What are backlinks and why are they so important for organic search engine results
/
For a long time, most businesses are likely to have been aware that getting people to link to your site is a major positive. Like everything rank or popularity related - making sure that the people who link to you are worthwhile is a key part of making sure that your linking strategy is a good one.
These links - from these awesome people are what is known as backlinks.
Backlinks are sites that link to your site and for most search engines are the supreme ranking factor to getting better search ranking page results.
Want to get on page one organically? And drive more organic traffic to your website?
Securing quality backlinks will need to be a key part of how you do it.
But before we talk about getting some of these magical backlinks, it is worthwhile understanding how google sees links and some link definitions.
Link Juice:
According to Crazy Egg - “Link juice is a non-technical SEO term used to reference the SEO value of a hyperlink to a particular website or webpage”. It is search engine jargon - but it refers to how worthwhile a link actually is for your google rank. This link juice helps with the ranking of the web page, and also improves your domain authority. The better your domain authority - the better your search results. As a website owner, you can stop passing link juice by using a no-follow tag.
What’s the quality of your link juice right now?
No-Follow Link:
When a website links to another website, but the link has a no-follow tag, that link does not pass link juice. SEO bots won't follow the link, so they aren’t a way of generating or increasing your page authority or rank. Most blogs you may choose to comment on would have this enabled to prevent spammers from filling their comment feed with rubbish (remember that from the bad old days!) So if you were thinking about jumping onto a pile of reputable blogs and start commenting like crazy - STOP. No-follow links are not used to contribute to the ranking of your website or web page. In general, a webmaster uses the no-follow tag when he/she is linking out to an unreliable site or to discourage spammers from commenting on your blog posts.
Social Media sites all use no-follow links. I know, how sad is that!
What happens when people comment on your blog now? Do you have no-follow links flagged?
Do-Follow Link:
This is the opposite of the no-follow link type. These links do carry weight or link juice as they tell the google bots to follow the link all the way to the source. They are great for building domain authority if the source of the link is a reputable site. By default, all links are do-follow links.
How can you tell who is linking to your website right now? How many people actually link back to you?
Linking Root Domains:
This refers to the number of backlinks coming into your website from a unique domain. Even if a website has linked to your website ten times, it will only be considered as one linked root domain.
Low-Quality Links:
Low-quality links are links that come from harvested sites, automated sites, spam sites, or even porn sites. Such links do far more harm than good. This is often where purchased backlinks come from - DO NOT BUY BACKLINKS EVER.
Internal Links:
These are links that are going from one page to another within the same domain. So it could be where you are talking about a previous blog post, sending people to a service page or a contact page at your site, from within your own site.
Anchor Text:
The text that is used for hyperlinks on your pages is called is called anchor text. Anchor text backlinks work great when you are trying to rank for particular keywords. So think carefully about how you can better phrase ‘click here’
So how do you go about getting some of these quality backlinks? And what determines quality?
Quality can be and is such a subjective term - but think of it like this.
Trust.
How trustworthy is the information contained on the website linking to you? Are they known thought leaders or experts in their field? Do they already get loads of traffic? Are they popular within the Google ecosystem?
These are the questions that you need to know or find out the answers to.
So how can you start to build these magical backlinks? Listed below are 6 easy ways and one trickier way to make that happen.
7 ways you can build quality backlinks
Guest Posting - this is where you write content for another site so that you can put yourself in front of their audience as well as get a link back to your site. This is one of the best ways to build high-quality, long lasting backlinks.
Testimonials you provide to other people - karma, it's a thing. Be nice to people and it comes back to you in quality backlinks. Think about businesses that you have worked with, or received services from and say something nice about them for use on their website - oh and have a link back to you.
Broken Link Method - this is a more advanced technique - where you trawl the interwebs looking for broken links on key sites, letting the webmaster know that their site has a broken link and then helpfully providing them with one of yours as a suggestion. There is an actual method and approach to doing this, speak to me if you are interested in finding out more about the how of the broken link method - but this site is a good jumping off point.
Directory Links - You may already be doing this - but make sure that your site is listed in appropriate aggregation or directory listings for your kind or business.
Editorial Links - think that you have something to say, perhaps say it on HuffPost or Mamamia or Daily Life or any online news service that may be looking for commentary. High trafficked sites like these have high domain authority so any link back to your site from a site like this - will be a huge boost to your organic search ranking.
Forums - share your expertise in online forums that suit your industry. Many of these forums have dofollow links - so they are great ways to create backlinks that matter.
Comment on things - like all things online - be a participant and not just a spectator. Share what you know, comment on blog posts on those people you admire in your space, you never know where this kind of engagement will get you - but show up and be present.
If you would like to know more about developing a backlink strategy for your business or to even investigate who is linking to your site right now - why not request a time to chat here.
Digital Ascent – a 10 week course in marketing and digital strategy for small business
You know that there is more to an effective online business presence than just having a website
Which is probably why you have a Facebook business page – that’s kind of functioning. And why you popped something up on LinkedIn. Right around the time you began to implement an email marketing strategy – which petered out soon after. Then someone said you had to blog. And what on earth are you meant to post on Instagram and why?
To properly and powerfully benefit from the online space, you need all these pieces of the puzzle to fit together perfectly.
In addition, the overall picture has to align with your goals, ethics, and overall business objectives.
If yours doesn’t, we’ve created something especially for you.
