Link building is an effective means for acquiring backlinks of other websites. A backlink is a string of text linked to other websites with the sole purpose of increasing your traffic. Search engine optimization (SEO) follows a set number of rules depending on its algorithm. It navigates through your pages, deeming their quality and authenticity, thus, ranking them on a search engine. Link building is a complicated process, but it is an absolute necessity for ranking a website. Therefore, the following are some ways to analyze your competitors and build your links in the process.

Determining your Competitors

The initial step for successfully implementing the link building strategy is to identify the competitors. SEO deems the high ranking people on search engine results as your competition. Hence, specific tools for a particular job designed especially for those tasks. These tools are easy to use and can provide you the required results by searching your niche on Google. The application will also give you a comprehensive set of analytics regarding the domain scores and number of links on the page.

Moreover, you will have to make your decision, depending on the provided data. A general understanding of the results is vital. It will help you determine the difficulty of using a keyword, as well as a time frame for your website to mature.

Analyzing Competitor Backlinks

After identifying your competitors, the next step is to analyze their websites and strategy. Conducting a Google search and the competitors’ ranking will reveal quite a bit about their marketing plan. It will indicate their paid and organic SEO ranking. Furthermore, it would be best to continue by looking up news and articles based on their brand. The following pages will likely expose the company’s profile and corporal listings.

Moving on, we need to see the backlinks pointing towards the competitor’s website. Doing so would be possible with the help of a link building researching tool. The objective of this research is to narrow down the strategy contributing to the competitor’s success. It will provide you with a plethora of opportunities to exploit and benefit your search engine ranking.

Eligibility for Link Opportunities

While sticking with SEO is a reasonable option, going beyond the standards for qualifying links is crucial to your success. The qualifying criteria are on a set of requirements. Does the website rank on the first page of search results? Similarly, is the website getting organic SEO traffic, and is it reputable? All of these questions lead to a strategy for setting the criteria for your website.

If the competitor’s website shows up on the first page, it is eligible for link building. Likewise, the website’s traffic is a detrimental factor, as well. Incorporating the use of tools to determine the influx of visitors will provide a reasonable conclusion to whether you should use their strategy or not. Considering the website is in decline, it would be wise to avoid implementing their backlinks. Nevertheless, the reputation of the brand is also imperative. You need to bear in mind their standing in the industry, further ensuring the feasibility of adopting their tactics.

Guest Blogging

Despite the flare guest posting has received recently, it is still an excellent utility for engaging your visitors. However, to increase the effectiveness of guest blogging, several parameters need to be followed. The content must be well-written and should be relevant to your niche. A tech-based article would fit a website with tech as its set niche, not a fitness website. Hence, guest posting on blogs that cover all categories and industries is the worst possible decision.

Additionally, there should be a thorough check for the blog’s community engagement. A rule of thumb is to select blogs with a noticeable appeal on social media — tweets, likes, subscriptions, and comments. High-quality content gets the attraction it deserves one way or another. While tweets and likes matter, the comment section is the most vital part of a blog. Instead of the number of comments, their authenticity is what truly matters. One way for distinguishing this is by investigating if the comment section is full of spam or genuine discussions between the writer and audience.

Resource Pages

Resource pages are known for generating an immense amount of organic traffic for your website, and these pages are complex to distinguish. Many resource pages are built solely for search engine ranking. Such websites only exist to reciprocate links amongst the viewers. However, links for both the parent website and the partner pages are linked on the webpage.

Nonetheless, avoiding pages that require you to add their link on your website should always be your priority. To prevent yourself from making a mistaking, experts advise to always aim for .edu and .gov websites. These pages are well-optimized and regulated, thus increasing the difficulty of getting on them.

Google’s algorithm trusts the difficulty level of such websites. Moreover, if the existing links on the site are high-quality and relevant to your industry, it is worth going the extra mile to secure a spot for yourself.

Sponsorships

For many cases, it is always great to avail yourself of sponsorships leading to links. The first and foremost thing to consider before having your business sponsored is if the subsidy is suitable for your business nature. Depending on your business, you are likely to gain more attraction by supporting the local people. Likewise, your business must not be a poor fit with the sponsor’s plan. For instance, it wouldn’t make sense for a tobacco company to sponsor a health-related charity event.

Nevertheless, it is also crucial that the sponsorship is relevant to your business niche. While the viability for subsidies irrelevant to your industry is possible, it is ideal for sticking with appropriate plans. Doing so will improve the community engagement aspect of your brand. It will essentially increase your brand awareness and lead to effective marketing, and thus, more sales.

Conclusion

Having capitalized on the competitor’s links and strategy will bring a noticeable change to your website’s performance. But does the quest for success end there? Absolutely not. Similar to your efforts and strides, your competitors are likely improving and modifying their strategy. Even worse, top competitors are seeking new opportunities daily. Therefore, now is not the time to relax. Instead, it is now when you must practice vigilance and keep an eye on the competitor’s marketing tactics.