Link building is one of the best ways to gain publicity for your business and rank higher in search engines. As a result, marketing managers are often tasked with building valuable backlinks to their websites.

But when it comes to creating backlinks for SEO, what are the rules? Are more links better or is it more important to focus on quality?

SEO link building is a daily evolving field that requires regular updates to be successful. With constant Google algorithm changes, link building has become extremely complex with a significantly steeper learning curve. 

Earlier the focus of the majority of SEO companies was to create as many links as possible. But after the Penguin update in 2012, things changed totally. Many sites were penalized for bad links or lost their traffic and rankings significantly.

For maximum marketing potential, you need high-quality inbound links.  Links from low-quality websites can cause your website to lose prominence in the rankings. This is why it's more important to have a few high-quality links than many low-quality ones. Nowadays, any professional SEO services company will suggest you to have good quality authority backlinks

Inbound links are links from other websites to your website. Inbound links are the cornerstone of web promotion, and they are a crucial part of any online marketing campaign: to succeed in small business SEO, you MUST have them! 

How to gain inbound links?

Inbound Links There are many ways to get inbound links, and combining all of them is the most viable way to improve your rank with do-it-yourself SEO. 

1. Great content- Creating relevant and high quality SEO friendly content for your target audience is the best strategy. Over time, you become an expert on a subject and others link back to your content. Remember that using SEO keywords is the key to building high-quality affordable backlinks. 
   

2. Connect with webmasters- The reason why high-quality links are high-quality links is that the webmaster takes steps to protect their online reputation. They are most likely just as selective about the website linking to them as you are.
   
   

3. Reach out to personal and business contacts- While this may seem obvious, it’s a tactic often overlooked. If you have some information that should be shared, send it to your network and ask them to post a link to other sites. 
   
   

4. Placement in quality directories- Early there was a race to list in as many directories as possible. Then came the Penguin update and put an end to this bad practice. Now the quality of the directory matters the most. Ensure that you are listed in the top-rated directories.
   
   

5. Search competitor's links- Look at your competitors' links, starting with SEOMoz's Open Site Explorer. Spend time finding out who links to your competition and where they link on the site. It will spark ideas for you to replicate or sites that would be willing to link to yours as well.
   
   

6. Outsource link building- If you do have the ability or time to do link building yourself hiring a link building company is the way forward. There are many professional firms you can hire at an affordable cost.

Final Words-

It can be time-consuming and competitive to secure high-quality backlinks, so perseverance and hard work are required, but the end results will be well worth your efforts. Focus on securing these high-quality links and establishing your brand's reputation but do not forget that quality comes first.