Why Links Matter for SEO – and How to Get Them
As a wedding professional, you’ve likely heard about the importance of SEO when it comes to driving traffic and new clients to your website. SEO works to help your site rank higher in search engines (namely, Google) and in order to do that, you’ll need to take a holistic approach to optimizing your site.
One component of an effective SEO strategy is link building – the practice of attracting high-quality links from other websites back to your own website.
Why do links matter for SEO? And, more importantly, how do you get links back to your site? Read on to learn the ins and outs of link building for your wedding industry website or blog.
Why Links Matter for SEO
A link ( or “backlink”) is essentially a vote of confidence from a website stating that your site (the site they are linking to) is a reliable source of information for users. Search engines crawl links to get a better understanding of the content a site is linking to and determine the authority of that page.
When you earn high-authority backlinks from industry-related websites, these serve as indicators to search engines that your website is worthy of getting noticed and therefore ranked higher in the search results. On the flip side, having a ton of backlinks from spammy websites shows search engines that your site may not be a reputable site after all and can, therefore, hurt your rankings.
Not All Links are Created Equal
When many businesses discover the importance of link building for SEO, they go out to generate as many backlinks as possible. They may submit their site to a million directories, reach out to guest post on other blogs, or buy backlinks online.
However, it’s important to note that NOT all links are created equal. Some websites have a bad reputation in the eyes of search engines, have a high spam score, or have very little authority at all. The last thing you want to do is start building links (or worse, buy links) from these low-quality sites.
Quality Over Quantity
Therefore, the best approach is for you to focus your efforts on earning links from high-quality, industry-related websites. Earning links from these sites may take longer than earning (or buying) links from low-quality sites, but this approach will work to provide more value and higher rankings to your own site in the long run.
The good news is that as a wedding professional it’s relatively easy for you to earn links from a variety of good quality sites – through wedding blog features, press features, getting listed in online directories, etc. Below, we’ll discuss some ways to generate links for your wedding industry site.
Where to Get Links for Your Website or Blog
Instead of buying links or combing Facebook Groups for “link swaps”, you should focus your link building efforts on generating high-quality, industry-related links from reputable websites. This is the best way to increase your rankings while avoiding the risks of earning links from potentially sketchy websites.
Use these link building methods to improve your SEO and drive more traffic to your wedding industry website or blog.
Blog Features
One of the most popular ways to earn backlinks is through securing blog features. You can do this by reaching out to wedding industry blogs and asking if you can submit a real wedding or a guest article. Some blogs even feature interviews with wedding vendors.
But before you submit guest posts to any ol’ site, do some research to determine whether it’s a high-authority site. Moz’s free domain authority checker will analyze the site you wish to earn a link from and determine whether it has a high domain authority and low spam score.
Once you have a list of high-authority sites to reach out to, it’s important to carefully review any submission guidelines for each site. Popular wedding blogs are typically inundated with submissions, so a sure way to head straight to the bottom of their list is to ignore any specific requests or guidelines for that publisher. You also want to be sure to personalize your submission, using the correct contact name if you know it, and explaining why you think this submission would make a great feature on that particular blog.
Wedding industry sites to earn links from:
- Wedding blogs
- Review sites
- Other wedding vendor’s blogs
- Bridal stores or designers blogs
- Travel blogs
- Local bloggers in your chosen location, including local tourism websites
Get Featured!
Want to share your best wedding story? Our very own wedding blog, Brides Without Borders would love to hear from you! Take a look at our submission guidelines here.
Press Features
Press features are a step up from blog features in that they involve earning features in major publications. These might include local magazines, online newspapers, industry-leading websites, wedding fashion retailer websites, etc.
Many of these sites will include a “write for us” or “contribute” option where you can submit a guest article. Other times, they will advertise that they are looking for someone to feature in their online magazine. Guest writing or getting interviewed for these websites are great ways to earn high-quality links and drum up some publicity for your business.
While we recommend doing a Google search to find relevant press sites in your industry, you can also use tools like HARO to find opportunities. HARO will send you a list of publishers that are looking for writers or people to interview; then, you can submit your information in hopes of getting featured.
Directory Listings
Last but not least, you can find countless wedding industry-related directories that will list your business and direct a link back to your site. Think listings like Yelp, Yellow Pages, Google My Business, WeddingWire, and The Knot. Not to mention our own Destination Wedding Directory.
As with the blog features, you can do a domain authority search to determine whether a directory is reputable or not. Also, if a directory simply looks suspect at first glance, it may not be worth the risk. You want to avoid getting featured in “link farms” that will send spammy links to your website.
Most wedding blogs will also host their own directory, and almost all reputable blogs will require payment in order to list your business. Typically, the higher the blog’s readership, the more they will charge for a listing. If your budget is limited, listing in a niche wedding directory is a good option (e.g. a blog focused on a specific location or style of wedding that matches your target audience). While the readership may lower, a link from a niche site helps to tell Google that your site is also in that niche (e.g. adventure wedding photographers, Lake Como wedding professionals, etc). The more Google understands your business and what you do, the more likely it is to rank you for relevant keywords.
A Word About Follow vs No Follow
Many of the sites above will specify whether the link back to your site will be “follow” or “no follow”. A followed link means that the link directs that website’s authority to your own (preferred). A nofollowed link does not.
Be sure to ask whether the backlink will be followed or not. If you are going to take the time to submit a real wedding or write a guest article, you want to be sure that the backlink will, in fact, direct that coveted “link juice” back to your site.
On that note, links from your social media profiles (Facebook, Pinterest, Instagram, etc.) are usually no follow links. Having said that, links back from your social profiles do matter in terms of confirming the existence of your business and directing traffic to your site, so be sure to post often to these accounts.
Earn Links to Improve Your SEO
Links are essential if you want to improve your SEO, increase your rankings, and generate more traffic for your site. Just remember that not all links are created equal, so it’s worth it to take the time to generate links from high-quality websites.
Follow the strategies above to earn backlinks for your wedding industry website or blog. Have more questions about SEO? Send us a message – we’d love to help!
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