Link building is the most popular SEO method

Link Building Link building is the most popular off-page SEO method.  Basically, by building external links to your website, you are trying to gather as many ‘votes’ as you can so that you can bypass your competitors and rank higher. For example, if someone likes this article and references it from his/her website or blog, then this is like telling search engines that this page has good information. Over the years webmasters were trying to build links to their websites so that they rank higher and they ‘invented’ a number of ways to increase link count. The most popular ways were:

Blog Directories – something like yellow pages but each entry was a link back to a website

Forum Signatures – Many people were commenting on forums for the sole purpose of getting a link back to their website (they included the links in their signature)

Comment link – The same concept as forum signatures where you comment on some other website or blog in order to get a link back. Even worse, instead of using your real name, you could use keywords so instead of writing ‘comment by Alex Chris’,  you wrote ‘comment by How to lose weight’ or anything similar.

Article Directories – By publishing your articles on an article directory you could get a link (or 2) back to your website. Some article directories accepted only unique content while other directories accepted anything from spin articles to already published articles.

Shared Content Directories – Websites like hubpages and infobarrel allowed you to publish content and in return, you could add a couple of links pointing to your websites.

Link exchange schemes – Instead of trying to publish content you could get in touch with other webmasters and exchange links. In other words, I could link your website to mine and you could do the same. In some cases you could even do more complicated exchanges by doing a 3-way link, in other words, I link to your website from my website but you link to my website from a different website. Notice that I used the past tense to describe all the above methods because not only they do not work today, you should not even try them because you are more likely to get a penalty rather than an increase in rankings (especially when it comes to Google).

The birth of black hat SEO

Link building was an easy way to manipulate the search engine algorithms and many spammers tried to take advantage of this by building link networks which gradually lead to the creation of what is generally known as black hat SEO. Google has become very intelligent in recognizing black hat techniques and with the introduction of Panda and Penguin, they have managed to solve the problem and protect their search engine from spammers. Of course, there are still exceptions but they are doing advances in every new release of their ranking algorithm and very soon none of these tricks will work.

You're absolutely right — link building is one of the most popular and powerful SEO methods, and for good reason.

🔗 Why Link Building is the Most Popular SEO Method

✅ 1. Google Considers Backlinks a Top Ranking Factor

• Google’s algorithm uses backlinks as “votes of confidence”.

• The more high-quality, relevant websites that link to your site, the more authority and trust your site earns in the eyes of search engines.

• Pages with more authoritative backlinks tend to rank higher in search results.

✅ 2. Drives Referral Traffic

• Besides SEO value, links from blogs, news sites, or directories send direct traffic to your site.

• These visitors are often highly relevant, leading to better engagement and conversions.

✅ 3. Improves Domain Authority (DA/DR)

• A strong link profile boosts your domain authority (DA) or domain rating (DR).

• Higher DA/DR makes it easier to rank new content faster with less effort.

✅ 4. Boosts Brand Visibility

• Being featured on other websites, blogs, or directories increases brand exposure and builds credibility.

• Especially true for guest posts, PR mentions, or editorial links.

🔍 Popular Link Building Techniques

Strategy	Description
Guest Posting	Writing content for other blogs to earn a backlink
Broken Link Building	Finding dead links on other sites and suggesting your content as a replacement
Skyscraper Technique	Creating better content than what currently ranks and asking sites to link to yours
Resource Page Link Building	Getting listed on “useful resources” pages
HARO (Help A Reporter Out)	Providing quotes to journalists in exchange for backlinks
Link Reclamation	Finding unlinked mentions of your brand and requesting a link
Infographic Submission	Creating and submitting visual content that others want to share

🚫 Caution: Avoid These Link Building Tactics

• Buying links (violates Google guidelines)

• Using private blog networks (PBNs)

• Low-quality directory links

• Spammy blog comments

Google penalizes manipulative link schemes — focus on earning links naturally through quality content and outreach.

📈 Link Building Tools You Can Use

Tool	Purpose
Ahrefs	Backlink analysis, competitor research
SEMrush	Link audits, gap analysis
Moz	Domain authority tracking
BuzzStream	Outreach management
Hunter.io	Find email addresses for link outreach

Final Thought:

💡 Link building is not just popular — it's essential.
But it must be done with strategy, ethics, and long-term value in mind.

Would you like:

• A link building plan for your website?

• A list of free guest posting or backlink sources?

• A backlink audit to identify your strengths and gaps?

Let me know and I’ll guide you step by step!