SEO
Linkbuilding
Link building and building authority are important parts of an SEO strategy. By having relevant websites link to your site, you send a clear signal to search engines: this website is valuable and recommended by others. A good link should be seen as a vote of confidence. But a good link building strategy has one important condition: quality always comes before quantity.
At Boost Online, we help you with link building you can be proud of. Our approach to link building is relevant, transparent and future-proof. No vague link networks or quick tricks, but links on real websites with real traffic and authority.
What is link building for SEO?
Link building revolves around obtaining external links, also known as backlinks. These are links from other websites that link to yours. These links increase your online authority and therefore contribute to better positions in Google. But beware: not every link is necessarily good for your website. Links from unreliable or irrelevant websites can actually do more harm than good.
It is therefore important to approach link building in a smart and thoughtful way. At Boost Online, we can help you with that.
Outsource link building
It is sometimes thought that link building (also known as link acquisition) is nothing more than arranging a few links or having your site added to a list. However, Google is now smart enough to distinguish between genuine recommendations and spam. Carelessly placed links on irrelevant or “fake” websites may have an effect in the short term, but in the long term this carries risks, such as losing positions or even a penalty from Google.
We don’t want to scare you, but we advise against experimenting with this yourself. Link building is a speciality in itself and should be a long-term investment. It’s better to do it right from the start than to have to repair the damage afterwards. At Boost Online, we are happy to help you with a high-quality link building strategy, or rather: an authority building strategy.
How does link building work at Boost Online?
We do link building differently. Quality comes first, always. That means we:
- Don’t have a proprietary link network: We operate completely independently and select the best options for your website from the networks of various parties with whom we collaborate. This means no automated placements, but rather manual cherry picking.
- Select carefully: We thoroughly research the best options and only publish on websites that have proven traffic and authority. In addition, we believe it is very important that the website on which we place your content is also relevant to your industry or subject matter.
- Only place in-content links: We do not purchase bare links in the footer or on a home page. We always ensure a natural mention within a matching article. This is sometimes referred to as an advertorial or sponsored article, although we naturally try to avoid using that term in the article.
- Don’t use BPNs or other spam: We avoid link farms and so-called “Private Blog Networks”. Your link will only appear on real websites with real readers.
- Are transparent: You always know where your links are and why we chose that location. We will not purchase the placement without your approval.
- Focusing on the long term: We think strategically about the role of link building in your overall SEO plan. We don’t do this as a separate trick, but as a structural part of your online success.
Joost will be happy to tell you more about this.
Why high-quality link building works
Link building works, provided you do it right. Google still attaches great importance to reliable recommendations. If a strong and relevant website links to your page, this is a sign of authority. Structurally adding these high-quality links ensures:
- Higher rankings in search engines
- Greater confidence among visitors
- Better visibility within your target group
Good link building not only helps you rank higher in Google, but also helps you attract the right visitors. More referral traffic, as it is called in Google Analytics, is mainly a bonus. The main goal of link building is to increase authority.
Ready for link building without the fuss?
Want to build your website’s authority without regretting it later? At Boost Online, we help you with link building that really contributes to stable growth in your organic traffic. Contact us for an audit of your link profile and a tailor-made approach!
Ready to grow?
Yes, backlinks are still one of the most important ranking factors in Google. However, it is no longer about quantity, but about which links you add to your profile. Quality and relevance are very important.
Links from spammy, irrelevant or artificially inflated websites can cause damage. Your website may rank lower or even be penalised by Google as a result of many of these links. It is therefore wise to have this done by a specialist, such as Boost Online.
No, link building is one of the pillars of SEO, alongside content and technology. It is actually the third step in the process of sustainable growth. Only when the content and technical SEO are properly set up can link building achieve maximum results. You wouldn’t fill up a car with petrol if it didn’t have wheels yet. That’s why it’s important to always tailor link building to your overall SEO strategy.
PBN is an abbreviation for Private Blog Network. This is a network of often old, purchased domains that have built up authority in the past and are used to place artificial backlinks to a website. Although this used to be effective, it now falls under “black hat SEO” and is almost guaranteed to result in a penalty from Google in the long run. Google is getting better at recognising these networks, for example by looking at server groups, and can severely penalise websites that use them. That’s why we never work with PBNs at Boost Online. We only go for real websites with real readers and real authority.
We use a number of tools for this, including Semrush and Majestic SEO. This is software that can measure and compare the authority and potential traffic of a website. Of course, we don’t rely blindly on figures, but we also manually review the content, topicality and target audience of the website.
In-content links are links that are naturally incorporated into a relevant article. Good examples are a blog, interview or theme page. These links are more valuable than a mention in a footer or in a long list of links. Google also understands better what the links are about and why they are valuable thanks to the surrounding content.
Link building remains a so-called grey area. Google prefers links to be created in a completely organic way, but in practice, almost everyone knows that link building takes place in some form.
At Boost Online, we are fully committed to quality and relevance. We only purchase links from reliable websites. However, as no one else can, we can never guarantee 100% that a search engine will never take a more critical look. Nevertheless, we work with confidence and a proven approach that many customers successfully rely on.
In theory, anyone can get started with link building, but without experience, there is a good chance that you will end up on low-quality websites or unknowingly use techniques that do more harm than good. Link building is a profession in its own right. You need the right insight and the right tools, but also a good network. At Boost Online, we take care of this for you with an approach that is transparent and effective.
The costs for link building vary per purchased link. A provider is free to set their own price. This price is often calculated based on the traffic on the website and its authority. A small niche blog is therefore often cheaper than a placement on a large popular site. We always work with in-content links, including an article or advertorial, often written by us. This also entails some editorial costs.
On average, you can expect to pay around €200 to €500 per link, excluding editorial costs. However, everything is tailor-made; we cherry-pick only the best and most relevant websites for each client. Price-quality ratio is paramount. We always do this transparently, so you know in advance what you are paying for.
Please note: link building is not a one-off thing, but part of a strategy. We recommend setting aside a monthly budget for this. After all, it looks much more natural if you get a few links per month, rather than a whole bunch at once. At Boost Online, we recommend setting aside at least £500 per month for this. With a smaller investment, the results will be so small and take so long that you would be better off putting your money into other things.
Link building is a long-term investment. Sometimes you will see slight improvements in your rankings after just a few weeks, especially if you have never done any link building before. However, you will often only see the effect after 3 to 6 months. This also depends on your competition, the quality of the links and how the rest of your search engine optimisation is doing.