Inbound links are the bread and butter of any SEO campaign – you just cannot rank in Google without them. Without links your site will not get the search engine visibility that it needs to be a success. Most posts about link building tell you how to get links but neglect to mention the crucial elements that need to be in place to allow those tactics to work. Today we are going to look at some of the reasons why people will not link to your website or blog posts.
Your writing doesn’t make the grade
Make sure the content on your site is well written and grammatically correct – why would anyone link to a page that has clearly been thrown together in a couple of minutes. It gets repeated time and time again that content is king – but a pile of hastily cobbled together slop will not help you gain new custom and will certainly not attract any links from other sites.
Additional Reading: How to Write Great Blog Content
You don’t have the passion
You need to believe in what you are writing, if you are writing loads of content just to be found in the search engines it sticks out like a sore thumb. Have something of substance to say, believe in what you are writing and others will feel that connection. If a page is chock full of keywords and reads like the worlds worst text book I am not going to link to you.
Additional Reading: Writing With Passion
Your design sucks
Google looks at design because users look at design. If your site looks like a mess then why would I want to link to it? Linking is all about the sharing of quality content and if your design is archaic or disorganised and scrappy why would I want to share that with my readers?
Additional Reading: 12 Steps to Creating a Professional Web Design
The headline doesn’t warrant attention
The headline of your content, site or blog post will often form part (if not all) of the link. If you have a simple but attention grabbing headline you are more likely to receive a link form me.
Additional Reading: How to Write Magnetic Headlines
There are no pretty pictures
Gone are the days of text heavy content, if you want links nowadays then you need to make it look beautiful. Everyone – in all niches – are upping their game and if you want to get links then you need to as well. Getting yourself some pretty pictures isn’t hard and there are plenty of sites that you can get you images from – remember to give credit for the pictures where it is due (this posts pic was from http://seotravel.co.uk/)
Additional Reading: 10 Tips To Choose and Use Photos on Your Web Site
You don’t fill your posts with interesting multi media
The more interesting the post the more I am likely to link, include videos, graphs, slideshare presentations and other goodies to make sure that your readers are getting value for money. It is so easy to embed this kind of content in your site nowadays that you would be daft not to.
Additional Reading: HOW TO: Add Multimedia to Your Blog
You are still writing top 10 posts that only cut the mustard 5 years ago
Information in the SEO world goes out of date so quickly and if you Google around this subject you will find plenty of articles telling you that the easiest link bait to produce are lists. 5 years ago you could write a “Top 20 <things to do with my niche>” article and maybe get the odd link. That doesn’t work anymore – you need to be inventive and original. You need to put time and effort into this kind of link bait otherwise it will just vanish into the black hole of top 10 lists never to be read again – never mind be linked to.
Additional Reading: 5 reasons why you should stop writing list posts
It’s all about you
Why will anyone link to content that is just about you? Unless you are a famous celebrity or a world wide brand you need to get past the ‘me factor’. The more content that you produce that is solely about you the less likely you are to get links.
Additional Reading: 20 Ways to Be a Generous Blogger
You don’t share the love
If you don’t link out to other people why on earth would they link to you? Being generous with your outbound links is helpful for you readers and will encourage others to link to you.
Additional Reading: 5 Reasons You Should Link Out to Others From Your Website
Your site is sloooow
If your site is slow to load it is bad for users. If the speed of your site hampers usability people are not going to link to it – they don’t want to send their readers over to a slow and inferior site.
Additional Reading: Page Speed Online
The usability is a mess
The same can be said for the usability of your site. If it is confusing or messy or not user friendly people are just not going to link to it.
Additional Reading: 10 Useful Usability Findings and Guidelines
Some additional resources:
Recommended Reading:
How to write the perfect blog post
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