With the many speculations about link building as a dead form of search engine optimization strategy you must be wondering how accurate this statement is.

Link building has once been one of the major search engine optimization tactics that work and actually still is. What can be said about Google updating its algorithms about link building is that it only strikes down how easy it is to create link farm and paid link building tactics which Google considers as a black hat SEO strategy.


The answer is actually no. Link building remains to be a valuable SEO strategy that you can do in order to work out your rank in search, that is, if you do it right. The death of link building may be associated on how easy it is to create links which online marketers use to cheat the Google search engine in order to make their websites rank high on search. How to use link building as your leverage to rank high on search will be highly dependent upon how you build a referrer data by focusing on the general principles in link building.

Referrer data and what it says about your links

The referrer data provides valuable information on how well you are doing with your website content. High quality content will likely drive more traffic to your site as more people will find your content as engaging and unique which are good reasons enough to link to your site.  The Google algorithm has its eyes on websites that have more quality links associated to it which is an indication on the relevance and quality of your website to other website users. In order to leverage on your referrer data in your link building efforts, you should obtain a better insight regarding the valuable information involving your link. Here are three simple signals that you should look for from your referrer data and leverage on them to improve your link building strategy.

1. Identify the type of websites that are driving traffic to you

Knowing what type of websites are linking to your site will give you better knowledge in understanding which industry or type of business your website is more relevant. This will help you understand which type of sites will be more favorable to link your website to and probably on one that will be interested in linking back to you as well.

2. Determine which other sites your referrer is linking to

By looking on the web pages of your referrer, you can obtain loads of valuable information that you can use for your link building strategy. You can follow which other websites your referrer is linking to which will give you the idea what other content or website niches that they find appealing and appears to be interested in. You can then focus on listing down ideas on what type of content to add to your website that will certainly attract other websites to link to you.

3. Pursue the followers of your referrer

Logically, the followers of your referrer will also be likely to be interested to your website. You can mine through your referrer’s followers and pursue them to become part of your social network connection to be able to introduce to them your business. Some might be interested in linking to your website or may follow your social media account which is good in bringing positive social signals to the search engine placement.

Be mindful of the general principles of link building

Link building requires effort in order to find your way to success. While it can help you build good credits in the search engine for page ranking, you can only gain a successful link building undertaking if you follow the appropriate formula within the general principles of link building. What Google prohibits when building links to build your search rank is the use of a black hat strategy. This increases your risks of getting your website penalized by Google. However, the general principles of link building which should be to produce natural or organic links will keep you safe against the Google penalty. Using your referrer data can significantly help you have a good start to make your link building a more worthwhile and Google friendly strategy.