What if you could make one small and simple change to your internet and digital marketing that creates an exponential increase to your opportunities, leads, sales and bottom line?
In due course of conversation, I frequently mention to people “the value of contextual links“. More often than not, people respond; “What is a contextual link?”
SO, with that said, I thought it would be helpful for to write an EASY TO UNDERSTAND article on contextual links with some VERY SIMPLE recommendations to help implement them.
Contextual backlinks are WORDS OR PHRASES that are linked on a webpage, these links are placed within CONTENT on a website and are IN CONTEXT (words on a page). Contextual links are NATURAL within the content, meaning that they are words that have meaning and context within the content on that page.
They are not links that are placed within the navigation, sidebars, widgets, footer or ads, nor are they links with JUST a website (or page) address, i.e. https://3vbiz.com, nor are the linked to words like “Click Here” or “Website” (linking to words like “Click Here” and “Website” will actually do more harm than good).
Contextual links are important because they are;
First and foremost, it is VERY IMPORTANT to understand the value of a LINK (or what SEO pro’s’ call a “backlink”) to your website. I will assume that if you have read this far, you understand the value and power of links on the internet.
“If you do not have ANY links pointing to your website, you will get VERY LITTLE (IF ANY) organic traffic from search engines.
Likewise, the MORE links and the better the quality the links you have to your website, the MORE traffic and the BETTER the traffic to your website, BETTER simply means consumers with a higher level of intent or interest in your business, product or brand.
Let’s start with WHAT IS NOT A CONTEXTUAL LINK.
They are NOT links that are placed within the navigation, sidebars, widgets, footer or ads, nor are they links with JUST a website (or page) address, i.e. https://3vbiz.com.
Sites like directories, link directories, business organizations, etc. predominantly use NON-CONTEXTUAL LINKS (see example below);
There is still some value in a non-contextual link, but the value will end up being a relatively “weak signal to a search engine”, because there is no context. You may still receive a small boost in your rankings and traffic.
SO, now let’s take a look at a CONTEXTUAL BACKLINK, OR SIMPLY CONTEXTUAL LINK, see image below;
In the example above, the phrase “Funeral Insurance Quote Online” gives CONTEXT to the link and the destination website.
… SO … When a search engines views (or crawls) this page, it will see this link and be able to “index” the website and conclude that the link destination is relevant to “FUNERAL INSURANCE QUOTES ONLINE.” —> SUCH THAT THE WEBSITE WILL NOW RANK IN SEARCH ENGINES FOR ANYONE SEARCH THAT PHRASE!!!
Once again, our goal is not get too technical, rather to explain in simple and easy to understand terms, the difference and how you can immediately use this information to get value out of your internet marketing and website! Let’s consider the difference between a NON-CONTEXTUAL and a CONTEXTUAL LINK real quick.
Pretend you are a search engine for one minute, and you view or “crawl” a page with a link to a 3rd party website. Which one of these links gives you MORE information about the link;
The answer is (or at least should be) obvious!
So, let’s continue using the “Funeral Insurance Quotes Online” example for illustrative purposes.
BEFORE the link in image 3 above, the life insurance website had ZERO exposure for the phrase (and phrases similar to); “Funeral Insurance Quotes Online“, zero exposure simply means that when a consumer searched that term, the website did NOT appear in the search engine.
After ONE (1) contextual link, the website within 3-4 weeks began appearing on the 2nd page of a Google search, and while many SEO pro’s have a funny way of describing page 2 rankings on Google;
Question: Where is the best place to hide a dead body?
Answer: On the 2nd page of a Google search
The value and benefit of just ONE CONTEXTUAL BACKLINK is that the website improved from ZERO exposure to being ranked 11th-20th on Google, with JUST ONE CONTEXTUAL BACKLINK!
I would predict that a NON-CONTEXTUAL BACKLINK in this case, probably would NOT even help the website get into the top 100, because there is simply just no context!
NOTE: Because of the “value” of this domain and website, the simple fact that I created a CONTEXTUAL LINK in this article, that should be enough to bump the linked website from 11th-20th easily into the top 10! Upon adding 2-3 more, the website would easily make the top 5 – AND – be worth probably an additional 20-40 ORGANIC (a.k.a. FREE) leads per month!
I have a couple of strong recommendations for you and anyone reading this article, STRONG AND SIMPLE RECOMMENDATIONS!
I hope you found this article to have VALUABLE information and SIMPLE recommendations that will have BIG impact on your internet, website and digital marketing!