Your site isn't ready for link building.
It can’t handle it. The penguins are hungry.
You think you want links, because someone once told you that links lead to page one rankings.
The thing is, making it to the first page of Google’s search results and staying there is about so much more than just links.
And links are about so much more than just getting to the first page of Google’s search results! Even if backlinks are among some of the most heavily weighted ranking factors, and indeed, a democratic system of votes that can certainly affect rankings, links are not a magic silver bullet.
That’s why we run many of our new clients through the narrative I’m about to present to you, and quite frequently their varied situations require us to provide more than just link development.
Part One: Humans
If your site isn’t good enough for people, it isn’t good enough for links either.
There is a proverb at Page One Power that is fairly simple to understand: “The links you get will only be as good as your site.”
It’s the truth. To earn a worthwhile link, you’ve got to deserve it: your website needs to provide real value to visitors. Why would anyone want to link to an e-commerce page that’s filled purely with products and their prices? Would you give out free advertising for nothing in return?
Does your site really deserve to rank on the first page of Google?
Links are an essential part of a strong website, but links alone won’t ensure success. It’s true that whether your goals include a higher ranking in Google or more visitors to your website, links can help you reach them. But the links you get will only be as good as your website.
People want to link to pages that spark their interest — something that holds value for them or the people who visit their site. In the SEO industry, we call these pages linkable assets. Product pages are rarely a linkable asset, unless you provide a truly unique or rare set of products, like hoverboards or lightsabers.
Think about what makes your business unique, common questions people have about your industry or company, or information that’s new and exciting, then build content based on those ideas.
If you don’t have anything special or unique to offer, it’s easy to get lost in the noise of the web. Taking a step back, if a business doesn’t have a USP, they’re probably not ready for marketing at all. It might be time to re-evaluate, create something worth marketing, and then present it to a target audience that could find value in it.
Simple marketing basics that need to be more integral to link building:
- What is your USP?
- Is your content solving a problem for the customer?
- Who is your target audience/demographic?
- Will seasonality play a role in the success of this campaign?
- What sites and people are in a position of authority and influence?
- What kinds of relationships are worth nurturing?
After answering those questions, how can you align your marketing (and link building) efforts to intrinsically reflect the answers?
The websites that rank on the first page of Google are special because they’ve invested work into creating worthwhile content and brands that people want to see — there’s no shortcut to that. To join their high ranks, you’ll need to do the same.
Links are connections between people and ideas. That has always been their true purpose, long before the dawn of Google. When you connect the right people with the right ideas, especially with your brand attached, you’re winning. Relationships are being built with real individuals, people that could become brand evangelists for you. When you connect the right people with the right ideas, everybody wins.
Part Two: The Technical Stuff
Links act as a signal of authority and trustworthiness. The more trusted links that point to your site, the more likely it is that Google will see your website as valuable and trustworthy.
Links also help boost the exposure that Google’s crawlers — the robots that run the search engine — have with your website. Links direct those crawlers to your site; the more links that lead to your website, the more opportunities you have to be discovered by Google, and in turn, Google’s users.
If these crawlers show up on your page and discover content that no actual human would ever read, sloppy technical SEO, and lackluster design, that great link has lost its potential value. All the links in the world will not turn trash into treasure.
Of course, if a site is bad, the likelihood of obtaining good links in the first place is very low. People are willing to endorse pages on the web which they find valuable. Making a single quality page that offers something new or helpful is more worthwhile than creating many pages of mediocre content.
Worse yet, if you have to force a link to be created or use dubious link building tactics, you could actually be harming your site by inviting a manual or algorithmic penalty.
If you want to sustainably improve your search engine rankings and help your customers find you more easily on the web, make sure you’re ready by running through the checklist below.
Part Three: The Pre-Flight Checklist
Do you have a website?
You can’t build links without a website.
Have you implemented Google Search Console and checked if you have any manual penalties?
Whether your site’s rankings are held back by an algorithm or a manual penalty (that’s a penalty given to you by a person, not a robot), these issues need to be addressed before you worry about links. Otherwise, the links you gain might not have much impact on organic SERP positions. Marie Haynes is the lady with the powerful knowledge you need.
Is your technical and on-page SEO tight or a blight?
Before you start working on external SEO, leverage the potential your site already has:
- Has your robots.txt file been configured properly?
Get this right so that Google and other search engines can crawl the correct pages on your site. - Do you have an XML sitemap?
XML sitemaps help search engines better understand your website. - Have you optimzied your pages?
This includes URL structures, title tags, meta descriptions, internal linking, and everything else related to technical site elements. - Is duplicate content 301 redirected or canonicalized?
Duplicate content is bad for SEO. Tidy up your site. - Does your website load quickly?
If we can send a telegram faster than your site loads, we’ve got a problem. - Do you have broken links and 404 pages?
Slightly alive is not good enough when it comes to link building. Brush up on your status code knowledge here, with some cat memes to help. - Have you optimized your site for mobile users?
Bridget Randolph has got you covered in this comprehensive post. - Is your site serving international regions?
SEO for international websites has some extra considerations, so some extra reading about international SEO will be required. Study up.
Do you know who your target audience is?
Whether you’re developing your marketing strategy, working on your website, or researching target sites for link building opportunities, you must be performing marketing research. Don’t "trust your gut."
Defining your audience and buyer personas is a crucial task for gaining an understanding of where in the marketing funnel your campaign is operating within. Mike King has created an extensive write-up on these processes
Do you know how to connect with your target audience?
What’s important to the people in your target audience? Discovering who is in a position of authority or influence and understanding what topics resonate with them is not a step you should skip. BuzzSumo is a tremendously helpful tool for accomplishing this task.
Can people easily navigate your site?
Don’t just say yes to this. Test, test, test...with real humans. Consider these helpful resources.
Will people find value in your site?
We’re not talking about your products. When it comes to building real links, you need to have content on your website that offers real value for free. When you’re contacting strangers in the wilds of the web, the value of the page you’re hoping to secure links to is usually all you have to offer in exchange for the link.
Will the links you build help real people other than you, the client, or the brand?
Yes? You're ready to win.
