The Importance of Backlinks in SEO: Building a Winning Strategy
SEO has come a long way. Back then, SEO mainly involves using the most relevant keywords and getting inbound links from other websites. Nowadays, SEO has become more than those two – it has become a staple in every organization’s digital marketing strategy.
The importance of backlinks for SEO is crucial in determining a website’s overall value. Once Google sees authoritative websites linking to your page, chances are your page will rank higher on SERPs. Needless to say, backlinks not only boost your searchability but also attract organic traffic and add credibility to your website.
As business owners, it is a must-have nowadays to have a website that delivers results. However, understanding how backlinks work and how they can improve site authority is just as important. Much better if you work with a reputable digital marketing agency offering link-building services to ensure your business’ success.
This simple guide will cover all the things you need about the importance of backlinks for your website.
Understanding Backlinks
Also called inbound links, backlinks work by linking a website to another one. It plays a major role in SEO as it helps establish your website’s searchability and reputation.
What Are Backlinks?
More backlinks mean more site traffic, more revenue, and higher ranking on search engine results. If your page appears on the first page of search engine results, your backlink strategy must be working wonders for your site.
There are two types of backlinks, dofollow and nofollow. While both aim to link one website to another, their difference lies in how search engines use such information. You can also check if the link is dofollow or nofollow using tools such as Ahrefs.
Dofollow
All links are dofollow by default. It passes the origin site’s authority to the destination site – a so-called “link juice”. Dofollow backlinks help enhance a website’s domain authority which is crucial in boosting your SERP ranking.
Nofollow
On the other hand, a nofollow link does not pass the origin site’s authority to the other. It is also often used for affiliate and sponsored links. Nofollow links also do not have an impact on the websites’ SEO.
While it cannot generate SEO benefits as dofollow links, nofollow links can still help increase website traffic and create a diverse backlink portfolio.
How Backlinks Work
If you want to add value to your content, aim to have quality backlinks coming from authoritative and established websites. Quality backlinks equate to high domain authority, in which you would want to link your website.
But make sure you don’t just link some random link to your content. Search engines ensure the sites linked to yours are not spammy and irrelevant. Spam links can affect your ranking and drown your website down to the depths of search engine results.
The Importance of Backlinks in SEO
Marketers know the importance of backlinks for SEO as part of their digital marketing strategy. Because the majority of businesses nowadays shift online, it only makes sense for owners to invest in strategies to build their online presence. One of the most effective and popular ways to do so is through link building.
Enhancing Search Engine Rankings
Anyone with an online business would like to find their website on page one of search engine results for obvious reasons. Top websites usually generate high traffic and profit through ads. Without backlinks, all of these would be impossible to achieve.
Just when you think link-building is a thing of the past, you are wrong. Here are statistics to prove how important backlinks are for websites:
- More than 90% of marketers think that links play a huge role in ranking in Google search, and will continue to do so for the next five years.
- Over 60% of business owners even hire a specialist for link-building tasks.
- Websites that are on page one of Google search results have an average of 3.8 times more backlinks
Building Website Authority
Linking to websites with strong domain authority offers trustworthy content for your target readers. Google loves backlinks from authoritative sites. In return, it helps build website authority, establish trust, and improve your visitors’ overall experience while browsing your site.
Driving Referral Traffic
Backlinks can also increase your website’s organic traffic. That is why you should only use backlinks from authoritative sources relevant to your business. Using the right anchor text can also help boost your ranking for your assigned keywords.
Types of Backlinks
Not all backlinks are good links. If you are thinking of buying inbound links to improve your website’s SEO, don’t even attempt if you don’t want to be penalized and affect your rankings. Safe to say, your website’s reputation lies with the quality, not the quantity, of links you use.
High-Quality vs. Low-Quality Backlinks
Google loves high-quality links and will also help give your website some love. These refer to websites that adhere to Google’s guidelines. So if you want to be associated positively by search engines, always link your site to well-known websites within the industry.
On the other hand, you should avoid low-quality backlinks like the plague. These are spammy links that could destroy your website’s reputation and SERP ranking. Worse, it could open a can of bugs that could affect your hardware, and compromise your personal data.
Different Sources of Backlinks
Backlinking can be complex, but you just have to set realistic expectations especially if you are just starting out. You cannot expect the Wall Street Journal to link its website with another site that is still in its infancy stage.
Nonetheless, you can still find different sources of backlinks through guest posting, creating infographics, and just writing great-quality content.
Strategies for Building a Winning Backlink Profile
If you hear any advice telling you that backlinking doesn’t work, don’t listen. Quality backlinking is still an effective strategy to build your online authority and reputation.
Studies show that top-ranking websites have 3.8 times more backlinks than websites without links. Also, more than 50% of SEOs have proven how impactful backlinks are on Google search rankings.
Here are strategies for building a winning backlink profile:
Creating High-Quality Content
Invest your time on creating high-quality content, or hire someone experienced to do that for you. These can help with your backlinking strategy.
Write reviews
Allot some time writing reviews, from purchased products or software to recent travels. You could get that coveted quality link from a high-authority website.
Broken link-building
Reporting broken links and recommending your page to replace those.
Infographics
Turning boring written data into a visual learning piece. Publications might find your graphics interesting and link them to their own websites.
Guest Blogging
A 3,000-word article can gain 3.5 times more backlinks than short-form content. Look for websites that accept guest posts that suit your niche.
Outreach Techniques for Link Acquisition
Aside from customized emails, Facebook and LinkedIn are also among the major sources of backlinks. Authority Hacker reports that more than 60% of link builders use social media as part of their outreach and link-building efforts. Platforms such as HARO (now CisionOne) also help in outreach and gaining mentions from other websites.
Competitive Analysis for Backlink Opportunities
50% of business owners get links by checking out competitors. You don’t have to be sneaky anymore to do this. Tools such as SEMRush and Ahrefs can help you identify pages that link to your competitors, and aim to lead them to yours as well.
Measuring the Impact of Backlinks
Enjoying the fruits of link-building doesn’t happen overnight. It takes time to establish your site through links. Experts say you might have to wait a few months before you notice results from your link-building efforts.
Tracking Backlink Performance
Tools such as Google Search Console, Ahrefs, Semrush, and Seoptimer help in monitoring backlink quality. Metrics such as domain rating, an improvement in organic traffic, and using the right anchor texts determine if your backlinking strategy is effective.
- 40% of users check the anchor texts to see the quality of the backlinks.
- Almost 70% of SEO experts believe website traffic and high domain authority are the key indicators of whether a site’s backlinking strategy is successful.
Adjusting Strategies Based on Data Insights
Establishing a comprehensive and consistent link-building strategy is crucial for your website’s visibility and reputation. The aforementioned tools will keep your backlinking on the right track and help achieve your business goals.
Conclusion
Link-building is crucial for the success of your website. It helps with increasing your website’s visibility in SERPs and trustworthiness among your target users. Google loves websites with authoritative links, so ensure yours has them!
However, make sure you build backlinks in an ethical way. NEVER buy links and too much linking if you don’t want to incur penalties, demote your site to the last page of SERPs, and even get possibly banned on Google.
Now that you know the importance of backlinks for SEO, the next step is finding a link building expert. If you want to become a trusted brand in your industry, start working on your backlink strategy today!
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