Link Building
The Importance of Backlinks
Backlinks, which are also known as “incoming links” or “inbound links,” are extremely valuable to your law firm. Backlinks link one website to another, in the same way someone might give your law firm a good reference.
A backlink from another website to yours validates that your website is trustworthy. The more quality outside sites that link to your website or to a page of your website, the more appealing your website will be to search engines because it means that your content is valuable. It also shows that your site is worthy of showing up on a search engine results page (SERP). That can have an import impact on your site’s ranking or search visibility.
Creating Backlinks
The most valuable backlinks are those that come from authoritative, trustworthy, popular sites. Simply appearing on a highly desirable website can boost your popularity, even when a link is not followed. Likewise, the links you create to connect to other sites also have varied values. Your choices on which external sites to link to might include the following considerations:
- Page authority
- Content
- Search engine accessibility
- More
The following elements can also have a powerful impact on the value your site confers:
- The anchor text you use
- Whether you choose to follow or not follow the link
- Any other meta tags associated with the linking page
The acquiring of links is known as “link earning” or “link building,” and it is essential to off-site SEO. (Off-site SEO is about taking actions outside of your website to improve your rankings in SERPs.)
Sites that are new, or that are expanding their keyword footprint might have a challenging time knowing where to start with link building, and backlinks can take a long time to earn. But competitive backlink research can help. By studying the collection of pages and domains linking to a website – or the “backlink profile” – to a competitor that is ranking well for your target keywords, you can assess the link building they may have used. “Link Explorer” can be a helpful tool for uncovering these links so that you can target those domains in your link-building campaigns.
Harmful Backlinks
Yes, there are some harmful backlinks. They include:
- Public Networks. These are not “private blog networks” as advertised. Google may penalize websites that use these networks.
- Follow Blog Comments. These are cheap to buy, but they go to “bad neighborhoods” – such as those related to pornography, gambling, and more.
- Sidebar, Footer Backlinks. These can be risky because they often link to irrelevant websites.
- Automated Backlinks. These leverage spammed platforms, and could lead to a penalty for your site.
Foundational Backlinks
Important backlinks to incorporate in your SEO strategy include:
- Social Media. At a minimum, you should have Twitter, Facebook, Pinterest, Instagram, and LinkedIn.
- Niche Relevant Blog Comments. These diversify anchors in a meaningful way, create a layer of relevancy for your site, and sometimes attract referral traffic.
- Business Listings and Citations. These offer an ideal way to build a foundation of trust for your site.
- Power Backlinks. These accelerate your results because they are the most relevant and authoritative.
- Content Driven. This is perhaps the best way to drive high-authority backlinks to a website. You can accomplish this by using the right keywords, creating great content around a keyword, and promoting your content.
Premier Legal Marketing Implements Strong Backlinking Programs for Law Firms
The world of digital marketing is always evolving. At PLM, we can proudly say that we stay on the cutting edge of that evolution, and we can help you to do the same. We know what you need to draw in the right clients, and to maintain a loyal client base. To learn more about how we can help you to make your marketing efforts as successful and efficient as possible, call Premier Legal Marketing at 856-320-2016, or contact us online. We offer a full range of marketing services, including branding, website design and maintenance, social media marketing, pay-per-click campaigns, reputation management, blogs, press releases, email marketing, and more.
