Most of the content we consume daily is online. We have all read an online article that had hyperlinks to other stories or reference materials. This is part of an overall link building strategy that helps businesses achieve higher ranking in search engines.
Also known as backlinks, these are relevant links that bridge the article you are reading to another related piece of content. These links not only create a positive user experience, but also contribute to successful website ranking. In this article, we’ll examine the fundamental components of successful link building for financial and futures industry firms.
Understanding Link Building Strategies
“Link building is the process of acquiring hyperlinks from other websites to your own web pages. A link is a way for users to navigate between pages on the internet”, according to Moz. (Did you notice that we created our own anchor text, or hyperlink, to the Moz website in that previous sentence?)
Every business, regardless of sector, aims to improve their online presence. This will help them achieve better rankings in search engines. Higher ranking in search engine results pages will inevitably result in a greater flow of organic traffic and a more qualified lead pool that doesn’t cost you anything.
To achieve that aforementioned goal, it is imperative that you employ a link building campaign when creating content in order to be more easily found in search engines. Google employs a strategy known as “crawling” to search web pages and add them to their indexing protocol, which then determines ranking in results pages.
Ranking or placement in search results depends on how closely a website aligns with Google’s criterion such as content relevancy, keyword placement, link building, domain authority, and other factors that change periodically based on Google’s algorithm.
Link building success rests on the foundation of your backlink profile which is a combination of internal links and relevant backlinks. Cross linking is comprised of outbound links to others’ websites. Backlinks are links pointing to your website from someone else’s website.
The Importance of Link Building
The holy grail of online marketing is to achieve rank on the first page of search engine results. The way that websites scale those proverbial heights is through a process called search engine optimization (SEO). Optimization involves specific improvements to the function of a site owners’ website which increases the quantity and quality of traffic through organic search results. A high-quality link building strategy is an essential part of boosting your overall rank.
Although ranking high in search engine results may be elusive for many, the mathematics of rank are simple and finite. Google doesn’t reward the best business owner, or the superior business. It rewards “helpful content” in the form of blogs, articles, newsletters, and content that enriches the reader. Link building is an integral part of that helpful content.
If your firm lacks a robust search engine presence, and therefore low ranking, qualified leads using the search term “financial services” on Google will likely choose another firm simply because they can’t find you. Even if your product offering and service is superior to your competitors, if they have invested the time and resources into website optimization and link building, they will appear in search results, and you won’t.
For example, Financial Advisors can seek a listing in a financial directory such as Bright Scope. Potential clients and leads will be better able to find you through the directory and Google will reward your website with higher rank because of your inclusion in a legitimate directory.
UX and Link Building
UX, or user experience, is the process by which brands and website developers create a streamlined and intuitive experience for the intended end user. Think of link building as a process of layering and cross-referencing helpful information so that users can explore increasingly deeper levels of a topic. For example, if your futures brokerage firm creates blog content about Bitcoin futures, including links to the Bitcoin futures product specifications at the CME Group or Cboe exchanges would make for a very smart linking strategy.
Link building can help create mutually beneficial relationships among related industries and serve as “social proof” to leads and website users. For example, cross linking to your financial auditor’s website can drive traffic to their site and signal to users that you deem them a credible source.
Futures firms that link to industry organizations such as the NFA website to demonstrate their membership and regulatory legitimacy help users perform their due diligence investigating your brand as a qualified and credible service provider. In turn, requesting that your industry partner reciprocate with a backlink will create a scenario where both websites benefit from search credibility because they are both recognized by Google.
Implementing Your Linking Strategy
To successfully set up quality backlinks, you need a webpage, a link to another page and a goal. As you plan your approach, make sure the content fits seamlessly and includes a “hook” for readers to want to click through.
For example, if you have a page about Bitcoin basics and you want to place a link to another page about the stock market, you can’t because they are two different topics.
Additionally, you can help your content rank by using niche keywords in your link building copy. If you’re writing about “green” mutual funds, terms like “investing in sustainability” and “clean energy stock index” will help support ranking. These longer tail keywords help create a tailored focus that works well over broad, general or less descriptive terms.
To help your site achieve high rankings in search engines, use Google Keyword Planner to determine which keywords to target. Don’t make the mistake of adding as many links on a page as possible. This will only lead to poor quality content that is difficult to reverse.
Less Is More, Exercise Moderation
Link building is an important part of SEO, but you have to do it right. It should be done in moderation and not overdone, or you can actually hurt your Google ranking.
Google has safeguards in place to detect when websites try to manipulate ranking by posting a large number of links. If Google suspects that a website is doing this, it will penalize the site’s ranking in its search results. Make sure that you are linking to other websites in a natural way that makes sense for your content.
For example, a Seeking Alpha or Inside Futures contributor who writes market commentary and includes a link back to their website would be rewarded.
Patience is a Marketing Virtue
Link building may sound like an easy way to increase your website’s search engine ranking. In reality, it’s a very strategic process that requires careful consideration. Even seasoned marketers have struggled with how much is too much.
Linking to your site from other sites is like planting seeds. You won’t see the results right away, but with patience, the fruits of your labor will appear in search engines.
The key to success for financial firms is investing time in link building. As with most areas of SEO, link building is only one part of a larger, more intricate marketing fabric.
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