The Secret to Future SEO Success Is In Your Relationships

When it comes to SEO, there are all kinds of tactics to help build your profile and there are plenty of articles, websites, and companies out there hoping to help you improve; however the one thing that often gets overlooked is building relationships in an effort to boost your SEO. Now that the New Year has hit, more and more companies are starting to see the importance and take action. In short, now is the time to take your online relationships seriously and then use those to your SEO advantage.

How Relationships Can Boost Your SEO

It’s easy to forget about putting time into an Internet relationship if there is no constant reminder, but the truth is that networking is a vital part of any professional industry, and SEO is no different. There’s a good chance you will get a job (or already have a job) based on relationships you discovered and then developed via networking. Why not do the same as a Webmaster?

In SEO, it’s great to get on the same page with other people who share the same interests and goals. Finding other SEO-minded professionals can help your brand and company take a next step. Every new relationship is a potential open door or new path you can head down for aid in the future. A few ways relationships can help SEO specifically include:

●    Opening doors to new opportunities you didn’t know existed.

The word “door” always seems to come up in a professional capacity. “Foot in the door” and “opening doors” are phrases that are sometimes thrown about with reckless abandon, but it’s actually generally for a good reason. A door is a natural barrier between two rooms/ two companies, and breaking down those barriers can lead to a domino effect of good things for your company.

Imagine entering a room filled with two or three more doors. And each of those has a few more doors behind it like something out of “The Matrix.” That’s how developing relationships in SEO can work. You can get in with somebody who might know somebody else, who might know somebody else, and so on. It’s about finding opportunities that you never knew existed and then taking advantage (these opportunities are discussed below).

●    Linear paths of growth.

Relationships can be mutually beneficial, too. It doesn’t always have to be you reaching higher for a more established company or site. You can start smaller, with another company on your level and then link back and forth when relevant. The more you guys help each other out, the faster you can each grow and before long, the other company can be a successful enterprise, too. It will look good to the other company that you were around from the beginning, when they were simply a smaller company. Since you helped them grow, they might feel gratitude toward you and your company/site. SEO is one of the rare industries that your competitor’s success can actually be your success, too.

I spoke with Jason Hawkins from No Risk SEO, a company that specializes in plastic surgeon SEO services, who said that this becomes even more important when you’re dealing with niches. He said, “it’s a great idea to have a complimentary company help promote your brand while you do the same for their brand; especially if you’re dealing with an interesting niche (like plastic surgery). We have several long standing relationships like this that have helped us improve our SEO while also helping our readers by linking back to our partners’ articles. I’m always thrilled when someone wants to start a relationship so long as they understand what we do.”

●    You can earn more natural links.

If you already have a relationships established with a person or another company, it’s a lot more likely they will naturally link to your site. Instead of you having to ask them for a link or give something back in return, they may just be perusing your site or blog and decide to include a link back on their own blog. If you’re already established with them, that history could be all the motivation they need to keep up to date with you and your company’s work. Natural links are the best, too, because they can carry more weight than a “link-back” agreement and indicates your work is being recognized. Google has stated time and time again that natural links are really the only links that we should be seeing on the web.

In the end, it’s about the backlinks and visibility you will earn. Looking at things practically, developing a relationship with somebody at a major, authoritative site can help boost your own company’s profile by providing link backs and getting your name and brand out there. The more visible you, your company, and your brand are, the better for SEO purposes. Thus, finding a way “in” with larger, more high-profile sites can give you a boost and open more doors in the industry.

How To Form Relationships

Now that we’ve established how beneficial relationships can be to your future SEO success, it only seems fitting we delve into how to actually form business relationships that can boost your company. Consider a few tips below:

1.     As always, start simple and start small.

Starting simple can also mean starting small. As noted above, getting in on the ground floor of a company can pay huge dividends if that company grows and still recognizes and remembers the hand you played in helping their growth, but starting simple is also about identifying the most effective relationships to build.

It’s easy to look at one of the top companies/sites and try to get your foot in the door there. But actually carrying that out is much tougher than it is to target a smaller, but high quality and well-respected site and then try to get in there. If the company is producing quality work, there is a good chance they will grow and become more authoritative some day, but even if they don’t become a top company, their quality reputation will only benefit your company’s site and blog.

2.     Be prepared by doing your research on the contact.

Don’t just email the larger sites and hope for the best. Do some research. Find out who is responsible for posting to each blog and how you may get into contact with them. For example, if you notice that the author is continually publishing to other sites, it might be easier to get in contact with them through lesser profile sites and try to build a relationship from there.

This also includes connecting with websites on social media accounts, sharing information, commenting and engaging with content, and making mutual connections. The more you can get the person to know who you are and recognize your face, the better chance you have that the initial introduction will go well.

3.     Put your PR hat on.

Once you identify who to target and where, you want to give them a perfect pitch. Call them by name and again, make sure you are actually familiar with their work. Explain how you got their information and that you’ve been following them for a little while, even if they’re not a well-known writer or working for a top company. Keep it simple at first and try to establish a bond in the same way you would in trying to start a new friendship with somebody.

I recommend visiting this article to hear from editors across the web discussing how they want to be pitched when someone approaches them to start a relationship.

Maintain The Relationships

This might seem simple, but it is probably one of the more overlooked aspects of professional relationships that are carried out over the Internet. Too often, people only bounce in and out of each other’s digital lives and it’s easy to forget people. Make sure that doesn’t happen to you in a few different ways:

Practice What You Preach

So much of what we’ve discussed in forming relationships has been about linking to and from, to help build the company’s profile in SEO. Instead of just asking for back links, why not put it into practice yourself? Link back to authoritative sites on a regular basis, and even explore linking to your favorite writers before reaching out to them. It can do nothing but help. Be careful to keep in mind, however, that you’re not trying to link out just to provide a link. Find a way to work in relevant links naturally to your blog posts.

Offer Something In Return

All good relationships have give and take. You can’t just expect your new friends to help you out without getting anything in return. And just because you may have something to offer doesn’t mean you’re offering what they want. Find out what may benefit them and try to go the extra mile to help them out.

If a new contact asks you for another contact you may have, pass the information along. Provide links back to their site on a regular basis. Maybe you won’t see immediate dividends from relationships like this, but you never know when a debt will be repaid. It could be months or years down the road, but you may have made a lasting impact with your earlier kindness and sincerity and people remember things like that. Your effort and willingness to put their needs at the forefront will not go unnoticed, much in the same way friendships are formed in real life.

Do you have any other tips or ideas to help build relationships that can boost your sites SEO? Let us know!