Link building is complicated: A rebuttal
Contributor Andrew Dennis (kinda) disagrees with a previously published SEL article and offers his view on why link building may be difficult.

Search Engine Land recently published a column by Julie Joyce about how we often overcomplicate link building, and when I read it, something surprising happened. I actually disagreed with her.

Well, I sort of disagree with her.
I do agree the process of securing a link, finding a site, contacting that site and getting a link is pretty straightforward. But I contend that if you want to achieve meaningful results with link building, matters are more complicated.
I see clients oversimplifying link building in terms of results all the time. They have a myopic view of link building and feel it is a simple math equation where increased input means increased output and success is determined by the number of links secured.
However, links are a means to an end; the intended results are more visibility, increased traffic and improved conversions. When the goal of link building is to drive search engine optimization (SEO) results instead of simply acquire a set number of links, link acquisition becomes much more complex.
Factors that can impede link-building success include:
- On-page and technical elements.
- Internal linking.
- Client or departmental complications.
These issues can impact link-building performance, making a link campaign convoluted when viewed through the lens of SEO results.
[Read the full article on Search Engine Land.]
Opinions expressed in this article are those of the guest author and not necessarily Marketing Land. Staff authors are listed here.
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