Link Generation

A lot of people ask how Google ranks particular pages in their search results, and a lot of the time the answer isn’t so clear cut. Google assesses over 200 different variables of a web page to determine it’s rank to a search query. One of them, if not the most important, is authority. And how does one determine the authority of a web site or web page within it? Google determines it by links from other websites pointing to yours. These links act as ‘votes of confidence’ and shows Google that other websites out there consider you an expert at what you do, therefore you have more authority over sites with less of them.

This is why link building is an essential practice that we at Paramount Search Marketing take very seriously. We use a wide variety of tools along with our general knowledge to scour the web for potential opportunities where your site could acquire a link. The more links your site acquires, the more authority it builds and higher rankings it will enjoy. Here’s how we go about link building.

Assess Competitor Link Profiles

A link profile of a website shows all of the links that the site has acquired. Usually we can gather information on their most valuable links, and from which sites they are coming from. This is a great way to seek opportunities for building links, and by gaining similar links to your competitors you will be on a level playing field in terms of authority. It’s by investing more time to link building then your competitors are that will give you an authoritative edge when it comes to rankings.

Determine a Strategy to Gain Links

There are many different ways to gain links. Some include article exchanges, link magnets (something valuable exclusive to your site that people will link to), social media campaigns, offering widgets, guest blog posts to a site in exchange for a link and even those that you gain without even making an effort! What we will do is determine the best strategy to go about receiving these links, and do it in a way that depicts a natural link acquisition profile for your website. Getting too many links to quickly shows Google that you’re a spammer, and can potentially lead to your site being de-indexed and possibly blacklisted by Google. Obviously, we wouldn’t advise a strategy like this.

For the final phase of our SEO methodology, see our page on analytics and reporting.

Copyright 2011 Paramount Search Marketing