Link building: Debunking the biggest myths of 2021

Few would disagree that the world of link building is one of the most contentious around.

There are some people that fall in the black hat category, and others that sit within white hat. Then, there are those that flirt in-between.

Well, today’s article isn’t going to help you decide which you fall into. Instead, it’s going to look at some of the biggest myths that come out of link building as a whole – to help you perfect your strategy once and for all.

Myth #1 – It’s all about directory links

Well, let’s dispel this first myth as a matter of urgency. There’s a short answer to this; directory links used to work a charm but nowadays, they won’t budge your rankings an inch.

In fact, if you go overboard with this tactic, you are more likely to hurt your SEO efforts.

Myth #2 – Link building is just about growing numbers

This is another one of those myths that may very well have been true a decade or two ago. Back then, it was a pure numbers game, and the sites that had the most domains linking to them ended up winning the organic battle.

Now, this isn’t the case in the slightest. Your links need to come from quality sources, that are read by real people. This is one of the reasons why blogger outreach has become so important; these blogs are read and respected by real users, meaning that the links passed on to other websites are worth their weight in gold.

Sure, you might have a fraction of the links in comparison to your numbers back a couple of decades ago, but they are of a much higher quality and that’s what makes the difference.

Myth #3 – All links need to be nofollow

Nofollow is a relatively new concept, at least in the history of SEO.

However, just because it is new, it doesn’t mean to say that this should be the only weapon in your link building arsenal.

On the contrary, this is something that you should use alongside standard, follow links.

Just like a link profile made up of purely follow links is going to look suspicious, a profile comprised of mainly nofollow links isn’t going to reap rewards either.

Myth #4 – All you need is links from Wiki-sites

For a long time, there was an argument that all sites needed to be successful was links from Wikipedia and other similar sites.

There’s no doubt that these carry immense power, but alone they are not going to prompt a shift in your rankings.

They need to be utilised alongside another link building strategy, such as blogger outreach. Again, we really can’t emphasise the importance of having a varied backlink profile as without this, red flags are always going to exist and Google is not going to treat your site favourably. In other words, avoid putting all of your eggs in one basket and really spread your net.

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