It’s fair to say that the world of link building has changed a lot in just a few short years.
Where it once sufficed to write any old flimsy thing for a guest blog post, include a backlink and watch the high-quality traffic roll in, today, you really need to offer something invaluable to human users if Google is to be much interested in it as well.
So what stuff’s that then?
We’re talking about “stuff” like exhaustive guides, for example, that are well-written and genuinely thorough and authoritative explorations of a subject about which your target audience wants to know more.
When we say “exhaustive guide”, by the way, we mean something more like a book than a merely longer-than-usual blog post. You’ll inevitably need to invest a lot of effort and time into the creation of such a guide, but you’ll be paid back in spades over potentially years in terms of brand authority and greater sales.
However, you don’t necessarily have to do quite that much hard work to get results from your link building efforts in 2017. That’s because lengthy blog posts of about 2,000 to 2,500 words can also be relevant and useful to readers who lack the time to sift through an entire guide, but nonetheless desire authoritative and well-researched content.
Aren’t there ways of building links that don’t require so much work?
Well, there are certainly a few other content ideas that we can suggest, including list posts. These have become notorious on Buzzfeed, but are nonetheless a potentially informative and ‘snackable’ form of content that is sure to get people chatting about whether they agree or disagree with your selections. Did you get the ranking right? Should certain things have been included or excluded? The ensuing debate is a sure recipe for clicks, shares and boosted brand awareness.
Finally, great visuals are also a frequent characteristic of the finest link building content in 2017. Indeed, content with colour visuals has been said to make people 80% more willing to read an article or blog post.
Genuinely impactful link building may be a little more challenging these days than it was in years past, but that doesn’t mean it can’t be done – for less of an investment than you might think. Enquire now to Jumping Spider Media about our considerable and varied know-how in all things link building.