Website owners and marketing specialistsuse link building as part of their search engine optimization strategy that makes search engines rank them higher, leading to more visitors. Link building works because search engines presume that webpages link to valuable content. They compare the number of incoming links to a site as votes that help determine how high a site ranks when users search for relevant keywords.

SEO and branding

Website developers often focus their efforts on link building because they understand the value of that tactic. By focusing on a single SEO method, site owners risk losing value over time because search engines often change the way they compute their search results. One executive or high-level developer may decide to change the search engine algorithm and instantly send top-ranked websites into obscurity. This often renders expensive, prolonged efforts useless. When this happens, webmasters realize the danger of relying on a single SEO tactic to support their business.

Some parts of SEO do not depend on the rank assigned to a website by a search engine. For example, building brand awareness and recognition helps generate long-term sales. Tactics such as using brand names as anchor text can set the stage for impressive future search engine results. Another important part of SEO is relationship building which can help create lasting results. Web marketers who randomly put links in blog comments to build links might see gains for a while, but when search engines classify those links as spam, they hurt more than they help. However, those who create meaningful, relevant content on other websites, gain the most because the entire community begins to recognize a website as an authority in its field.

Ultimately, SEO experts can do more by building the reputation of a brand rather than focusing solely on building incoming links. While search engine results can easily change based on the purposes of site owners, the reputation of a brand or company will stay strong if properly promoted. Placing the proper priority on SEO tactics helps webmasters and web marketers to create lasting results.

Often SEO experts misplace their priorities by focusing their attention on fast, short-term results without thinking of the future. Brand reputation and credibility may not boost search engine standing overnight, but it will set the stage for a stable and valuable web presence that may actually cost less over time.

The quality of visitors attracted to a site through SEO determines how many convert into customers and sales leads. Visitors who follow links from related sites often have more interest in a brand or company than a visitor from a search engine who happened upon a relevant keyword. Even worse, visitors who follow spam links almost always have no interest in a brand. Spam either misled them into clicking a link or they clicked a link out of curiosity.

Anyone involved in website promotion should realize that link building forms just a part of a complete SEO effort. Also, webmasters who simultaneously build traffic inside and outside the search engines set the stage for lasting results that protect them from search engine business decisions over which they have no control.

This guest post was written by Alex Petrovic

Alex is a SEO strategist – Dejan SEO company and aLink building team leader