With competitive analysis, you put your website's backlink profile next to that of competitors. The better your profile is, the faster you can score high positions. So this is a very important step when it comes to determining your link building strategy. With these keywords, it is important to arrange links from websites that have a high domain authority (DA).

Before you can begin link building, you need to determine anchor texts. Anchor texts are clickable texts that contain a hyperlink. Ideally, they consist of the keywords you use to link to a relevant web page on your website. It is important to use a diversity of anchor texts. It ensures that Google sees these websites as natural backlinks.

To analyze your backlink profile and assess the quality of links, you can use several tools. For comprehensive analysis and comparison with competitors, paid programs such as Ahrefs, Semrush and Moz are ideal. If you have less budget, Google Search Console, Free Backlink checker and Link-Assistant offer good free alternatives, although these are often less comprehensive than the paid versions.

Here's how to start link building

How do you tackle link building? There's a lot involved, but we're happy to explain it all. After all, before you can get started, you need to know what to look for in order to set up an effective strategy.

Analysis

Backlinks

Tools

Keep an eye on these issues;

Spamscore

Moz's spam score (based on 27 factors) indicates whether a Web site is considered 'spammy. A score between 1-30% is low, while a score above 61% is high. A high spam score can affect your own reputation and ranking.

Referring domain

These are all the unique domains that link to your page. It is important for higher domain authority to build a natural profile by placing links on different domains.

Dofollow vs nofollow

Dofollow links pass authority ('link juice') directly to your Web site. Nofollow links do not pass these signals directly and have mostly indirect value. You can check the link type in a website's source code.

Avoid a Google penalty!

A Google penalty is like a red card; you disappear from the search results if you violate the guidelines. Be especially wary of Private Blog Networks (PBNs). Although often offered inexpensively, these are designed to manipulate results and often contain low-quality content. If a PBN is penalized, your website immediately loses all accumulated value. Therefore, always focus on quality link building and check your status through Google Search Console.

Checklist: recognize a PBN

There are no to few visitors to the website.
Content: The quality of content posted is very low.
Images: Fake images are used.
Author: There is no mention of an author with the articles.
There are many anchor texts and outbound links

Link building roadmap & tips

With regard to link building, there are a number of things to consider and think about during the process.

Choose the right software

Select a professional link building tool that fits your specific needs and budget. The right software will help you analyze data and effectively track your progress throughout the process.

Analyze your starting point

Fully map your current backlink profile to understand where your website stands now. Listing your existing links will give you a clear picture of your authority and the areas that need improvement.

Research the competition

Conduct a thorough competitive analysis by looking at the backlink profile of your main rivals. This will provide valuable insights into their successful strategies and help you discover new opportunities for your own website.

Formulate a strategy

Determine your personal strategy based on the data collected from the previous analyses and studies. A clear plan of action will ensure that you are targeted and deploy your resources in the most effective way.

Plan your work

Schedule structural times when you actively engage in gathering new backlinks from external parties. By consistently setting aside time for link building, you will build the authority of your platform in a sustainable way.

Optimize anchor texts

Determine the proper distribution of anchor texts for the links you plan to post. A natural and varied profile of texts is essential to be seen as relevant and trustworthy by search engines.

Perform quality checks

Do extensive research on websites where you want to place links and always perform a strict quality control. It is important that the external pages are relevant and have a good reputation within your field.

Monitor the status

Keep track of the statuses of all your placed links and pending applications in a clear list. Monitor these placements closely during the first few months to ensure that the links remain active and correct.

Check indexing

Use your link building tool to regularly check if Google has already noticed and indexed the new links. Only when the search engine recognizes the links will they actually start contributing to the value of your website.

Measure the results

Check your rankings in the search results to see if your positions have increased due to the work done. Monitoring this data helps you prove the effectiveness of your strategy and make adjustments as needed.

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The indispensable link in online findability

Here's how to start link building

Analysis

Backlinks

Tools

Keep an eye on these issues;

Lost on Google?

We'll put your webshop on the map

Are you currently gowing

Under200%per year?

Growing together, winning together

At GMU, we keep you informed and celebrate great results together.

From 70 to 6070 highest ranked keywords within 8 months

30k monthly growth in number of visitors in 12 months

12.1k Monthly traffic on #1 keywords!

Lost on Google?

We make sure that your web shop ranks high again.

Is your webshop currently growing with

less than200%per year?

Screenshot of our customer portfolio X

Leverage real-time analytics to maximize your ROI today.

Performing is our passion

Discover the secret behind our top 10 ranking of fastest-growing Dutch companies.

GMU is your strategic partner, leveraging data insights for unstoppable digital growth.

At GMU, you've come to the right place.

Start your next project,
with GMU

The indispensable link in online findability

Here's how to start link building

Analysis

Backlinks

Tools

Keep an eye on these issues;

Lost on Google?

We'll put your webshop on the map

Are you currently gowing

Under200%per year?

Growing together, winning together

At GMU, we keep you informed and celebrate great results together.

From 70 to 6070 highest ranked keywords within 8 months

30k monthly growth in number of visitors in 12 months

12.1k Monthly traffic on #1 keywords!

Lost on Google?

We make sure that your web shop ranks high again.

Is your webshop currently growing with

less than200%per year?

Screenshot of our customer portfolio X

Performing is our passion

Discover the secret behind our top 10 ranking of fastest-growing Dutch companies.

GMU is your strategic partner, leveraging data insights for unstoppable digital growth.

At GMU, you've come to the right place.

Start your next project, with GMU

Start your next project,
with GMU