Why links are important for SEO?

There are several reasons why links are important for a successful web presence. Let's discuss the type of links and why it is important.

What is a Link?

A link (short for hyperlink) is an HTML object that allows you to jump to a new location when you click or tap it. Links are found on almost every webpage and provide a simple means of navigating between pages on the web. Links can be attached to text, images, or other HTML elements.

First of all, links are one of the primary ways that search engines discover the content on your website.

The more links that you have leading to your site, the more often search engine bots will crawl over your site and find and index the content on your website. Every time a new webpage is published, search engines will crawl over that page and follow any links that it has. They will then crawl over the linked content and continue to follow links. 

The more links that you have pointing to your site, the more often search engines will find your site. This also means that internal links are important. Internal links are links on your site that lead to other pages on the same site. A search engine may end up on your site from an external link, but if you have internal links set up properly, it will continue to crawl and index additional pages on your site. 

Links also tell search engines that your content is valuable because other people have linked to it. 

Not all links are the same. Some carry more weight than others. So, buying thousands of useless links will not have as much of a positive effect as receiving a dozen natural links. In this course, we're going to focus on which type of links are the most valuable, and how to gain as many of them as possible. Aside from gaining traction from search engines, links also play an important role in getting human beings to find and consume the content on your site. The more quality links that point to your site, the more visitors you'll likely receive.

Types Of Links That Matter For SEO

These are the 5 types of links that will be discussed below:

1. Internal Links
2. External Links
3. Natural Links
4. Manually Obtained Links
5. Self-Created Links

What is an Internal Link?

Is any link from one page on your website to another page on your website. Both your users and search engines use links to find content on your website. Your users use links to navigate through your site and to find the content they want to find. Search engines also use links to navigate your site. They won’t find a page if there are no links to it.

What is an External Link?

External links are hyperlinks that point at (target) any domain other than the domain the link exists on (source). External links have a greater impact on search engine rankings than internal links because they are valued by search engines as external votes of confidence/popularity in a web page.

What is a natural link?

Natural links happen when other webmasters, bloggers, or website owners link to your content (blogs, images, products, videos, etc) because they think is useful for their readers and adds value to their websites or pages.

What is a manually obtained link?

Manually obtained links are links you obtain through efforts. You have to put in time and energy, contacting other website owners and bloggers to link and feature your page.

These manual links building technique, asking around for links, is common among small businesses where they are still unknown in the industry. One does not simply feature another website as it will affect the quality of another.

What is a self-created link?

Non-editorial links made with the purpose of tricking search engines into thinking your content is good by manufacturing SEO value. Google does NOT consider this type of backlink valid and has even been known in recent years to penalize self-created links.

Full course available at Linkedin SEO: Link Building

Follow the writer Yasser Afify

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Understanding SEO and ecommerce

Understanding SEO and ecommerce

Selecting transcript lines in this section will navigate to timestamp in the video

These days, lots of people 

use search engines for shopping, 

whether they're in the early stages of research 

or they're ready to buy something right now. 

Whatever stage of the buying process they're in, 

if you sell the products that they're searching for, 

you're going to want to be found. 

And there are a few different things to consider 

that are specific to E-commerce websites 

that can help a search engine match your pages 

to the intent of people's search queries. 

How to display your product on the website? 

First and foremost, 

remember that everything that applies to normal content 

also applies to
E-commerce pages. 

The common best practices around website linking structures, 

external links, and on-page optimization 

are all very important. 

But in an era where search engines 

want to explicitly identify content 

at the most granular level of detail that they can, 

we want to make sure that search engines are very clear 

that your E-commerce content is exactly that. 

Beyond the typical HTML code that's found on your web pages, 

you can use very specific metadata 

to help identify your content as E-commerce content 

and describe the products that you're offering. 

Example of HTML codes for product display:

<div>

1.   <!-- http://multivarki.ru?filters%5Bprice%5D%5BLTE%5D=39600 -->
   
2.   <span>315</span>
   
3.   <div>
   
4.     <img alt="Photo of product" src="http://img01.multivarki.ru.ru/c9/f1/a5fe6642-18d0-47ad-b038-6fca20f1c923.jpeg" />
   
5.     <a href="http://multivarki.ru/brand_502/">
   
6.       <span>BRAND 502</span>
   
7.     </a>
   
8.     <div>
   
9.       <span>4399 р.</span>
   
10.     </div>...
    
11.     <div>
    
12.     ...
    
13.     </div>
    
14.   </div>
    
15. </div>
16. 
    

But even before you put in place those technical components, 

it's still as important as ever 

to
know what keywords your potential customers 

are typing into search engines. 

Make sure to analyze your keyword research 

to determine what intent people have 

when using certain keywords 

and what content they're looking for. 

If you find that people are searching for comparisons 

between you and your competitors, 

then you might consider building content 

specific to that need. 

For those typing in keywords 

that indicate they're further down in the purchasing process 

like by product X or product Y coupon, 

well, you'll want to ensure that the content you're creating 

contains an easy path to the shopping cart. 

One more thing that's unique to E-commerce 

is that the products that you sell 

are often being discussed outside the bounds 

of your own website. 

You can find discussions and reviews on forums, 

social media, or other websites 

about the products that you sell. 

And these can be great opportunities 

to jump into the conversation as a knowledgeable expert. 

If someone is posting a review of their experience with you, 

you can use things like Google Alerts 

or social media monitoring tools 

to make sure you are aware of it, 

and good or bad, it's an opportunity for you to listen 

and join the conversation. 

If people are expressing negative feelings 

about you or your product, 

you can reach out to them and resolve the situation 

in the public eye. 

And if people are saying good things about your products, 

reach out and say, thank you. 

It might even lead to social media activity 

that ends up building links 

or a user-generated content for you. 

All of these public mediums are seen by search engines, 

as well as people, and you can gain 

some very tangible benefits from both.

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