In the area of search engine optimization, ethical link building is defined as creating more inbound links to a particular website, so as to increase traffic to it and increase its ranking in the search engine results, in position and in the number of links.
These ethical links may be of different sources and have different values attached to them, though the bottom line is increasing traffic to the site:
Editorial – these are attracted because of the good content of the site – they are not paid for
Resource – a set of resource links called hyperlinks to the website considered to be useful. These are also not paid for
Acquired – These are paid for links or organically obtained links.
Reciprocal – mutually beneficial links to each others sites set up by known parties
Forum signature – where forum communities allow outbound links in a member’s signature
Blog – leaving an option to comment on a blog is attached with the link to the blog or website
Directory – these links are recommended by directories which one subscribes to for listing, paid or unpaid.
Social bookmarking – is when you categorize and save pages, it is done at a public location on the web which is accessible to search engines.
Image – is the same as the above linking, but concerning images.
White hat link building
White hat linking strategies result in value added to the end users, and are actively implemented by the website owners.
linking strategies use spamming and non -friendly user linking strategies to garner traffic.
Grey hat linking – lies between the two- examples are reward led blog linking, spurious sponsorship etc.
Needless to say, quality has to be the bedrock of the link building, whatever type it may be
Your contribution in link building
There are many websites which outline methods of ethical linking. Some points to be kept in mind are:
Increase the content of your website
Try to segment your target audience. Once that is done, you have an idea of the top performing domains for each segment. Now one only has to create search terms that will create links from these domains to your website.
These top domains are vast, consisting of many niches. So don’t be despondent if the same domains show up again and again. They are also diverse such as websites, radio, local newspapers, podcasts, social groups, mailing lists, etc. Deriving links to each of these is a sustained relationship and helps build brand awareness.
Targeted Link building
This is the process of trying to individually bring links to a specific URLs or domains, usually to individual pages.
This is done when you are already in a top ten or 20 position in the search engine results. Or it is performing well already from the point of view of conversions.
This can be done by:
Sending out emails
Broadcast on social pages – social sharing
Paid amplification – advertising,
There are guides to the process of ethical link building explained in written blogs and through videos.
White hat ethical link building is one of the foremost techniques in digital marketing today. It brings great value to the customer and the marketer.