As we highlighted in our last post, link building remains a huge component of any SEO strategy. Not only do earned links help drive traffic to your website, but they also help build a certain level of trustworthiness in the eyes of search engines like Google and Bing. Ultimately, websites that have a solid marketing strategy and quality content can earn links pretty easily.

However, this doesn’t mean that proactive link building should be ignored. There are many ways to generate links via smart solutions, but it’s equally important to avoid link building opportunities that are anything but. Today, let’s examine some truly awful link building strategies and ideas that must be avoided at all costs.

Ignoring Social Media

One of the most common link building tragedies out there is a complete and total disregard for building links on social media. While it is true that search engines like Google treat social media links differently than links found on other websites, there is still some evidence to suggest that this plays a small role in how search engines see your website. Additionally, let’s remember that one of the big reasons behind building and pinging links to search engines is to attract more traffic. Links earned on social media can attract just as many people to your website as those displayed in SERPs, so don’t forget about this valuable and oft-overlooked medium for link building.

Forgetting About Link Diversity

All too often, brands and blogs alike that are building and earning links focus intently upon the same page or pages. That is, brands often seek to earn links that point to their home page or to the same select few pages. This is a big mistake – and one you must avoid.

Not only will this approach appear to search engines as if the links being earned are indicative of spam or black-hat tactics, but it’s a poor use of your content. For example, a link to your home page that covers your brand in general is perfectly acceptable. However, if a particular product or idea covered on your website is the theme of discussion, then ensuring that it links to the most relevant page is ideal. Building link diversity can help improve both SEO and the traffic quality you receive from said links.

Buying Links

While the art of link buying continues to change, the broader goals remain the same. The ways in which brands now often buy links are more subtle, and usually involve guest posting and other (otherwise) legitimate endeavors. However, the risks of approaching link building from this perspective remain just as high: once one or more sites are identified as effective link mills, putting the pieces together for the entire network suddenly becomes easy (and those purchased links suddenly become a liability).

Regardless of the format, steer clear from agencies and firms that promise you’ll be pinging links galore across the internet in exchange for a small price.

Link building is best done when focusing on organic, legitimate strategies that show-case your website’s content diversity. In addition, social media provides a unique – if overlooked – platform for generating both traffic and even some visibility in select SERPs. By following the above advice, you’ll avoid common pitfalls many blogs and brands encounter when attempting to expand their visibility.