Why Getting Links To Your Online Store Still Important To Google

Since the beginning of Google’s reign, the foundation of any successful website has been link building. And while nearly everything on (and related to) the internet has evolved during the past decade, using link metrics for SEO purposes have always, and still are, core to Google’s ranking algorithm.

Will anything ever be as essential? Only time will tell. Until then, in order to get your online store found by more people, you must continue to optimize your site for SEO and increase your page ranking in Google by link building.  Think about it for a minute… which site or in this case, online store would Google find more relevant to those using its’ search engine.  The online store with a lot of links to it from relevant sources or the site that lacks links and doesn’t receive much referral traffic? With everything else being equal, Google will rank the online store with more qualified links higher than the store with fewer qualified links. To put it another way, the online store with more qualified links to your online store, the better. Here is why:

Link Building in 2016

Google still places the highest value on page authority. And that rank is the difference between potential customers finding your site, or that of your competitors. To get page authority today, link building must prioritize the perception of “naturalness” and value to the users encountering those links.

SearchEngineLand says there are two main forms of link building: Link attraction and manual link building.  We’ve outlined the two below:

Link attraction:

This is the process of crafting and promoting exceptional blog content in the hopes that viewers will naturally want to link to it on their own. Doing this, or anything known to increase your results, is technically considered manipulating your ranking, but there are still checks and balances in place that keep these methods in line with Google’s Webmaster Guidelines.

Since this form of link building is centered around naturally attracting readers and hoping for the best, link attraction tactics won’t attract any links unless the content is worthy of those links. As a result, marketers place a high value on quality, well-researched, articulate, and unique website content.

Manual link building:

Manual link building is the result of placing links on high-authority sources. This method won’t result in any links unless the content is good enough to pass a third-party editorial review. The only sustainable, ongoing manual link-building strategy recommended by SearchEngineLand is guest blogging; get content published on other sites, and that content includes links back to your site.

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While no longer as simple as it used to be, improving your page authority on Google is still just as critical.  As a business that makes it’s a majority of it’s revenue online, online stores must become more invested in SEO to stay relevant as search ranking algorithms grow smarter and more sophisticated.