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In the field of SEO it is important to understand that, in competitive markets, you cannot achieve great search engine positions without incorporating a well-planned and consistent link building strategy into your your SEO strategy. Knowing how to develop hyperlinks back to your website and which websites you need these links from is a skill that is gained with experience.
You will notice that lots of old looking websites at ranked quite high on Google, Yahoo and Bing. You may wonder why these websites that ranked so high even though they may not be the best in terms of user experience, aesthetics or even information that what relevant to your initial search engine query. Well the chances are that because they have been around for a while, they have gained lots of relevant links naturally.
Domain age is a ranking factor but there is an obvious correlation between age and the amount of links that you will pick up naturally over time. You can’t really have one without the other. So that is the first answer to the question, how to build backlinks – it will take time and it must be done naturally.
The next lesson then must be link bait. What is link bait? It’s simple really. You need to understand your visitors and really get into their mindset. It is all about the user journey and gaining an insight into how your customers actually make the decision to buy. A transaction is not necessarily just Google search, click on website, find products and purchase. It can be a much more complicated and long winded process. For example, they might want to read some reviews first then come back a week later to make a purchase. Your job is to make sure that the website they return to is yours and not a competitors. Give them a reason to return and give them a reason to link to your website or bookmark it. Is there a free tool that you could provide? A mortgage calculator perhaps or a freebie if they sign up to your newsletter? Think about what incentives you offer over your competitors.
Link building requires a deep insight into your target market, your competitors and related websites.
