Building links should be a long-term strategy, not a sprint. Image: Flickr / teddyb109 / CC-BY-SA

Linkbuilding has always been a basic element of good search engine optimization. Done correctly, strong links can boost both your page rank and your site’s overall reputation. Link building should not, however, be a short-term boost to your ranking; it should be a long-term strategy of steady development.

A review of linkbuilding importance

Linkbuilding is part of search engine optimization 101. External links, to a search engine, count as votes for a website. Linkbuilding can cover a wide variety of strategies, from commenting on others’ blogs to directly building out links in directories. No matter what the method, though, building links means building search engine votes for the importance and authority of your URL.

The problem with linkbuilding spikes

When you start building links, many take on enthusiastic strategies to build hundreds, if not thousands of links at a time. However, when links spike, then drop and then spike again, many search engines consider it an indicator of spam. Fast spikes rarely happen in natural webpage authority building. There are non-spam websites that get spikes in links, but often those websites have other authority indicators and will usually not show up in the top result of a search engine results page.

Setting yourself up for a marathon

A marathon takes a very long time to run, and an effective linkbuilding campaign takes a long time to complete. When building SEO links, you need to pace yourself just like a marathon runner. Spikes and valleys in your enthusiasm are natural, so harness that enthusiasm when you have it to pre-build and plan your strategies, then schedule them out to maintain a consistent pace. The penalty for linkbuilding spikes is comparatively small, but heading it off is worth the extra time and effort.

Read more on linkbuilding

Search Engine Optimization Basics: Linkbuilding 101
SEO Basics: Linkbuilding 201