Fundamental Differences Between Linkbuilding and Linkbaiting

Fundamental Differences Between Linkbuilding and Linkbaiting

In the world of SEO, there are two terms that stand out above many others and generate some debate regarding their differentiation. These terms are Linkbuilding and Linkbaiting.

What are they? How do they differ? Today, I will explain them briefly :)

Understanding Linkbuilding

Linkbuilding is one of the many practices of digital or online marketing primarily used by us SEOs to improve the ranking of websites in search engines, thus making it easier for people to find the page “promoted” with this strategy.

It is based on the acquisition of external links or links from other websites to one’s own (backlinks). In other words, Linkbuilding encompasses all the actions we take to get the website we want to promote to be linked from a third-party website to increase our popularity.

Linkbuilding encompasses all the actions we take to get the website we want to promote to be linked from a third-party website to increase our popularity

This concept is closely related to the so-called PageRank (PR), an algorithm used by search engines, mainly Google, that rates the importance or relevance of a page, improving its visibility (ranking it) in the search engine results pages (SERPs) if the “importance” of the page in question is higher than that of the competition.

PageRank

The initial PageRank algorithm can be found in the original document where its creators presented the prototype of Google: “The Anatomy of a Large-Scale Hypertextual Web Search Engine”:

Where:

• is the PageRank of page A.
• d is a damping factor with a value between 0 and 1.
• are the PageRank values of each of the pages i that link to A.
• C(i) is the total number of outbound links on page i (whether or not they are towards A).

Experts say the value of the d variable in PageRank is usually 0.85.

The PR represents the probability that surfers will keep clicking links while browsing the Internet instead of typing a URL directly into the address bar or clicking one of their bookmarks. It is a value established by Google.

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Therefore, the probability that the user will stop clicking links and navigate directly to another random website is 1-d. The introduction of the damping factor in the formula reduces the weight of all the pages on the Internet and ensures that pages without links to any other page do not receive a disproportionate benefit.

If a user lands on a page without links, what they will do is navigate to any other page randomly, which is equivalent to assuming that a page without outbound links has links to all the pages on the Internet.

Source: https://es.wikipedia.org/wiki/PageRank

Well, let’s continue with Linkbuilding :)

Forms in Which Linkbuilding is Presented

There are several ways in which Linkbuilding, also known by many as “link construction,” is presented. It can be a simple external link with a word like “click here” (not recommended, by the way… we all know what “anchor text” is, right? If you don’t, ask me, I don’t want to repeat myself so much, hahaha) or it can also be an image.

I emphasize that if in our linkbuilding strategy we use images, they must be accompanied by an alt text or ALT tag that should be related to the page we want to rank, being able to use the domain name among other alternatives, as we cannot use “buy Samsung Smartphone” and have it link to a page that only sells iPhones…

If in our linkbuilding strategy we use images, they must be accompanied by an alt text or ALT tag

This would be considered deception and would have a very negative effect on your site’s ranking, causing the opposite result you wanted, dropping in the SERP rankings. It is the same as with anchor text (I ended up back on the topic, haha), it should be descriptive, please, don’t put just anything…

Do we have three brains? Myth or reality?

Also, keep in mind that generally, quality content will naturally interlink over time without needing to do “anything” except maintaining good content on the page.

There are many ways to get backlinks or external links – today I only explain the terminology and later we will talk about specific actions – but be careful, not all of them are accepted by search engines and Google is the strictest about this. Many of these techniques are considered spam techniques, and we SEOs, who dedicate ourselves to this, must combat Spam, not generate it.

For example, can we buy an expired domain and do a 301 redirect so that all its backlinks now become ours? It seems like a smart move, but Google does not like this at all, and I do not recommend it, at least “not excessively” ;)

SEOs must combat Spam, not generate it

Understanding Linkbaiting

On the other hand, Linkbaiting (link baiting) is an SEO term that refers to any eye-catching content that encourages other people or users to share it and create links that “point” to our website from their own pages, blogs, etc., simply because they liked or were intrigued by our content. In other words, naturally (which Google likes).

In other words, this method is based on the effort and innovation to:

1) Create interesting content.

2) Ensure that this content is of high quality.

3) Make it attention-grabbing.

4) Finally, after waiting a while

.

5) Naturally, other users will start sharing your URL.

In other words, Linkbaiting is based on the effort and innovation to have quality content that grabs people’s attention and wait for them to naturally start sharing your page because they found it interesting.

Creativity and quality are the main tools. We must stay up to date to maintain people’s interest and always try to “innovate” or at least inform with quality content.

Another useful tool for Linkbaiting is using infographics, as they are perfect for transforming a concept into images and presenting information in a much more attractive format than a simple post.

Other Methods in Linkbaiting

More methods to spread the word about your page could include creating a website to promote your site or creating your communication channels.

Even employing strategies such as showing a small part of what you offer on your page on social media or using any media to attract interested people and increase your ranking. In short, any promotion is welcome.

A strategy that has gained relevance in recent years is the use of interactive content, such as quizzes, surveys, and online calculators. These types of content not only capture the user’s attention but also have a high probability of being shared, thus increasing the number of backlinks organically.

Another advanced technique is creating original studies and reports. By presenting unique data and in-depth analysis, other websites will be inclined to link to your content as a reference, thus increasing your authority and the number of backlinks.

The Final Differences Between Linkbuilding and Linkbaiting

Having explained the concepts of Linkbuilding and Linkbaiting, we can note the differences between them.

Linkbaiting is strategic for us in SEO positioning because with quality content that gives us value, we could be linked even by the competition.

Linkbaiting is gaining more prominence, even more than Linkbuilding itself, as it allows our websites to grow in popularity naturally. It is a zero-invasive strategy, without buying links, and it complies with all the guidelines that Google loves in 2024.

What does Google reward? Precisely the naturalness of the link, that it is done in a native way, from a website related to our sector and its reputation in Google, the most important search engine.

In the modern SEO field, it is crucial to understand that both linkbuilding and linkbaiting should be part of a holistic strategy. While linkbuilding can provide quick results through well-planned and executed techniques, linkbaiting focuses on building a solid and lasting base of organic backlinks that, in the long run, are much more valuable for the overall health of your website.

These two methods essentially aim for the same thing: for a page to gain backlinks, and both complement each other.

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