial Incentive

When trying to gain a link, there needs to be a reason – whether it is partnership-driven, business-driven or an emotional appeal. If it is purely financial, search engines will eventually penalize it.

Content

The content that a link is directed to should be worthy of recognition and add value. Often, marketers are too focused on solely gaining links and overlook creating content that will benefit the user.

Focus on Citation

When building links, the strategy should be to make an organization aware of why they should link to another website and where the citation should exist. This provides two benefits – it drives relevant traffic and helps improve search engine rank.

Avoid Short-Term Thinking

Eric had a great philosophy – that even if Google and Bing didn’t exist that the links that did are the ones which ultimately provide the most value. Linking for the sake of linking and choosing quantity over quality is short-term thinking and just leads to poor results, site devaluation and penalties.

Proper Strategy and Planning = Great Execution

What is true in all others areas of business is true in the world of link building as well. Proper planning and strategy is what leads to great execution. Eric believed that strategy flowed from a deep understanding of the subject matter as well as an organization’s audience. When armed with an understanding of both, links can be better targeted and easier to acquire ones that will benefit your business.

Using a structure for targeting outreach and link building is a blueprint for success. Linking should be viewed as a strategy not just building by volume. Perhaps a quote that best sums up Eric’s philosophy is ‘Help content find the audience it was intended for and audience find the content.’

Successful link building can be a long and resource consuming process, however, when done correctly, can be of great benefit to your business. As you head into the new year, remember these simple, yet effective pointers from Eric to ensure you have a strategy that will stand the test of time.

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