I get a lot of emails telling me about broken links. It’s because I run a lot of big sites with lots of blog posts. One of the downsides is that the links to some of the sources quoted in those blog posts stop working. The website is taken down. Or the link itself changes when there is a website upgrade.
If a reader of one of those blog posts clicks on that link, they will arrive on a page that shows a 404 error message. That doesn’t give a good experience for that reader.
A recognised strategy for linkbuilding is to reach out to blogmasters about broken links and suggest a substitute link.
But there’s always a problem with these new Fire and Security links.
Blogging outreach about broken links
The outreach is usually from people with English as a second language who have been paid a pittance by a larger “first world” company to acquire links on relevant sites.
Sadly, these individuals also write the articles they are suggesting that you use as a replacement. The articles are not very well written. And they may not be factually correct.
No one wants a site with broken links. But it’s a bad idea to send readers to a bad article or associate a good website with something bad in Google’s eyes.
Using blogging outreach to gain complementary links
A far better strategy is to reach out to companies that complementary your Fire and Security business. Local businesses in your town or businesses that offer a service that is naturally associated with yours.
It is better if your company already has some form of relationship with the owners of these business websites – it just makes it easier to make contact. They are more likely to read your email request or take your telephone call suggesting a link between your two websites if they know of you already.
This strategy needs to be done with care. It’s no good making it look as if you will link to any one – the ancient strategy of having a ‘links’ page and telling people they can ask for one may result in a Google penalty.
And it doesn’t mean haranguing other local business owners to let you do a guest post on their website. And then putting a rehashed version of the same idea on a whole bunch of sites. Your content should be relevant to the other site and add value. It needs to be an interesting read! Yes, you want Google to index your link. But the optimal outcome is for visitors to the other site to click on your link and visit you to find out security systems for their own home or business! Ker-ching!
If you’re using a company to build links by reaching out to the webmasters of other websites and blogs, you need to be sure that your provider bears in mind natural etiquette.
And think about how you would behave if someone kept on nagging you to do something which has very little benefit for them.
Get Better Search Results Without Relying On Other People
Link building in this way can be effective. It is thought to improve your Google rankings. But it takes a lot of work. There are other simpler things that you can do to improve the positioning of your website in Google searches.
Grab a copy of our Checklist on How To Get More Fire and Security customers, so you can find out how to do this yourself. Just click the image below to get yours now.