As we have previously discussed, there is a lot more to linking stuff than meets the eye. Links can be an information source, as well as a tool to smoothen your navigation, enhance your branding efforts, improve your SEO performance, etc.

In short, this one little function actually has tons of benefits if you know how to use it. In this blog we actually want to discuss some things to avoid and mistakes not to make.

Practically all of these tips are straight-forward and take little time to act upon, so there is little incentive for you to ignore all the possible advantages you might accrue by sound link building.


Link quality

As usual the quality of the content is a key aspect. There are a lot of clever ways of creating a system of links, but all of that will go to waste if you link unreliable, uninteresting or irrelevant content.

You might think that one or two throwaway links will not have much effect, but all it takes is one simple misstep for your more educated visitors to completely lose trust in you and in your organization.

Which is why it might be better to focus on the calibre of your outbound links, rather than the quantity. Especially since including too many links on a given web-page is already a bad idea. You run the risk of overwhelming or confusing the user with too many options, alternatives.

This disrupts their navigation and might cause irritation, which might result in higher bounce rates. In particular, if your website is focused on seamless, wondering navigation instead of A to B to C strict routes, since textual content has generally lower priority than products or services.

Also, if you have to use an unreliable, uninteresting or an irrelevant source for some reason (say you are quoting them), then make sure to include nofollow HTML tag in order to make sure that search engines disregard them.


Vagueness

One of the most common mistakes is using link text that is vague or unclear - you really do not want to be doing this. When using links, it's important to use descriptive and informative text that accurately represents the content of the linked resource. Otherwise the users will straight up ignore the links completely.

Avoid using generic phrases like "click here" or "read more" because they don't provide any context about the linked content. Instead, use descriptive language that explains what the linked resource is about.

In addition, using descriptive link text can also improve your website's SEO by helping search engines understand the content of the linked resource.


Technical details

Let us start with the easiest one: do not use low contrast colors for your links. If your text is black (it probably should be), your link should not be dark blue. This is a weirdly persistent trend. Most users do not sift through every inch of your content, they just jump from paragraph to paragraph. Well, higher contrast colors stand out more...

Using long, complex URLs can make it difficult for users to remember or type in the link manually. When possible, use short and simple URLs that are easy to remember and type. On top of that, shorter URLs can improve your website's SEO by making it easier for search engines to crawl and index your content.

And finally, alt-text. One of the most important reasons to include alt text for images is web accessibility. According to the WHO, there are approximately 1.3 billion people worldwide who live with some form of vision impairment. By including descriptive alt text for images, you can ensure that your website is accessible to everyone, regardless of their visual abilities. Also, search engines use alt text to understand the content of images and include them in search results.