Gaining links from other sites to help promote your business and improve your SEO is no secret. In fact, some people choose to do this in the form of trading links- which is one of the most widely known, yet unsound, SEO tactics out there. Most overlook the fact that simply adding links doesn’t necessarily add value. It’s even ill advised according to Google and other search engines when it’s done solely to try to increase search engine ranking. So how do you truly add value by linking?

What Google, and other search engines, want you to do is to approach the situation as if search engines didn’t exist. For example, if you have a partner who has a website who wants to link to you, then you should first ask yourself a few questions. Think about your answers from a strategic perspective and remember a true link should add value to the user experience on both sides of the click.

• Does your partner’s site complement your site?

• What reasons do people have to visit my partner’s site?

• Would those people, as part of their experience on that site, be likely to follow a link back to my own site?

• Does the link relate to your site? This can be categorically, horizontally or vertically as long as an intuitive connection exists.

• Can you identify a piece of content or place on the site that your link could exist as part of it and make sense/add value to the user experience?

• Is the site professional and would you like to be associated with it?
• Is the site credible and doesn’t practice any black-hat or malicious SEO strategies and tactics?

If you have a hard time answering any of these questions, you may want to re-consider and possibly avoid getting linked with the site in question.

If, on the other hand, the answers lead in a positive direction, make sure your partner uses a descriptive hyperlink–something more than “click here”–and make sure the link is to a relevant portion of the site. (It might make sense for to link directly to a product page, for example.) If you do get linked, and think you should link back, you should perform the same exercise. Don’t link back to someone just because they linked to you! Only link if it adds value.

Our approach

MicroArts has had proven success following these guidelines with our own network of partners. As a company specializing in aligning brand design, positioning and development and seeding it online as part of our clients’ websites, it is not uncommon for site visitors to ask themselves, “Who made this?” So oftentimes, our clients will include a single hyperlink to our website with a label along the lines of “Website Design by MicroArts Creative Agency” or “Brand Design by MicroArts.” This example of a descriptive hyperlink sends curious and interested visitors in an intuitive and linear manner to our website. This has three primary benefits:

• We get a relevant traffic flow of potential prospects, who have already seen our work and are interested to learn more.

• Search engines naturally recognize these links and assign us higher ranking on results pages

• We can ask our partners to change terms and tweak terms within each descriptive link as we evolve, our work evolves and search engines evolve. This flexibility provides a great way to test certain relevant link descriptions within different spaces to see what works best.

To find out how we can develop and deliver value adding SEO strategies and tactics to boost your online presence and drive traffic to your site, please call 603.430.1110 to learn more.