Securing inbound links as part of your overall SEO strategy is no easy feat in the post-Penguin virtual landscape. Although you could certainly engage in the linking schemes of old, getting as many inbound links to your site as possible through a variety of means, Google has made it clear that they will no longer tolerate such tactics, and the results could be demotion or even delisting. These days it’s all about quality, not only of content, but also of the backlinks you secure. And this has led a lot of websites to start singing a different tune when it comes to the ways in which they boost their traffic and their page rank. Along these lines, infographics have emerged as a compelling means of increasing inbound links. No longer are they solely for the entertainment value of viewers; they have begun to serve a much more important purpose in the online arena. But they can only get you the SEO clout you crave if you know how to use them appropriately to attract backlinks.
The first thing you need to understand is that quality is of the utmost importance when it comes to creating your infographics. They must not only feature information that is useful, relevant, and concise, but the graphics must highlight and enhance the data presented in a manner that is eye-catching and innovative. It also couldn’t hurt to offer some entertainment value through humorous or clever presentation, or by way of animations or interactive features. The point of all of this, aside from attracting an audience, is to promote sharing, as this is what will really help to increase your inbound links.
So the first step is to create a stellar infographic. From there you’ll need to do your part to promote it and there is some prep work involved. Once you’ve got your finished product ready to post, you need to add a few hidden components that will ensure you meet your SEO goals. First, you’ll want to include specific keywords via titles and tags. Your options are somewhat limited, so every word counts. Next you should embed a link in the infographic that leads back to your home page or the page on which the infographic will be posted initially. This embed will ensure that no matter where your infographic ends up on the worldwide web through sharing and re-posting, it will always lead back to you. As a bonus, anyone who posts it elsewhere will be giving you a backlink, in essence.
As for promotion, however, you need to go the extra mile. You should start by posting the infographic on all of your own social media feeds. And from there you’ll want to approach industry blogs about posting it on their sites. Trading free content for backlinks is a fairly common practice, and if you have a truly stellar product to offer you should have no trouble making such deals. Of course, the main benefit comes from sharing, especially if you can manage to create an infographic that goes viral. So whether you opt to focus on your graphic images or use animated infographics as a means of securing likes, shares, and re-posts, you need to find ways to ensure that your final product has enough appeal to spread across the internet like wildfire, securing inbound links along the way.
