When search engines like Google evaluate the quality of a website, they use links as part of their analysis. Links back to your website are like internet-age endorsements for your business; when other legitimate sites link back to a blog post or landing page on your website, it reflects well on your agency. If you think getting links could benefit your agency, but aren’t sure how to start, here are a few tips to get you started.
Cultivate online partnerships – You only get what you give. Not only do you want to gain links back to your website, but you should be linking to websites within your content as well. Linking to a local business partner? Ask them to link to your website as well. You’re not going to get anywhere by staying hidden in your own corner of the web, so it’s important to branch out and make yourself known.
Only link to legitimate sites –To build a well-rounded strategy, you need to link to legitimate sites that have to do with your particular industry. For insurance agencies, resources like your local Chamber of Commerce, charities in your area, and local business partners can be high quality and relevant resources from which to gain links. Let these types of places know if you’re planning any community events they could help you promote, and in turn, link to their site if they ever have something going on that is relevant to your customers, prospects, or community members.
Build all your links organically – Many marketing services you find on the web will try to get you to buy a large amount of low quality links, but that’s not the way to build the right kind of reputation. If search engines find out you’re doing it, you could face stiff penalties. We always stress this in our marketing-related posts, and with good reason; building things the right way, over time, will always be better in the long run than shady tactics. Link building is not something to pay for; as you build your reputation in your industry, sites should want to link to you because of your engaging content and happenings. Just like SEO, link building is a process, not a transaction.
If you want to take it a step further, there are ways to expand your link building campaign to the next level, and many resources to help you do so. Just keep in mind that like in many areas of life, you won’t get results immediately.