Last Updated on by Artem K.
At LinksHero we know that, when it comes to ranking your site on Google and other search engines, links are one of the most important factor.
Having said that, and that’s become especially true with the search algorithm updates that took place in 2020, the power of links has evolved to be more subjective and situational.
To put things simple…
If you want the biggest ROI from your outreach-based link building service, take care of the things that follow.
Let’s run through them.
1. Internal Link Relevant Pages
Yes, you probably heard about how important internal links are.
The idea is that you would link to the page you are trying to rank from other RELEVANT pages but…what exactly is “relevant”?
Say, I have a page that I want to rank for “best seat cushion”.
Would linking to it from a page that’s titled “How To Assemble an Office Chair” be considered that – relevant?
If you are anything like me, then you can easily draw a connection line for this case. Of course! An office chair is one thing that seat cushions are regularly used for so that’s obviously relevant, right?
Wrong!
At least, for thesearch engine.
Google is getting more and more advanced but it is still not great at connecting the dots of such caliber. Kyle Roof’s experiment on ranking “Lorep ipsum” sites goes to show how “dumb” Google still is.
If you are not familiar with his test…Kyle managed to rank a webpage written mostly in Latin (the “lorem ipsum” text) for a keyword (it was “rhinoplasty” + various different cities) only tinkering density, certain HTML tags and internal linking.
Given that G is still not that smart, we need to carefully spoonfeed it by using high relevance internal linking. By doing that we will help Google to rank us faster and easier.
How can Google tell if pages are relevant to one another?
To keep things simple, there are two main bits:
- the words you use in the URL
- the Page Title
So if the URL or the Page Title contain a keyword that you want your target page to rank for, then they are relevant AND you should internal link.
And if it doesn’t – skip it, as it will only make it harder for G to understand the page you are trying to rank.
Getting back to the original example…
Shall we link from a page titled “How To Assemble an Office Chair” to a page titled “Best Seat Cushion”?
No!
What if our target article had a slightly different title – “Best Seat Cushion for Office Chair” – would you link out then?
Yes, because now we have the “office chair” bit in both titles which makes it easy for Google to understand.
Pro Tip: do NOT overkill it with your exact match target keyword using internal linking because it can hurt your rankings.
2. Add Relevant TOFU Content
Top of the Funnel content is basic, informational-type content that people search for well before they are prepared to proceed with the purchase.
For example, this post is a typical example of TOFU-type content because I am not really selling anything here directly.
You should create TOFU content for 2 reasons:
- Internal linking. The more relevant links you get to your target page, the better it will rank (I’m oversimplifying).
- Relevance silo. The more content you create around a specific topic, the easier it is to rank for the main keyword within that topic.
Adding more TOFU content to support your target page can have BIG effects and boost rankings fast. It will also help you to capture people that can convert into buyers.
Pro Tip: try to forget about keywords here and just focus on what your potential buyers are asking. If you have an answer to a question they don’t know about, make sure to give it to them…even if there is zero search volume for that!
3. Add/Remove Content + Check On-Page SEO
Google LOVES fresh content so every so often you need to go back to old pages and update them by adding/removing things.
It doesn’t have to be much. Adding even 100 words can make a difference and bump your rankings.
You should also monitor the top results for your keyword term and make sure your page is set for success.
If you notice top 5 pages having an average of ~2000 words and your page is 3500 words, you might need to trim it down to that length so it corresponds to what Google is CURRENTLY favoring (yes, these things continuously change as Google becomes better at figuring out search intent).
While you are adding or removing content, make sure you are using the right keyword variations and densities. SurferSEO is my go-to tool for these things.
To Sum It Up
Yes, you CAN’T skip link building if you want to grow and improve your SEO SERPs but…you can’t overlook the importance of creating relevant TOFU content and internally linking it to your target pages.
