Better Link Building for Holistic Organic Search
The term holistic SEO is in vogue right now in the e-marketing arena. Holistic SEO can be described as an e-marketing strategy utilizing a variety of online channels and other related elements of marketing and web development together with SEO.
Organic search is evolving away from ranking largely based on short keywords to semantic search, that is, ranking based on how well a website actually provides searchers with what they are looking for. Keywords are still part of the equation in semantic search, but less so, and SERP ranking will be more significantly boosted by hits on long-tail keywords (more descriptive phrases at least three words long). With semantic search, the actions of visitors after they click on the link from the SERP also impact the ranking of the page visited.
Holistic Link Building for Semantic Search
People use search engines to find websites closely related to what they are looking for, and in 70% of searches, users click on organic (not paid) links. If users are searching with Google, 18% of these organic clicks come from sites in the top position in search results, 10% come from the second site on the SERP list and 7% choose the third link on the list.
Organic search results (page ranking) are based on a number of factors. Among the most important of these factors is the link popularity of a website.
Syndication Works Best At Established Websites
However, link popularity does not mean just getting as many links as you possibly can to your site. Link building and backlinks should be approached holistically, with the idea of naturally attracting links from well-known websites with high quality content that are relevant to the theme(s) of your website.
The old method of generating as many backlinks as possible from whatever sources is a definite no no in today’s emerging semantic web. The problem is you end up with links to link farms and other spammy sites, which results in a major ranking penalty from Google and other search engines. Working with a link building service is a good way to make sure you are getting the high quality links from authority sites that you need.
Quality, Relevant Content is Increasingly Important
Content is king in the semantic web. The only truly effective way to get backlinks from quality, highly ranked sites is to provide top-notch, relevant content on your site that visitors to those sites want to read.
Given that semantic search is about meeting the needs of the searcher, it’s only logical that your content is focused on the needs and desires of your target audiences. Focus on content that provides important or timely information or answers to questions your target customers are likely to have. Finally, content must be regularly updated to maintain a SERP high ranking.
After you’ve got quality, relevant content in place, you will naturally start to see an increase in your rankings and traffic as you start to get some backlinks from bloggers or social media buzz, but it can be a slow process. You can spend a good bit of time trying to build up backlinks to quality sites yourself, or you can minimize your overhead by using a professional link building service.