Having a website is critical for a business, but it is not enough to merely have a website and great content, you also have to be found in the search engines. Searches are done via key words and search terms and the websites at the top of any search have done their link building correctly, usually with the help of SEO experts. In today’s world nearly everyone looks for services and goods online and very few people go past 20 results in a web search, so you need to get on top of the search rankings. Getting on top of the search rankings however requires great link building practices. Top search engine rankings result in organic website traffic, which is basically ad free advertising.
Trying to do your own SEO link building can be down right dangerous for small business owners to try on their own. Your website is an investment in time, money and your brand name, the first point of contact many times between you and your potential customers. The major search engines use what is called an algorithm to determine how to value links, and every year Google pushes out changes to this algorithm between 500 and 600 times. While many of these are small adjustments, some are rather huge updates such as Google Panda and Google Penguin. Google Panda and Google Penguin each caused tens of thousands of websites to loose massive search engine rankings, and quite a few thousand more were entirely removed from the search engine. Not all of these sites were bad, in fact many were top notch websites, but their SEO and link campaigns were somewhat sketchy.
You know you need links, and you know you need your website to stay competitive. But trying to build your own links and understanding which links are good for your site is something best left to a SEO professional. Years worth of work can go up in smoke with a single Google update. The better professionals also know which links to take down following major updates to the search engines. Google is constantly pushing out algorithm changes, and these changes can take weeks and months for the everyday person to figure out, figuring out what effect the have takes someone who does this as a full time job, which it is. The reason Google and the other search engines do not tell people the exact workings of the algorithm is to prevent spammy sites from dominating the rankings. Yes link building will cost you money, but it is a cost of doing good business online. It does not mean it has to break bank, far from it, good link builders can do great work over time that will see your website thriving in organic search without breaking your bank account.
One piece of advice when hiring a SEO firm or link builder, stay as far away from foreign entities. Besides Simply Google India/Pakistan/Etc SEO + scam and read thousands of complaints, its truly epidemic. While they charge less than an American company, and certainly a few do good work, many are bad actors in the SEO field, they talk a good game, have a great sales pitch and the price seems right but when it comes to delivering a good service that is where it all falls apart.
If you are going to hire a professional link builder, and you should go with a professional, look for one with a portfolio of clients they currently work for. You want a professional that can show you the results of their work, not simply throw you a great sales pitch and have a nice looking website. You also want a professional that has been doing link building for more then just a few years. In SEO duration means they have tackled major changes in the industry and not only survived but also thrived, in an industry where many simply fold after 2 years.
Lastly you want a link builder who understand the entire SEO process not just links. A link builder who understands the entire process can better design a link campaign to help your website succeed, taking into account on site and off site factors, relevancy of content to sites linked to, changes with the SERPs, and exciting changes happening such as Google’s new “In-depth articles searches and how to capitalize on it with your website and incoming links. In short if you value your website, and you rely on organic traffic invest back into your website by hiring a professional to take care of you offsite link building needs to protect your investment.
