Conducting keyword research and implementing selected keywords into website content is an important step in an SEO campaign, but it doesn't start and end there. The ongoing component of an SEO campaign is link building. Inbound links pointing to a site are what help to convey trust to the search engines and improve a search engine presence. SEO link building has evolved in recent years. All inbound links aren't created equal and the search spiders have become more sophisticated in recognizing when a link does or does not serve a purpose other than just being there for SEO. The best link building approach to take today is to make target audience members the priority, not the search engines. Look for opportunities to build links in locations that target audience members spend time and that can generate targeted traffic to the site.
Link Quality versus Link Quantity to Generate Traffic
Link quality is much more important than link quantity. Focusing on link volume and building links just to bulk up your link portfolio usually results in making decisions that can backfire on your SEO campaign. There are plenty of ways to obtain some quick, easy links back to your site but those links typically hold little to no value today. The Google Penguin update was a huge change to the algorithm that targeted sites that were guilty of link spam tactics like building links from low quality sites, link exchanges, overuse of exact match anchor text, and more.
NoFollow versus DoFollow Links for Generating Traffic
When links are built just for the search spiders, they often miss the mark from a target audience member perspective. For example, there are two different kinds of links. "Follow" and "no follow" links. "No follow" is a code that tells the search engine spider not to follow the link, or essentially not to pass any value over to the site that is being linked to. Website owners that are building links just for the search spiders may avoid these types of links altogether, thinking (mistakenly) that they hold no value.
It's true that "no follow" links aren't as important from a search spider perspective, but actual website users don't care if a link is "follow" or "no follow", most don't even know the difference! Social media links are primarily "no follow". Does that mean that you shouldn't be active in social media? Absolutely not, because those links can generate traffic to your site. Think about the brand exposure you'd be missing out on by not sharing videos on YouTube or sharing content within LinkedIn Groups, just because those links are "no follow". It's also not true that "no follow" links have absolutely no place in an SEO campaign. Search spiders see every link out there, even if they aren't following them. If the search engines see that an abundance of your inbound links are "follow" links, it could mean that you are only building links for the search engines. A healthy combination of both types of links means that in addition to building links for SEO, you also care about the end user and about generating traffic to your site.