If you are going to write a series of informative pieces on insurance or mutual funds for your finance blog, keen to access a wider pool of users across the Web, the key is to keep them factually correct and informative, updated and contemporary. The most important aspect is to make the content useful and relevant for your users. Next part is linking it up to external sources to add value and context to it.

But what sort of pages will you like to link to?  Why do people prefer linking to QA pages? To get answers to these questions, you need to realize the fact that the choice of pages you prefer linking to should be based on broad usage pattern and a well-charted SEO policy. For this, keep in mind the following few factors:

Know the user behavior pattern

The action of linking up from your post to an external business or generic content site may be seen as a process of identification. People like the sort of content that associates with their needs and concerns. There is a greater chance of Q&A pages gaining natural links because of their intrinsic value proposition. Referring to ‘how to’ and QA pages is much more valuable for readers as these pages can assist them and teach them something practical apart from upgrading their knowledge in a particular domain.

Build your own Q&A’s set

When one is looking for the appropriate resource online to link to, the most common thing to do is to simply search for it, using generic or specific keywords. So if you wish to link from a paragraph, which deals with say, proper exercising techniques to stay fit, you may search for ‘how to exercise right’ or ‘how to stay fit’ and will probably be directed to Q&A and ‘how to’ pages. This element needs to be taken into account while building your own Q&A’s set and derive natural links.

Establish an independent Q&A resource

The best way of benefiting from the user behavior pattern in order to attract links, is establishing an independent Q&A resource that brings value to your target audience. It might be built on a subdomain/ subfolder in your existing domain or on a separate domain or. You may choose from one of those free open source solutions, which are there to build such platforms.

Think of a keyword strategy

After having established the platform, think of a keyword strategy to help you consolidate your content and making it both user friendly and search engine friendly. It is advisable to go for a targeted Q&A segment with queries related to narrow and specific topics, instead of general ones. So for a hospitality and tourism website, the content should primarily focus on this domain by covering all related long tails. If most queries revolve around a specific topic, it will help readers to focus better.