Some people say that link building is not for everyone and that it’s only specialists who should engange in it. Yeah, well, sounds right but not every webmaster can hire a SEO specialist for link building so at times you can rely only on yourself. We say — go for it, try yourself. But! Forewarned is forearmed, right? That’s why we’re here to give you some insights on critical and not really obvious mistakes that a lot of webmasters (and even SEO specialists) make. This isn’t what you expected.
Here are 8 critical mistakes to avoid:
- Making all links come from articles of the same length. You’re working with a vendor on outreach. They write articles of the same length. It’s sketchy, right? A clear pattern is what you should avoid.
- Making all links come from About the Author sections. If you’re heavily into guest blogging, your links should be within the content. Such links are perceived as more valuable, and you leave no traces.
- Over-optimized anchor texts. We get it, you want to rank first for Safe dog leashes keyword. But you shouldn’t use Safe dog leashes anchor for even 20% of your anchors. In fact, you shouldn’t build links to your ‘Safe dog leashes‘ page at all, which brings us to the next mistake.
- Links to irrelevant pages. Your ‘PetSafe Nylon Leashes‘ page won’t attract many links. It’s commercial. But your ‘25 Hacks for Dog Owners‘ page will attract many. Use internal linking and on-page optimization to rank for specific queries.
- Accumulating links too quickly. You might be able to get thousands of links to a page if it goes viral. But it should be accompanied by many other signals to confirm. Be cautious and build slowly and confidently.
- Links that don’t stick. The context around your link is key to its longevity and relevance, not just the insertion. Remember the rule: Make sure the content only makes sense with your link. Some say that it’s the best way to quickly grow organic traffic. Remove the link, and the text loses its meaning!
- Irrelevant links. It goes without saying that your links should be relevant. At the very least, they should be contextually relevant. It’s okay to place a link from a technical site to a gardening one if the context is appropriate.
Over time, you’ll accumulate enough natural links to make your link profile look natural, but if you’re actively building ‘spot’ links in the early stages, try to diversify them.
