Link building has been one of the strongest strategies to improve one’s ranking on search engines. However, back when SEO was being introduced, there were fewer rules and penalties to worry about. The introduction of Google’s Penguin update has changed the way Google views link building.

There is no doubt that link building can be quite difficult, not to mention the misconceptions going around. Once understood, link building can become an awesome tool for the advancement of SEO.

The following are some of the myths and misconceptions of link building.

1. Having two or more link from the same site is useless

Although diversity is key when it comes to link building, it’s totally okay to have one or more links from the same website. The links are not only meant to rank you highly on search engines but to also direct traffic to your site.

2. Link Building Requires Quantity As Much as Quality

Nowadays, it’s of no relevance to how many links you have. It is very essential to have quality links rather than a huge number of links. Google will look at the sources and what matters most is where they have originated and how authoritative they are for each and every source.

If you have about 30 sources that are of good quality and are authoritative, it is much more preferable compared to having about 300 links that have no relevance because they are not authoritative. Even if all you can manage to get is one very high quality and authoritative link, it would be better to go for that instead of going for 50 links that have sources that are questionable.

3. You Should Only Look For Manual Links

This is another fallacy and is an SEO practice that used to work before but not today. Previously, webmasters would long into directories and forums or into other sites manually. They would then have to post links manually to ensure that you reached a certain required number of links.

What is of importance today is that you get links that have been achieved through the natural attraction. You should allow your site to attract these links naturally because of the wonderful content that you have that people are very pleased to cite, are willing to share and would love to link to.

Mostly, you will find that it is not easy to create such content because it is costly. When this content is created naturally and in a proper manner, it will not be necessary to build the links manually because they will just happen naturally.

4. Getting links too fast will get you penalized

Acquiring too many links is not a problem. The problem is getting spammy or low-quality links at a faster rate. When Google evaluates these links and finds them to be spammy, this could trigger a penalty.

5. All Link Building Activities Will Be Penalized

A higher percentage of webmasters are afraid that link building suffers from this fallacy. Google is mostly concerned about links that are acquired through tricky manipulated practices that are full of spam.

In the event that you have done something that is very spurious and severe, you will get the chastisement that comes from a Penguin or manual retribution.

You should keep manipulative and methods that are full of spam so that you safeguard your links and get them only from authoritative sources that are of good quality and everything will be alright.ribe to The Morning Email.

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6. Link Building Should Be Self Reliant

In most cases, content marketing is independent as an SEO procedure but this is not the case with link building. Links cannot be independents but are used only for the purposes of enhancing rankings.

For ultimate productivity, link building is incorporated into other internet marketing methods such as content marketing and social media sharing because all these approaches can lead to the great natural acquisition of links.

The link building game plan is therefore not independent and separate from content marketing approaches but rather inherently connected to content strategies as well. It is part of the general strategy for any website and SEO should propel link building and it should not be link building setting into motion SEO.

7. All Link Building Activities Are For Purposes of Linking

Link building today is not the major reason why people actually link. Because the Google search ranking algorithm is quite a complex matter, it will be able to recognize when any brand name or the author is cited.

These mentioned are believed to have the same authoritative value as linking does and do not place you in a position of jeopardy so that you attract a penalty. You actually secure these mentions when you do what great brands do. This means that you must produce wonderful and meaningful content, have products that are outstanding, provide exceptional customer service and be active locally and online in your community.

When you ensure that all these activities are of inherent value to people, you will get high-quality links. In other words, building your brand instead of depending only on your links or a link building approach is not enough. When you build your brand, you will get high-quality links that will happen naturally and this what link building actually entails.

8. Anchor Text Is Still Very Relevant

This is another myth that has been propagated and is actually not entirely true. Taking too much time trying to ensure that anchor texts fit into your keywords will not actually result in high-quality links.

There are times when it will be rational to do this. Most of the links that you build should, however, be built based on the fact that they have been achieved naturally and because they are designed to inform the reader. Aggressive anchor text strategies are not going to work if they are not done with quality in mind.

A higher degree of identical anchor text match could actually result in a Penguin because you could appear to be trying to manipulate the link building process. This is why the anchor text must be relevant so that everything appears to be natural and not manufactured.

9. Never acquire links from sites with lower metrics than your own

Finally, before judging a website based on its domain authority, check to see their other metrics. A site with a low domain authority could be linked to other good places which could, in turn, be beneficial to your link building strategy.

Conclusion

When you change the way you build links based on the above information, you will find link building to be an effective approach to increasing your rank on search engines. What this means is that the focus should change to the building of your brand and should not be on link building as a strategy. This will help you attract links naturally ensuring that you only have quality links.

Author bio:
Georgi Todorov is a digital marketer. He recently started his NGO DigitalNovas. His passion is to help startups grow and thrive in a competitive environment.