Once upon a time in the Wild West days of SEO, website owners drove traffic with methods we’d deem unethical today. Link building was one of those strategies. But today’s version of link building isn’t anything like the version prevalent in the early days of SEO, and it’s a tool that home improvement firms may be able to use to boost online marketing performance.

Why Is Link Building and Why Do People Think It’s Bad?

Link building refers to the process of getting other domains to link back to your site. For example, a window installation company in Denver might get a link from the Denver Chamber of Commerce, a mom blogger who was a customer, and a local news story about winterizing your home. All of those are backlinks.

Backlinks can help you improve the ranking of your website in search engine results pages (SERPs). When other quality sites link back to yours, it’s like they’re recommending your page. That helps improve your page’s authority in Google, which is one factor that leads to higher ranking.

Link building gets a bad rap because it was common years ago for site owners to build links in questionable ways. They would flood forums and the comment sections of websites with links to their own content, for example. Some people still do this today, and it’s not the type of link building Google likes to see.

What’s the Real Story on Link Building Today?

Today, the best way to build quality backlinks that can help boost your SEO performance is by providing the type of content that people want to share. Helpful, high-quality content that offers how-to advice or tips is more likely to get links from other blogs and social media. Examples include:

• Home improvement how-to with step-by-step guidance on specific tasks
• Tips for maintaining windows or other aspects of the home
• Buying guides that help people shop for windows, curtains, or other relevant products

You can also create some quality backlinks by claiming your profile on pages such as Yelp, Google My Business, or the local chamber of commerce or being available to answer questions for journalists in your niche.