Marketers have different approaches. But, they agree on one thing. They all want to feature in Google’s top rankings. But they disagree on how to achieve it. Should you choose link building? Is content marketing better?
Before that, you must know what they are.
Link building and content marketing are two ways to increase your rankings. Let’s see what they are all about.
Link Building:
Link building is getting links from other sites in the same industry. Its goal is to increase your rankings through keywords. You have to develop a good relationship with other bloggers. It gets you quality backlinks. This is the off-Page SEO Strategy
There are several ways you can build links.
In general, there are three types of links:
- Outbound links: These are links you use to direct your users to authority sites.
- Inbound links: These are links from other sites to yours.
- Internal links: These links connect different pages of your site.
Content Marketing:
It is all about creating and marketing valuable content. The content must be relevant. It must provide valuable insights into the industry. The content must target an audience. It should move them to act.
There are several types of content. It is essential to find what type of content is best for your audience. You can read about fitty food.
Here are the types:
- Blog posts
- Infographics
- Videos
- Podcasts
- Interviews
- E-books
- Tutorials
- Social media posts
You should try hard to build a good relationship with your audience.
These four elements are crucial for effective content marketing:
- Identify target audience
- Study more about them
- Pick channels to reach them
- Leverage the power of social media
Some things to consider:
- What are your goals?
It is crucial to keep the big picture in mind. Be clear about what you are trying to achieve. Are your goal rankings alone? Or perhaps you want to increase sales. It could also be web traffic and more user interaction.
Is getting immediate results the top priority for you? Then links will help you. You can get links from bloggers, influencers, and other influential people. Go for link building if you cannot afford to wait for some months. Read about food spie here.
Content marketing is a good choice for your overall campaign. Go for content marketing if you want to focus on building relationships with customers. It is good when you want to show your expertise. For more opportunities, take the help of a content marketing services agency.
2. What resources do you have?
Time, energy, money, knowledge, interests, skills, and equipment. Do you have these resources? Which ones do you have the most?
Time is a valuable resource. If you want to increase your traffic quickly, go for link building agency.
Creating requires consistency. It takes a lot of time and patience for the results. But do not let this stop you.
If it takes a long time, its benefits are also slow to disappear. In addition, a few mistakes occasionally will not hurt much.
Producing content requires money and resources. Often you have to invest in computers, video cameras to create content. You also need to hire freelance writers and technical experts. Or you should partner with a content marketing agency.
Things to Avoid: Black Hat Techniques
Link building and content marketing have their pros and cons. Whatever you choose, you have to avoid black hat techniques.
One black hat technique used in link building includes paid links. There are links sold which they tell will increase your rankings.
Some people use bots to create fake profiles. They then post their links in forums. You have to avoid this. Also, don’t spam your links in blog comments.
For successful link building, focus on natural links. Provide value to the people. You can collaborate with influencers. Give them free products. They will review your products and link your site.
Build good relationships with bloggers. As a blogger, write about the trends. Respond to your critics with your posts. These things will help you get natural links. Agencies providing enterprise SEO services can help you with links.
When you create content, know how the engines work. Don’t try to beat the machines. Keyword stuffing is something you should avoid at all costs.
Some people stuff the primary keyword all over the post. They believe that they can manipulate the rankings. The keywords will sit unnaturally in the paragraphs. Google penalizes keyword stuffing.
Duplicate content is another black hat technique you should avoid. Write unique content for each location page. Don’t use misleading redirects or try to fool the machines. You should treat the machines and your customers the same way.
The key to successful content marketing is to focus on the user intent. Make sure your content is relevant and contextual.
Final Thoughts:
Don’t treat link building as a stand-alone campaign. You already should have valuable content to ask people for links. So, both links and content are crucial for SEO.
Having content on your page shows your credibility. You need not beg for links. Bloggers in the niche will see your value. They will direct readers to your site.
But content marketing has several benefits over links. Google updates its algorithm constantly. You don’t know how Google’s changes will affect links. So, it is always safer to focus on content marketing. Hire a content marketing agency for quality content.