New & Improved: Announcing The Beginner’s Guide To Link Building
Posted by Cyrus-Shepard
Link building isn’t always easy, but if you want to rank with SEO, links are often the cost of admission.
While Google says SEOs sometimes focus too much on links, links remain one of the few confirmed ranking factors. Indeed, every study over the past decade shows a high correlation between links and ranking. And while links alone can’t guarantee a #1 spot at the top of Google, previous research has shown that it’s nearly impossible to rank without any links at all.
For many, link building also presents a challenge. Folks get sincerely frustrated with wasted link building efforts, poor outreach processes, and lack of results.
It doesn’t have to be that way.
Good link building actually helps everyone involved: the content owner, the linker, the audience, and search engines alike. Google evaluates links in so many ways, you could say its search engine couldn’t exist without them. Good link building also encourages the creation of useful content and good marketing practices. When done right, link building can also be a joy (and profitable!).
1. Updating an instant classic
Moz first published the Beginner’s Guide to Link Building in 2014. Back then, the SEO world was still adjusting to the fallout of Google’s Penguin Algorithm, which punished sites engaging in manipulative link building practices. The SEO world was looking to transition to more holistic, value-added forms of link building that wouldn’t run afoul of Google’s initiatives to sweep the web of shady practices.
Enter Paddy Moogan.
At the time, Paddy was already a respected voice among link builders, and had authored one of the few good books on link building. It was the same year that he and co-founder Matt Beswick conceived Aira, the digital marketing agency that would compel them to new heights. Moz was honored to have Paddy write the first edition of the Beginner’s Guide to Link Building.
Now, in 2021, Paddy has done it again.
A lot has changed in link building since 2014, and weirdly, much has stayed the same. Many of the tools and tactics have certainly evolved, along with Google’s algorithm (rel=ugc anyone?). As we worked with Paddy to update this edition of the guide, we realized how so many of the fundamentals of link building remain as true today as they did when we launched the first edition of the guide. As Paddy writes:
“Arguably, link building these days is more akin to great marketing, and the organizations who understand this are usually the ones who win long term.”
Without links, it’s likely Google would have never been invented in the first place. Understanding how websites link to one another allowed Google’s founders to create a search engine so superior to any other, that it grew to world domination. In fact, over 20 years later, links remain one of the most consistent Google ranking signals that we know of.
In this chapter, learn the fundamentals …read more
Source:: Moz Blog
