Essential Skills for Effective Link Building
In a previous discussion, I emphasized the importance of link builders going beyond just building links. While this idea isn’t new for those deeply involved in SEO and marketing, it’s crucial to understand that nothing in these fields should exist in isolation.
Despite Google’s efforts to curb poor linking practices, linking remains vital. Many business owners believe their issues are solely due to lacking links, thinking that adding a few will elevate their pages from rank 3 to 1-3. Sometimes they’re right, but more often, they’re not.
As a specialist in link building with extensive experience in technical and general SEO, I know that links alone can’t solve all issues and can even create new ones if not managed properly, depending on a site’s risk tolerance. Therefore, it’s not just beneficial but essential for a link builder to understand more than just links.
Here are my top five additional skills a link builder should master:
1. Site Analysis for Authority and Relevance
One common challenge is identifying quality placements. It’s tempting to focus on a relevant subpage that seems perfect, but the overall site might have poor content quality. Even if one page meets all criteria, the site it belongs to could undermine your efforts if it’s overall subpar. Always assess the entire site’s quality to ensure it doesn’t negatively impact your link profile.
2. Effective Communication
In link building, good communication is crucial. Avoid sending long, unclear emails. Conciseness and clarity are key, especially when everyone is inundated with emails. Precise communication ensures your message gets through without being overlooked or misinterpreted.
3. Identifying Crawl and Redirect Errors
Prevent your site from suffering due to broken links by understanding how to crawl your site and identify errors. It’s disheartening to see small sites riddled with crawl issues or unnecessary redirects. Regularly check and fix these to improve user experience and avoid losing links to broken link builders.
4. Monitoring Link Profile Balance
Tools like Majestic help monitor anchor text distribution. If a disproportionate number of anchors use a single keyword, it’s a red flag. Regularly reviewing your link profile can prevent issues and maintain a healthy balance.
5. Running Key Diagnostic Reports
Two critical resources are invaluable for understanding when things go wrong:
- Algorithm Change History: This keeps track of major updates, helping you correlate site performance changes with specific updates.
- Quality Page Identification: Techniques for identifying low-quality pages post-Panda updates are crucial for diagnosing issues beyond just link problems.
Regularly monitoring referral links and social media performance can reveal underlying issues and opportunities for improvement.
While these are my top five skills, many other tasks are essential for a link builder. Ultimately, understanding the broader marketing environment and not just focusing on links will yield the best results. Link building is most effective when integrated with the entire marketing strategy of a site.
