Link building.
Why are internal and external links so important?
We earn links from websites your customers read, and we sort out your internal linking so that link strength reaches the pages that make you money.
What link building is and its benefits
Whenever someone dares to publish a list of the SEO factors that most influence rankings in Google search, link building, or rather the number and quality of the link portfolio, stands out near the top. Recently, link building has been moving ever closer to PR, and the time is approaching when a brand will work much like a link.
Link building techniques change significantly over time, but the main aim is to convince search engines that you are more relevant than the websites ranking above you. This is also the general principle of SEO. Links help with this, and mentions help a great deal.
You should think about your website’s internal linking before launch as well as on a long-running project. Through internal linking, you decide where to send link juice and what your priorities are. Investing in high-quality internal and external link building pays off in the long term, as it moves your project up in search engines and brings more visits and, with them, higher earnings.
Link juice is a slang term for the strength a link passes to the page it points to. Link building is part of search engine optimisation and involves linking within a website or to other websites. At IdeUp, we do both, external and internal link building.
Link building brings authority and traffic.
Link building has long since stopped being about pointlessly registering in 100 directories. Links need to be placed on extremely relevant and authoritative websites. Recently, it has become clear that quality and relevance matter even more than quantity than they did before.
Even one very high-quality and relevant backlink can lift your page from average to the first page of a search engine. This cannot be guaranteed, however, so we run link building as a long-term programme with verifiable sources, not as the purchase of packages.
Where we get links from
We build a long-term link strategy mainly on independent websites with their own readers.
Industry websites and media
Articles, comments and data for the editorial teams your customers read. We offer a topic for their readers, not a request for a link.
Unlinked mentions
Where someone already writes about you, we ask them to add a link. The relationship already exists, so this tends to be the fastest source.
Content that gets linked to
Data, an overview or a calculator that nobody else in your field has. It takes the longest to create, but it collects links for years.
Eight content websites for PR articles, intended mainly to bring readers and brand awareness.
How we choose websites
Domain authority is an estimate made by SEO tools, not a Google metric. For every website, we therefore first check whether anyone reads the page with the link and whether Google has it in its index.
Then we look at the topic, the position of the link in the text and whether the website sells links to anyone at all. We explain why watching the numbers is not enough in our article on the number of backlinks and domain authority.
Honest link building
Google considers links created mainly for rankings to be spam, for example buying links that pass ranking value, large-scale link exchanges or automatically generated links (Google Search Central guidelines). Paid placements should carry the sponsored or nofollow attribute. The risk does not come from one weaker link, but from a repeated pattern.
Website and competitor analysis
A much underestimated part of link building. Some people and websites chase links from all kinds of sources without thinking, regardless of the target page or the quality or relevance of the link. We start with the links of your website and your strongest competitors.
Setting priorities
It is important to clearly define the priorities you want to achieve with link building. Links then point mainly to category and service pages, not just the homepage.
Setting rules and strategy
We agree on the types of websites, the pace and the anchor ratio.
Outreach
Outreach can be direct, or you can reach out with content. The right form and goals of outreach are important. We write text for an editorial team with its readers in mind.
How we measure link building
The number of links per month says little about success. We track referring domains over time, the share of websites from your field, anchor distribution and links to money-making pages. For every link, we check that it has stayed on the website.
We read the rankings of target pages from Search Console, and the effect shows over a horizon of months. If you are not sure whether to start with links or with the website, we will go through both in an SEO consulting session.
How much does a link builder cost?
Link building is not free. Some projects try buying links on their own. Others prefer an experienced link builder. A good link builder has several advantages over doing link building yourself.
A link builder has a portfolio of websites and knows where to get links cheaply. They often have volume discounts too. In addition, thanks to analytical tools and experience, they can choose the ideal opportunities for your website. They can also monitor links afterwards. We confirm the price in advance based on scope, mainly on your field and the strength of the competition.
Link building and its main types
Internal link building. Internal linking is extremely important and is closely tied to your website architecture and your business goals. Internal linking is not just about articles, but also about building hub pages, menus and pages. What do you have in your menu? Above all, what matters most to you and what brings you money.
You should have a strategy for internal linking and, ideally, a spreadsheet with a complete export of all pages, recommended anchor texts and the number of internal links, where you also clearly rate the pages that matter most to your business. Other metrics can be included too. Of course, you can also link spontaneously. Internal linking is an effective SEO technique and an essential part of every web project.
External link building. There are many strategies for external link building, and it is a more difficult discipline than internal linking. Put simply, you need to get other websites to link to yours.
This gave rise to a field where links are traded, with the price of a link set by the so-called strength and relevance of the linking website. The best link building strategy is to create content so good that other websites link to you of their own accord.
You cannot count on this in competitive fields, where the price of a link for highly contested keywords can reach tens of thousands of CZK. External link building is also about being resourceful in finding and securing links “for free”. Barter arrangements, where websites exchange links with each other, are also very common.
Website architecture
Paying for links or linking within your website without much thought is not a good idea. It is important to identify the pages that are key for you and to fine-tune them as much as possible in terms of content and SEO. A document called keyword research will give you a complete overview.
In keyword research (AKS in Czech), you will find all the keywords relevant to your field, competitors, categorisation, search volume and more. At the start, keyword research is also a great document for a link builder. Alternatively, you can take the second route straight away and hire a good link builder who will take care of everything and also advise you on structure.
You can then place these pages in your website menu and link to them from your blog and hub pages. Only once everything is fine-tuned on-page does external link building come in, which should come from thematically relevant websites and use so-called anchor texts.
How to do internal link building effectively?
Internal link building starts with your website architecture. Do you have 3 main areas of business? Create comprehensive pages for them that sit directly under the main domain and contain the main keyword.
Place these links in the main menu, the footer and hub pages, and always link to the page from your blog whenever you use its main keyword there. This can be automated in WordPress, but if you are building a website from scratch, it is easy to do organically.
If you create pages related to your main pages, you can place them under those main pages in the URL structure and add hub sections for the subpages at the end of each main page. Main pages should meet your business goals, but also serve as a high-quality hub for related, subordinate and connected topics.
It is exactly these pages, well structured, highly informative for users and properly linked internally, that Google prefers over superficial pages.
Good website architecture, a suitable sitemap and internal linking also help search engines find their way around your website and identify what is key for you. It should be possible to click through to every page of your website.
This means you should not have parts of your website that a user cannot reach without knowing the exact URL. Every page should have at least one link pointing to it from another page connected to the main tree.
Is a different page of your website showing up for an important search query than the one you need? With internal linking and the right flow of link juice, you should show the search engine: “Look, this is the right answer to this search term.”
Tags, like categories, are a great way to structure and divide content. Content websites and blogs use tags heavily. A tag groups posts on a particular topic as a second level of categorisation.
Tags can have short content of their own, but mainly they contain a feed of articles. Many case studies have shown that the right tagging strategy, backed by keyword research, can improve user experience, internal linking and website traffic.
Other places for internal links
Checking internal links is usually the first step of our link building.
Sidebar
Content websites place articles in the sidebar that have the highest financial potential for them or are topical. This is also internal link building, and it carries some weight.
Pages without links
With Screaming Frog, you can get an overview of your current website and see which pages have the most internal links (and therefore receive the most link juice). You will also find so-called orphan pages, which no internal link points to.
Breadcrumb navigation
If a website has an extensive page hierarchy with more than two levels, it is also a good idea to use breadcrumb navigation. It not only helps users find their way around the website, but the links in the breadcrumbs also have an effect.
Create valuable content for your visitors.
Added value, or valuable content, is the best natural search engine optimisation. If you write high-quality, long and useful articles for your readers, you will do well. And if you add topic research, keyword research, the right headings, image optimisation, internal link building and hierarchy? Then you should be really successful.
In some competitive industries, you also need to master more advanced techniques, and even that may not be enough for the first page of Google. SEO is a game where Google sets the rules. The winners are those who understand the rules best and adapt their output to them. Texts for editorial sites can be written by copywriters from our network.
Articles on link building
We cover links in depth on our blog and in our glossary.
What works today and how to spot a worthless link.
What a good link should look like and where to get it.
What a backlink is and how to judge its quality.
What clients and editorial teams say about working with us
Rated 5.0 out of 5 on Google. All reviews
★★★★★
“Our editorial team at NašeTéma works with the Prague agency IdeUp s.r.o. on link building and content preparation, and the cooperation is very professional and efficient. We particularly appreciate the quick communication, reliability and ability to adapt content…”
NašeTéma editorial team, Google review, translated from Czech
★★★★★
“Reliability, a responsible and proactive approach, professionalism. I recommend the agency to clients as well as to copywriters and other online marketing professionals.”
Google review, translated from Czech
★★★★★
“We have been working with IdeUp for a long time, always at a very professional level. I appreciate their proactive approach, clear communication and high-quality work. Everything ran without unnecessary delays. They are reliable, communicate quickly and know what they are doing. I can recommend them as a reliable partner for online marketing.”
Google review, translated from Czech
Before you order link building
Questions about links that come up at almost every meeting.
How long does link building take to show results?
For less competitive queries, the first movement usually shows within two to four months. For difficult ones, expect a year. Anyone promising faster results is usually buying links in bulk and taking risks with your money.
Do you guarantee better search rankings?
No. Rankings also depend on website content, technical factors and competition, so no one can honestly guarantee them. What we can promise is verifiable sources: for every link, you know where it is and why it was created.
Can backlinks be obtained for free?
Some can, for example mentions where you only need to ask for a link to be added, or content that people cite on their own. However, the time spent searching and reaching out usually costs more than the placement itself.
Do you also do internal link building?
Yes, we often start with it. We find pages without internal links and suggest where to link from, and with which anchor text, to the pages that make money. It is usually the cheapest way to strengthen a specific page.
Let's arrange link building for your website
Tell us which website it is and which pages you want to strengthen. We will get back to you with a proposal and confirm the price in advance.