Setting Up Your Link Building Strategy with Andrew Dennis @AndrewDennis33 #vcbuzz

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Setting Up Your Link Building Strategy with Andrew Dennis @AndrewDennis33 #vcbuzzLink building is one of the hardest, yet most important digital marketing areas.

While search engine algorithms still largely depend on links, links also help build traffic and build your audience.

So how to set up an effective, yet safe link building strategy for your site? Let’s discuss!

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About @AndrewDennis33

@AndrewDennis33 is senior Content Marketing Specialist @pageonepower as well as @sengineland and @sejournal columnist.

Connect to Andrew on Linkedin

Questions we discussed

Q1 How did you become a digital marketer? Please share your career story!

Like most SEOs, I didn’t go to school to become an SEO. But I did study advertising and always had an interest in marketing.

So when I was waiting tables out of college, I jumped at the opportunity to work at Page One Power. My friend, who introduced me, described P1P as “a company that helps rank stuff online” LOL.

Now I’m ~5 years into the SEO industry and I couldn’t be happier. It’s a great community that is willing to share knowledge and support one another, and the industry is always changing so there’s never a dull moment!

Q2 On a higher level, what is a link building strategy and what does it consist of?

At a high level, link building strategy involves finding where your audience exists online and connecting your brand and website with the sites that are important to them.

Tactically speaking, link acquisition strategy should be built on keyword research, audience search behavior, and competitive analysis.

The main thing to remember about link building strategy is it should ALWAYS align with your business goals. Ask yourself, “Does this support my overarching marketing goals?” If the answer is no, it’s not worth pursuing.

Q3 Which pitfalls should we be aware of to ensure our link building strategy is safe (both for Google and online reputation)?

One good rule to remember is link building is about application, not tactic.

Pretty much any link acquisition tactic can be used to secure relevant links or abused to the point of manipulation — it all depends on application.

Also, don’t rely on a single metric (Domain Authority, TrustFlow, Domain Rating, etc.) when assessing potential link quality. These are third-party metrics that should be referenced as signposts, not the be all end all of link value.

Q4 How link building has changed (should have changed) over the decade?

Oh the ways – link building has changed so much since I’ve been in the industry. There were the wild west, Pre-Penguin days where sheer link volume could cause a website to rank, regardless of spam.

After Penguin was released, it helped clean up link building quite a bit. However, the industry overreacted a bit and we saw the advent of “link earning” or “build it and they will come”.

However, SEOs quickly realized that links did not in fact build themselves, and manual promotion — within Google’s guidelines — was needed to secure the links sites need to earn search visibility.

Also, the shift of Penguin from manual updates by G to updating in real time has been huge for link building. Penguin can devalue spammy, irrelevant links automatically which puts increased emphasis on real, worthwhile links.

Q5 What are your favorite link building and outreach tools?

Some of my favorite tools include

However, the most important tools in link building are your creativity and ability to find and connect with relevant audiences.

Our previous link building chats:

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