08/18/2021 | Press release | Distributed by Public on 08/18/2021 12:38
On July 26, 2021, Google announced the launch of their new algorithm update referred to as the 'link spam update.' The update rolled out over the course of next two weeks and largely focused on identifying and nullifying link spam. Since the algorithm update can identify links across multiple languages, there is a wide range of links that may be affected.
According to Google's blog post, 'A reminder on qualifying links and our link spam update,' the best way to avoid being hurt by the update is to follow white hat practices and avoid methods that violate their guidelines for link schemes. Tagging your links appropriately was also on their list of things to do.
To ensure that your links will not be penalized by Google, use the following tagging conventions when applicable:
To avoid being hurt by this latest algorithm update, we recommend the following best practices when it comes to external linking:
At the end of the day, if you are building authoritative links that are relevant to your products, services, and content, you shouldn't be losing any sleep over this latest algorithm update.
According to MOZ, link building is 'stronger than ever.' At Investis Digital, we view links as one of key pillars of SEO-right alongside authority and relevance. Building a quality backlink profile is still a crucial part of increasing your keyword ranking, and the link spam update emphasizes the importance of doing this in a way that follows Google's quality guidelines.
We understand that the recent link spam update can be alarming-especially if your business has engaged in tactics like link exchanges or paid links in the past. If you're looking to clean up your backlink profile and build new, relevant backlinks, we're here to help. Over the years, our team has honed a variety of successful link building techniques.
Our client process begins with a complete site audit. Making sure the structure of your site has integrity and is free from any programmatic issues is key to being indexed by search engines. A search engine should easily be able to crawl, render and index your site. It's important to remember that you can have some of the best content on the planet, but if you don't factor in crucial elements like site architecture, site speed and accessibility, it is unlikely that you're going to rank well in search engine results.
After we address any technical SEO concerns, we move to on-page SEO-specifically, we will look at whether your content is optimized for link building. One of the most important considerations for a content audit is relevancy. Here are a couple of questions you should ask yourself when creating or updating content for your website:
You don't want to oversaturate your content with keyword stuffing, too many hyperlinks or filler words. On the other hand, you don't want to be publishing thin content that only loosely explains the subject you're covering. To keep Google happy, keep your audience happy. If your content's primary focus is user experience, you should naturally be acquiring keywords and improving rankings.
Once all of these elements are in place, we move on to off-page SEO. Off-page SEO focuses on PR, brand reputation, equity and-you guessed it-link building. If you immediately move into link building without making sure your technical and on-page SEO aren't optimized first, it can unravel everything you may have already worked on. Look at it as trying to start a car without an engine under the hood-you're not going to get very far.
We take a content-first approach to link building, as that is the most natural way to build links. Our team focuses on reviewing the most valuable linkable assets that are published on your site. This could include blog articles, infographics, calculators, career pages, 'About Us' pages, service locations, and other pieces of content.
Once we complete our review of your site and your available linkable assets, we begin our link building process. This usually looks something like this:
In 2020, our retention rate for client links was 96.7% across all clients. As the link spam update is rolled out, we will keep an eye on our metrics to make sure that our clients were only positively affected by this update. Rest assured that we take pride in our link building methods to ensure the best health for your website and your backlink profile.
Do you need assistance with your link building campaigns? Download our free whitepaper, 'How to Build Quality Backlinks That Impact Organic Search Visibility'. Or, reach out to Investis Digital today. Our team of SEO pros would be happy to discuss how we can help you build high-value links that move you up in the SERPs.