In our previous articles (first, second), we talked about the need for getting high-quality links, as it improves our ranking on search engines, and as well our online reputation, click-through rate (CTR), and other significant KPI’s for the website. 

Usually, most of SEO’s recommended getting links through articles and directory listing websites as they were considered to be low-risk techniques if implemented as they should be, and could bring the much-desired benefits. However, once the Penguin update from Google has landed, the giant from Mountain View started to penalize for getting low-quality techniques and much of the ranking and link building strategies suffered modifications in order to comply with the new rules. 

Mobiteam digital marketing department has identified what are the good and the bad links that should point to your website and in this article, we will talk about them. 

#1 Organic editorial links

These links are actually of much worth in the world of SEO. The organic editorial links appear in a natural way as a reference to an editorial website on other websites without asking someone to do so. But in order to achieve such performance, there is a lot of work to do, and mainly, you should give a good reason for others to do so. 

Things like creating a great piece of content on your website and then raising awareness among specialty bloggers and websites that the content you created really exists and is of great value. It takes a lot of time to reach this level, but it really makes the difference when it comes to ranking, as search engines value a lot the “organic editorial links” 

#2 Manually Achieved Links

This is one of the most common link building strategies and it’s often met among many industries and fields. Shortly, it assumes that you outreach your “link partners” manually, by contacting them and ask the favor of giving a link. But again, you should give them a really good reason to do so. 

As a top web development and design agency, Mobiteam can also help your business to expand and increase your audience. Just check our advertorial section to find out more. 

But there is one thing you should be aware of – if your partner’s website does not have any connection to your field of activity, then the impact of the link will be drastically diminished by search engines, and this is why looking for these types of backlinks can be difficult and as well it may take a lot of time for your business. 

#3 Self-Created & Non-editorial Backlinks

These types of links are what we suggest to avoid them, as you can get penalized for using. Self-created links are referred more to the Black-hat practices as it breaks the general search engine guidelines. They are created by the same owner and meant to trick search engines as being a piece of important and valuable content when these are actually not. 

Once with the Penguin update from Google and the updates that followed, these practices started to be unveiled and penalized. And because these links are not referred to as to editorial links, they carry less value than other types (above mentioned) and thus, it’s not only risky to implement this strategy but as well it’s almost worthless. 

The types of links that refer to this practice are: 

• Blog comments that are not moderated 
• Press releases with optimized anchor text
• Article directories
• Guest post signatures
• Embeddable widgets
• Infographic embeds
• User profile pages
• Guestbooks
• Forum signatures
• Directories that are not moderated

This way or another, no matter what type of links you chose to implement, you should always be aware of the risks and benefits they bring. For this reason, you should take your time to consider which way suits your website best and put a lot of effort to achieve your goal. 

This is the third article from the link building series created and released by Mobiteam. Stay tuned for more information regarding link building and how you can benefit from it. As well, as a proven top web design & development company, you can rely on Mobiteam in any works regarding establishing or expanding your business online.