What is link building and why you should do it

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If you’ve ever wondered why some websites appear at the top of Google even without advertising, the answer may lie in one powerful word: link building. But be careful — we’re not talking about just any links. We’re talking about relevance, authority, and digital trust.

Yes, links are like votes. But just like in real life, not every vote carries the same weight. So in this article, we’ll dive deep into this essential SEO strategy and show you why it should be part of your digital marketing plan — especially if you’re a marketing manager looking to scale results with predictability.

What is link building?

Link building is the practice of gaining external links from other websites pointing to yours. These links are called “backlinks” and function as recommendations that reinforce your authority in search engines.

Link types

• Internal links: Connect pages within the website itself.

• External links: Take the visitor to another domain.

• Backlinks (or inbound links): These are the links that other websites point to yours. And they are exactly what makes the magic of link building.

To reinforce this authority, Google considers three factors for link building: relevance, quantity and quality. Thus, traffic generation is an important point in the marketing strategy. link building. On the other hand, the better this link is, the more qualified the audience of your blog/website will be and the greater the weight of this link will be for the ranking of your website in relation to external links.

Therefore, the more relevant these links are, the better for your site's ranking. And also without forgetting that you must have a good number of links.

Why is link building so important for SEO?

Domain Authority

Google interprets backlinks as a signal that your content is trustworthy and relevant. The more quality links you receive, the higher your domain authority, and the greater the chance of appearing well positioned in searches.

“Link building is one of the main factors that determine a website’s ranking in Google results.”

Qualified traffic and off-page SEO

In addition to positioning, a well-placed backlink can attract qualified visitors, increase time spent on the site and even generate leads — especially in inbound marketing strategies.

How does Google's algorithm work in relation to links?

The role of PageRank today

PageRank, algorithm Created by Larry Page (founder of Google), it still influences the way links are evaluated. Although it has evolved, the principle remains: each link is a vote, but not all votes are worth the same.

Relevance and context

It’s not enough to have lots of links — they need to come from sites that are relevant to your niche, have related content, and are an authority on the topic.

How to analyze external links

To understand the relevance of external links and know where to look for quality links, you must know how to analyze some metrics. Let's check them:

Domain Authority or Domain Authority

This metric determines the potential that a given page has for good positioning in search results. There are several points that the metric takes into account, such as quality and quantity of outgoing links, diversity of these links and proportion of follow and nofollow links (see below).

Anchor Text

Anchor text is the text that appears in a hyperlink. Generally, it appears in a different color and underlined, as we are used to. This text is extremely important, as search engines “see” it to define the relevance of the landing page.

Nofollow

Nofollow links are those that are not considered by robots, in order to avoid SPAM. They are generally used on social networking sites, blog comments, etc. Thus, this attribute will tell the search engine that this link should not influence the ranking of the destination to which it points.

Outbound

The number of external links on a page is called outbound.

Analysis Tools

There are several tools for analyzing external links. O Google Search Console is one of the main ones and can be used in conjunction with Google Analytics and Google Ads, which will make your SEM work more assertive. In addition, it is free, and Search Console allows you to manage problems on your website and carry out important optimizations.

The Link Explorer, from the company Moz, a reference in the SEO market, offers some tools that are also free. The tool provides reports on broken links, competitors, backlinks, anchor texts and link building opportunities.

The Majestic SEO focuses on backlink analysis, with indicators such as citation flow and trust flow, which estimate backlink scores.

Effective link building strategies

Valuable content and guest posts

Creating useful, in-depth, and original content is the first step. When you do this consistently, other sites will naturally want to cite you. Additionally, guest posting — articles published on partner blogs — is a powerful way to build authority and backlinks.

“Guest posts are one of the safest and most effective strategies for gaining quality backlinks.”

Link bait and Digital PR campaigns

Content that goes viral or brings new data works as “link bait” — the famous link bait. On the other hand, Digital PR seeks to insert your brand in news, mentions and strategic portals. This generates valuable backlinks and increases brand recognition.

Partnerships and organic citations

Establishing relationships with influencers, experts and other players in your market can generate spontaneous links, in addition to strengthening your digital authority network.

Practical techniques for generating quality backlinks

How to prospect real opportunities

Use tools like Ahrefs, SEMrush, or Ubersuggest to identify sites that already mention your topic but haven’t linked to you. Approach these publishers with a well-crafted pitch and offer value.

Useful tools for finding backlinks

• Ahrefs: Analyzes competitors' backlinks.

• SEMrush: Monitors keywords and link opportunities.

• Hunter.io: Discover contact emails for guest post approaches.

How to make a good pitch for a guest post

Be direct, show that you have studied the site, suggest relevant titles and send an example of an article that has already been published. Avoid generic models. The secret is to generate value for both parties.

What not to do to get external links

Black Hat

A few years ago, with the aim of creating relevance, some websites used a strategy that Google came to understand as SEO cheating: Black Hat SEO. After all, Google's objective is to provide the best answer to a specific question asked by the user, leading to a results display page (SERP). Therefore, it became necessary to understand how these links were generated and whether or not they were relevant to the user.

Black Hat consists of including dozens or hundreds of links within the website to create false relevance within the website's pages, creating a network of links. This was not always done as a “trick”. It was an SEO technique that ended up being penalized with the evolution of Google's algorithms.

Therefore, it is a technique to be avoided, as it can have bad consequences for your SEO strategy. The best thing is to always produce good content and bring good external links to your website.

Toxic links and optimization overload

Links from spammy or shady websites can hurt your authority. Also, focusing only on backlinks without looking at the rest of your SEO (on-page, technical, and content) is a strategic mistake.

Outdated and inefficient strategies

Copying old techniques that don’t consider user experience and context can waste time and energy. In this sense, link building needs to be smart, relevant and aligned with your funnel.

Link building for medium-sized companies and B2B marketing

Common Cases Faced by Marketing Managers

It’s common to see medium-sized companies trying to do SEO on their own, hiring freelancers without a clear strategy, or creating isolated posts that don’t bring results. After all, without link building, digital authority simply doesn’t grow.

How to scale without overwhelming your team

Automating part of the process, relying on a strategic agency and prioritizing high-authority channels can reduce the burden on the internal team, which is often lean and overworked.

“For medium-sized companies, well-executed link building accelerates the return on inbound marketing without requiring an internal team for everything.”

Inbound marketing and link building side by side

Content created to nurture leads can also be designed to attract links. A good example of this is comprehensive guides, glossaries, and case studies — materials with high citation and sharing potential.

Conclusion

Link building is not an outdated tactic, nor is it a cheap trick to get higher on Google. As such, it is an essential part of any true SEO strategy — especially for companies that need to justify their investments with a tangible ROI.

Therefore, invest in valuable content and digital relationships. This way, you will build a solid reputation, improve your organic positioning and, consequently, attract qualified visitors. And the best part: without relying exclusively on paid media.

FAQ – Frequently Asked Questions about Link Building

1. What is link building?

Link building is the strategy of getting other websites to link to yours, increasing your authority and ranking on Google.

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2. Does link building still work in 2025?

Yes. Google continues to value backlinks as long as they are natural and come from reliable and relevant websites.

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3. Is it possible to do link building without an agency?

It is possible, but it requires time, strategy and specific tools. Many medium-sized companies prefer to delegate the task to a specialized agency.

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4. How many backlinks do I need to rank?

It depends on the competition for your keyword. In competitive niches, quality matters more than quantity.

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5. What are the risks of poorly done link building?

Google penalties, loss of authority, drop in traffic and tarnishing the company's digital reputation.

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It is important to work on link building within a complete SEO strategy, always carrying out the necessary analysis and adjustments. This way, define which metrics are important within your strategy and make the necessary improvements.

How about boosting your SEO strategies? Speak to a Vero Contents expert!

Article originally published on 7/21/2021 and updated on that date.