Link Building: Creating backlinks to your website from other sources, or link building, is an important SEO strategy. There’s no denying that link building can affect your business, but it’s crucial to remember that just because more people link to your site doesn’t guarantee more people are purchasing from you.
Link building is important but not the simplest technique to understand. Increasing your website’s authority and referral traffic through link building campaign is common knowledge.
After all, Google analytics uses quality backlinks to indicate relevance in its algorithm.
However, many SEO marketers are confused about calculating the actual value of links. Determining which techniques are worthwhile can be difficult if you don’t know the link building ROI.
This post will cover the best methods for measuring the success of your link building campaign.
Business Benefits of Link Building
Regarding google analytics, link building is one of your best choices. But just because you’re skilled at getting links doesn’t guarantee your efforts are paying off.
Your campaign’s success can be measured by tracking the volume of clicks it receives from the links you’ve provided. The following are a few of the most important elements that influence the worth of links to your company.
1. Improved Business Brand
Your site’s ranking will improve as more links point to it. Having other sites link to yours demonstrates that they find your content reliable, which can help position your company as an authority in your field.
Your company’s reputation is determined by your website’s domain authority and the quality of the links pointing to it.
It’s not enough to acquire links; they must be high quality. Your site’s rating will improve if you use quality links, but it could drop if you use spammy links.
People can create bad connections by linking to sites they don’t like or by using link farms.
Publishing unique content and distributing it to significant people increases the probability that they will share it with their followers, increasing the chance that you will obtain high-quality backlinks and boosting the return on investment (ROI) of link development.
2. Better SERPs
Improving search engine ranks is possible through the use of backlinks. A backlink is an inbound hyperlink that can be found on another website. A web crawler will look for external links as part of its search of your site. Your website’s search engine results page (SERP) rankings may improve if other websites link to it.
On the other hand, you should be aware that not all of your link-building efforts will be successful. No matter how much experience you have with link building, it would help if you still had a solid plan to maximize your returns.
3. Increased Revenue
It’s common knowledge that backlinks are significant in search engine rankings. The converse was also discovered in the same study; businesses with more backlinks create more significant revenue potential.
There is a correlation between the number of backlinks a website has and the number of leads and purchases it receives. That’s probably because of the trust and authority signals backlinks send to search engines.
Increased exposure in search results means more visitors who are potentially interested in what you have to offer.
Increasing the number of external links to your site is an excellent way to increase your earnings. The return on investment (ROI) of your link building efforts will increase, leading to more excellent revenue opportunities if your backlinks are of a higher quality.
4. Increased Traffic from Links
Referral traffic, or traffic from other sites, is suitable for your website since it means more people are learning about it from places other than your own.
Linking to other websites shows search engines that your website is reliable for the issue, which increases website traffic.
Better search engine rankings mean more visitors from search engines and links on other sites.
5. Improved Value of Content
The quality of your material will increase when you have good backlinks. Remember that backlinks work both ways, so quality inbound links are just as vital as quality outbound links.
Your site’s authority increases as more and more other sites link to it.
It’s simpler to say than to accomplish, though. Finding relevant, high-quality websites in your business that also connect to you will need some work on your part.
Using this method, you may maximize the return on investment from your link-building efforts.
Link Building ROI Calculation
Link building efforts’ success can be evaluated by computing their return on investment (ROI). If you follow a detailed plan, you’ll be able to assess the results of your efforts and go on with confidence.
Cost Estimation
Link building ROI can only be determined when the actual link acquisition and content production costs have been identified. Some examples are:
- Outreach-related costs, such as those spent when hiring a third-party company or purchasing necessary software
- The prices for creating excellent content that gets valuable inbound connections.
Results Evaluation
Calculating return on investment also requires monitoring the effect of links on key website performance indicators. Think about monitoring:
Organic traffic
Investigate the role that inbound links have in boosting organic search engine rankings and traffic.
Domain authority
Analyze how your domain’s authority has changed as a result of your link-building efforts.
Rates of conversion
Tracking the amount of new contacts and sales made as a result of your connections should give you a good idea of how effective they are.
Figuring out the formula
Here is a quick calculation you may use to figure out the value of building links:
Investment Return = Return – Investment / Investment x 100
In which:
- The value achieved from link building is measured by the increase in organic traffic and income.
- “Investment” describes the amount spent on content creation and link development.
You may calculate your link building campaign’s return on investment (ROI) as a percentage by filling in these numbers.
Remember that constant tracking and analysis are necessary for calculating true ROI. To get the most out of your future investments, you need to constantly evaluate your progress and make changes based on what you learn.
How to Calculate the ROI of Link Building?
Calculate link building ROI is difficult. It’s possible to see the benefits of your link-building campaigns in the form of new customers.
But in many cases, your efforts will help increase your website overall. Your link building ROI can’t be accurately gauged by looking solely at your conversion rate.
Let’s check out some techniques to measure link-building ROI.
Measuring the Return
Step 1: Set a Realistic Ranking Target
The first step in calculating ROI for SEO is setting a realistic ranking target for your chosen keyword. This involves estimating search volume and deciding on the positions you want to target. Let’s consider an example.
Keyword: “Best Smartphone Accessories”
Estimated Daily Searches: 1,000
Targeted Ranking: Page 1
Expected Click-Through Rate (CTR): 10%
With these numbers, you can estimate that your page will receive approximately 100 visitors per day.
Step 2: Estimate the Converting Traffic
Now, let’s determine how many of those visitors are likely to convert. In our example, this conversion rate (CR) represents the percentage of visitors who take the desired action, such as making a purchase or signing up.
Conversion Rate (CR): 1%
This means that for every 100 daily visitors, you can expect 1 person to make a purchase or sign up for your services due to your Google ranking.
Step 3: Determine Average Conversion Value
To measure the ROI, you need to know the value of a single conversion. Suppose you sell smartphone accessories with an average order value of $100. Therefore:
Value of one Conversion: $100
Now, you can calculate your daily revenue:
Daily Revenue = Value of one Conversion x Conversion Rate x Traffic Per Day
Daily Revenue = $100 x 0.01 x 100 = $100
So, in this example, your daily revenue from ranking on Google is $100, leading to approximately $3,000 per month and over $36,000 per year.
Measuring the Investment
Step 1: Compare the Domain Authority (DA)
To understand the competitive landscape, compare your Domain Authority (DA) with your competitors using tools like Ahrefs or Moz. Suppose your DA is lower, your competitors have 50 homepage links from quality domains, and you have only 10.
Link Gap: 50 – 10 = 40 homepage links needed
Step 2: Check the URL Rating (UR)
Evaluate the strength of the page you want to rank (measured by UR). Suppose your page has a UR of 30, while your competitors have a UR of 50.
UR Gap: 50 – 30 = 20 inner page links needed
In this example, you’ll need 60 links (40 homepage links and 20 inner page links) to stay competitive.
Monthly Investment Calculation
Let’s assume each quality link costs around $200:
Monthly Investment = Total Links Needed x Cost Per Link
Monthly Investment = 60 x $200 = $12,000
Now, consider the ROI:
ROI = (Annual Revenue – Annual Investment) / Annual Investment
ROI = ($36,000 – $12,000) / $12,000 = 2.0 (or 200%)
Keep in mind that any numbers you come up with are only estimates. It’s often difficult to gather exact information when trying to determine a ranking because of the wide range of elements at work.
However, due to the presence of actual mathematics, you can obtain relatively accurate estimations that can help in your decision-making.
How to Increase Link Building ROI
When you’re done, you’ll have a good idea of the return on investment. This number may work in your favor and be within the range of your finances, or it could be too costly and time-consuming. Let’s explore our options for handling each of these situations.
If ROI is successful…
1. Find the information gap.
If you agree with the return on investment calculations, you may improve your on-page SEO by filling in the blanks. For better on-page optimization, you should focus on enhancing your content, its search purpose, and keywords.
You may achieve this through Search Console, Ahrefs, SurferSEO, and even a manual inspection of search engine results pages (SERPs).
2. Find the missing link.
We need to find the missing links between domains and pages in order to optimize off-site.
If the ROI fails…
3. Focus on your SEO
When we say “working on SEO,” we mean “rethinking the keyword strategy and aiming for SERP features.”
Try less competitive and more specialized keywords to see if you can rank. Finding more successful keyword targets can be achieved by researching the keywords used by competitors.
A. SERP Features
Discover innovative approaches to using search engine results pages (SERPs) by optimizing for snippets and focusing on schema markup. When competing on DA is out of the question, you can always hire an agency to assist you in beating the system at its own game.
B. Consider different traffic strategies.
When there are too many high DR competitors or when a page has too many advertisements, SEO may not be the ideal option. In such a scenario, you can try paid advertising, social media marketing, or public relations to boost site visitors.
C. Social Traffic
Drive traffic to your site from social media using either free or paid promotion.
D. Use Free Link-Building Methods
You may increase your return on investment from link development by using free link-building tactics. This may be done in a variety of ways, including reaching out to bloggers to request a link, submitting your site to directories, and spreading the word on social networking platforms like Facebook and Twitter.
- Connect with leaders in your field
- Create a weblog
- Submit to reputable directories to boost site traffic.
- Produce some quality material.
- Offer a recommendation
- Get links from people who have mentioned you.
You may easily acquire high-quality backlinks without spending anything, and there are many sites online where you can establish links. Always keep in mind that any opportunities to increase your number of inbound links should be taken.
E. PPC
Paid search marketing (PPC) is more like hunting than it is like search engine optimization (SEO). There is a chance to see results quickly and make adjustments as needed. With a reliable PPC partner, you may put your PPC data and earnings into your SEO efforts.
F. Public relations company
Another option is to hire a PR company whose job it is to get you highlighted in significant publications. While this may help your site’s search engine rankings, its primary goal is to get your material featured on other sites.
Do You Know How to Determine the Value of Link Building?
It’s commonly believed that link building’s return on investment can be accurately determined. The truth is that estimating the return on investment of link development is impossible due to the many factors involved.
As discussed in the sections before it, however, various factors determine the return on investment from link development.
Keep in mind that link development is an integral aspect of a comprehensive SEO strategy, and treat it as such. The results of your link-building efforts may not be seen for months or even years.
Link Building ROI Challenges
However, there are a few limitations that make this formula and any advanced technique pretty much useless:
Variable Options
To evaluate the full extent of something, it must be separated from all other variables. The Google algorithm is a mystery, and search engine optimization is not only about building links.
Therefore, it is impossible to calculate link development’s return on investment (ROI) without other factors such as content quality, user intent, etc. When it comes to rankings, organic traffic, conversion, or revenue development, you cannot identify a single backlink as the cause.
Link Costs
One of the most significant aspects influencing return on investment in a link building method is the price of your backlinks. Spending too much on links without any return is easy to do if you aren’t careful.
On the other side, if you can acquire your links at a cheaper price, you may have a greater return on investment.
Result takes time
Considering that you’ll probably be building several connections over time, it takes some time for Google to take into account the new links and assess whether this should positively influence your page’s results.
As a result, there is no way of estimating with any accuracy (within a few months) when you can expect to see benefits from your efforts.
Therefore, it is impossible to accurately determine the benefits of link building.
You shouldn’t let this stop you from regularly working on link building and calculating your return on investment, especially given the significant connection between link development and SEO success.
Contact a professional link building agency.
Without any professionals on board, all of these calculations might become a bit daunting. A professional link building service can help you simplify the link development process. These companies have the expertise, resources, and experience to quickly calculate the costs and benefits for you.
At Jeenam Infotech, we use our own unique algorithm to compare your website to the competition based on a number of factors, including your backlink profile, the strength of your links, and the relevance of the sites to which they link. As a leading link building agency we then conduct an in-depth SEO analysis, outline competitors, determine how many links you’ll need, and provide a detailed cost estimate.
In addition to maximizing the campaign’s potential, we can discuss the expected return on investment (ROI) if you give us the appropriate requirements. One way to do this is by offering content ideas that will help you get an advantage over the competition in search engine rankings.
Final Words On Link building ROI measurement
Link building ROI measurement can be complex. It’s tough to say how much an increase in traffic from link building will actually do for your site’s overall success because of the various other factors at play.
You may get a better idea of how many connections you need and the returns they will generate by using dependable indicators like converting traffic, click-through rate, and domain authority.
In most circumstances, link building may unquestionably add to your long-term earnings if you do it well, as seen by all the successful link-building initiatives around you.