Link building is an important part of SEO or Search Engine Optimization. A single backlink from the right page has the power to get thousands of new visitors to your site.

Take the example of Moosa Hemani, SEO and inbound marketing specialist who recorded a 203% increase in his traffic after his guest post on Moz.com.

Backlinks from authority sites can in fact do magic for your website ranking. This is because Google counts backlinks from reputed sites as votes for your page.

Other pages pointing to your site tells Google that your content is worth quoting and referring to and hence valuable.

However, building links proactively takes time and effort. There is a whole process of researching the right sites and reaching out to them for backlinks.

You also need to add value to your partners to gain their trust and links. This could be re-purposing their content in the form of infographic, writing a guest post or promoting their page on your social media.

Link building campaigns need expertise, time and resources. This is why outsourcing link building to an external agency is a good idea.

The right agency can boost your SEO efforts with link-building strategy. Here are the evaluation criteria while choosing the right link building agency for your business.

• Experience

Past work of the agency is good indication of their quality of work. Have they successfully delivered increased traffic before? Ask them for references of their clients if required. This way you can enter the contract with confidence.

Also, it is important to check the industries and size of companies they have worked in. A campaign that was successful for a big MNC may not be the best strategy for a start-up. Your agency must have the creativity to develop a tailor-made strategy for you.

Generally speaking, an agency who has worked within your industry with similar client profile is preferable. However, do not rule out an agency new to your industry without asking for detailed strategy proposal for your business.

Another detail to consider is the experience of the person who will be handling your campaign. Stellar experience of the agency is of no use to you if your account will be taken care by a fresher single- handedly.

• Ethical Strategies

You may come across agencies that will promise you 500% increase within no time. Practices employed by such agencies are often unethical, penalized by search engines and may cause Google to ban your site. Make sure your agency is not using black hat SEO tactics that will only hurt your business in the long run. Here are some black hat practices for your awareness:

• Paying for backlinks is not allowed and is considered a serious offense by Google
• Inserting links in others site without their permission or through hacking into their site
• Irrelevant posting of links to your site in the comments section. There are even tools available for mass posting in websites that are unrelated to your topic.
• Excessive link exchanging is a practice where links are exchanged between sites just to show backlinks to search engines and with no real benefit to site visitors. Such a practice of linking excessively to unrelated site is a violation of Google’s webmaster guidelines.

You website will be the one penalized by Google even if you are unaware of such practices being used by your agency. This is why it is important that your agency shares all plans and actions with you honestly. This brings us to the next point.

• Transparency

Since you are entrusting a third party with your business site, it is important that you share a relation of trust and honesty. Your agency must share campaign details with your regularly. Setbacks and delays are understandable and should be shared with you clearly.

Unexplained delays in implementation and poor communication could be a sign of your agency hiding something.

• Business Philosophy

Very few blogs will talk about this, however, difference in business philosophy is often the underlying cause of problems. Imagine an agency that values perfection but is serving a client who values speed instead. The slow pace of delivery may frustrate the client whose priority is to move fast in the market.

When you choose an agency to work with, do check for alignment with their values and vision. There is no right or wrong in this. Some agencies will work best for you because their way of doing business fits perfectly with yours.

• Holistic Approach

Everything works together in digital marketing. This means that your link building efforts must be supported by good content, inbound sales process, social media and other channels. Building links around poor content will only lead to wastage of your resources.

Ideally, your SEO, link-building and content marketing should be done by the same agency. If not, they should at least work closely with the content and digital marketing team. Choose an agency that has an overview of your digital marketing and holistic approach to link-building.

Takeaway

These are the five ways to make sure that you choose and collaborate with the right agency. Remember to be patient as returns from link- building may take some months to show. Link-building is a long term exercise and therefore it is even more important for you to choose the right partner.