Ottawa features plenty of culture, history, and natural beauty; residents enjoy scenic views of Parliament Hill and the Ottawa River. This national capital hosts dozens of festivals each year, including the Canadian Tulip Festival and Ottawa Bluesfest.
You want your business in Ottawa to be as well-known as the record-breaking Rideau Canal. For that, you’ll need to optimize your website for search engines, a practice known as SEO. At First Rank, we know all about SEO. We’re going to tell you about one of the most important parts of it: link building.
Buckle up, because we’re going to dive into what this term means, and why it’s so important for your business in Ottawa:
What Is Link Building?
Let’s get the definition out of the way first: building links is when other websites post links back to your own site. Sounds simple, right? But link building is rarely as easy as it sounds.
To understand the importance of a link, start with this question: how does Google determine which websites are high-quality, and which aren’t?
There are many answers to that question, but one of the biggest factors is links. Every time another website links back to yours, it signals to Google that your content is reputable, trustworthy, and authoritative.
Links are especially impactful when they come from relevant sites with high authority of their own. Here’s an example:
Imagine that you run a financing business, and you write a blog about the types of coins in Canada. Then, the Royal Canadian Mint website posts a blog with a link to your post. Not only is this a highly authoritative link, but it comes from a local business with specific relevance to your industry.
But there’s a catch: not all links are weighted equally. Let’s say that same post was linked to by a low-traffic fishing website in Alaska. Not only is this link irrelevant to your industry, but it has no local relevance, either. This link will have a minimal impact on your rankings, if at all.
Why Should You Build Links In Ottawa?
Link building will make or break your SEO strategy. When you acquire more backlinks, you can:
- Increase your site traffic. When other sites direct back to yours, it brings new users to your website.
- Boosts your rankings. As we mentioned, each link increases the credibility of your website. You’ll improve your local rankings with more backlinks.
- Promote brand awareness. The more people who know about your business, the better. When they need your products or services, they’ll remember your website.
Link Building Solutions In Ottawa
Not all link building strategies are equally effective. Google updates its algorithm several times a year; it’s always getting better at detecting spammy, unnatural links. The more natural and relevant your links are, the better. Here are a few tried and true strategies that we recommend:
Creating content
If you want other bloggers to link to your website, then you need to write content that’s better than the rest. Original, well-researched content is key here. Websites won’t link to your posts if your content is generic, uninspired, or inaccurate.
Once you’ve identified a few topics to cover, how should you format your post? A few types of content that are great for link building include:
- Lists. Depending on your industry, the listicles you write will look a bit different. A plumber in Ottawa might write, “Top 5 Ways To Prevent Your Pipes From Freezing”, while an Ottawa dentist might write, “7 Ways Your Diet Is Affecting Your Teeth”.
- Infographics. Few people have the time to read large blocks of text. Why not convert your information into an appealing visual graphic? Use infographics to share statistics and other information that’s relevant to your business. These images are easy to link to or share on social media.
- Studies & research. One of the most common reasons why people link to a website is when they’re citing a statistic. If you have the data for it, try to compose a post with original research in your industry.
So, you’ve sat down and created some excellent content. Now, what can you do to encourage other sites to link to it? That brings us to our next step:
Outreach
Every website owner hopes to acquire links organically. This is when another user comes across your page, and decides to link to it without any effort on your part. But this is a rare event; if you want to build a lot of links, you’ll need to do some outreach.
This involves emailing websites directly. First, you need to identify which sites will benefit your own website. As we mentioned, you want to contact sites that are in the same industry as your own. Pay attention to the domain authority (DA) of a site; it measures how well the site ranks, and how many backlinks it has. Links from sites with a high DA will be the most beneficial to you.
SEO services
At the end of this post, you’ve probably arrived at one conclusion: Link building is a lot of work, and it is! It takes time to research topics, write content, and send emails. If you’re already running a business in Ottawa, spare time is something you’re in short supply of.
At First Rank, we offer SEO in Ottawa for business owners like you. Ready to take over your local search results? Contact us today!
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