Joanna Marie, Executive Chronicles | According to research carried out last year, the majority of SEO professionals believe that link building will still be a major factor in SEO in 2018. Although links are not to be used solely to measure the quality of a website and its content, they do still have an important impact on organic search. Taking into account the link building developments of 2017 and professional expectations, here are some of the main changes to expect this year.
#1. Link Profiles Will Be More Important:
Building a stronger and more robust link profile on a keyword-by-keyword basis is going to be a more vital strategy this year. Google’s algorithms are constantly finding new ways to make the user experience easier and will soon be able to match the search engine content displayed with the user’s intent using data from link profiles. In general, a good link profile will consist of links that are from a variety of sources which are relevant to your site. Low quality or unrelated links should be avoided; these can quickly rouse the suspicions of search engines. Link building agencies such as Click Intelligence can help you create high-quality link profiles.
#2. Easier Detection of PBN’s:
Using PBNs, or Private Blog Networks used to be a great strategy for SEO back in the day. However, as Google and other search engines put more emphasis on ranking content that is truly relevant and helpful to the user, they have become one of the easiest ways to get your website penalized. To stay in the clear, you should always avoid any link-sharing or suspicious link building schemes that may put the integrity of your website under threat. This year, it will be even more important to work on building relationships with online influencers and gaining white-hat placement sites for your links.
#3. Increase in Influencer Marketing:
In the past few years, online marketing has seen a huge increase in the number of prominent influencers. From celebrities with huge Instagram follow lists to YouTubers with millions of subscribers, these people are looked up to by users all around the world when it comes to which brands to trust and products or services to invest in. In 2018, you can expect link building via influencer marketing to become more prominent. Partnering with well-known influencers provides several additional benefits besides a link, such as association with a well-known brand.
#4. The More Genuine, The Better:
This year, we can expect the demand for genuine, helpful content to rise even further. Today’s web users prefer content that has a genuine purpose of providing detailed answers to their questions and problems. Audiences respond well to content that isn’t secretly trying to sell them something or hiding links. Letting your followers know if you’re promoting affiliate links is an essential step towards being a more transparent brand and building trust. Even when link-building, ensure that your content’s main goal is to educate and provide solutions.
Link-building may no longer have the same prominence as an optimization strategy as it once did. However, white-hat link-building techniques are still an integral part of good SEO in 2018.
