Top rank on the first page of Google is the most coveted spot for websites and one can achieve that position while toiling on some SEO factors, which include trustworthiness of a site, how informative, detailed and accurate content the content is, whether the site is optimized for mobile and includes high-quality visuals. Another element that contributes towards a site ranking is backlink or link building, which most SEO experts wholeheartedly invest themselves in.
However, dedicating all energies on excessive link building is not recommended as some SEO practitioners tend to do, since they may fall under forbidden black hat techniques that Google highly dislikes. A steady combination of link building and other SEO strategies is what you need to get high above on SERP.
What is a Backlink?
Backlink, Link Building, Incoming Links, or Inbound Links are the terms associated with this technique, in which you aim to gather hyperlinks whereby other websites link to your site. The more high-quality links, the better. Hyperlinks can come from blog posts and articles on other websites, social media channels, directories, etc. But, they should be relevant to your niche so as to get the most out of them.
Why are Backlinks Essential for Your SEO Strategy?
Backlinks, especially high-quality ones, play an essential role in increasing your website’s ranking and visibility in the search engine results. As other websites link to your site, they give your website a vote of confidence and trustworthiness, which signals the search engine algorithm that content on your website is noteworthy.
For example, if a blog post on a site is explaining about AT&T Internet plans in detail, then there comes a part where they briefly mention other AT&T services such as their satellite TV but have no intention of going in detail about the said service. So the author of the blog finds an article on your website, explaining DIRECTV service at length. The author can choose to link the text related to DIRECTV in their post to your article, which is posted on your website. That’s how another website links to your site and direct readers to your site for further information, whose accuracy they have vouched for by hyperlinking.
Assess Quality Backlinks
Google doesn’t prescribe what sort of backlinks you should acquire or what else increases your site’s trustworthiness. Many SEO tools such as Moz, Ahrefs, or SEMRush help you gauge the quality of your website, count the number of backlinks, and assess domain authority. Many best practices have proved that a link acquired from a top-ranking site with a good domain authority is much more valuable and effective than a website with low domain authority.
Once you install one of the SEO tools on your browser, you will begin to see Domain Authority (DA), Page Authority (PA), Spam Score, and many other metrics for each site you browse or that comes on the SERP. To determine which is a high-quality website, look for websites with DA of 40+, PA 30+, and a spam score of less than 3.
Unfortunately, it isn’t easy to acquire backlinks as often since websites don’t hyperlink for free or if they do it’s because the content is one-of-a-kind. And it is not easy to create high-quality content profusely, but fear not, there are many ways to acquire backlinks for your website and that too ethically.
Here are some of the most effective link building methods you should practice:
- Report Broken Links
Broken links can have a bad impact on a site’s SEO and usability. If you help another website find a broken link on their page, then you would be doing them a favor. And you can take advantage of that favor by asking them to replace it with your website’s link.
Keep in mind that your website’s link should be relevant to that page. So search for relevant websites and resource pages in your niche. You can search that via Google by typing in the following queries:
- [Your keyword] + resources
- [Your keyword] + link
- [Your keyword inurl]: links
No need to add brackets just the keyword. After conducting your search, approach the webmaster in a helpful, friendly, and confident manner. Mention the broken link on their page with the exact location, and tell them that if they like, they can replace it with the following link. Mention what the link entails and how it can be relevant to the content on their site. You have quite a good chance of getting a link with this method.
- Use Infographics for Backlinks
Infographics are the most useful form of content on the web and users love to pore over them as they make it easy to get a lot of information with just a glance through visuals. Infographics are often used in blog posts and shared on social media, so you have a good chance of their distribution.
Whether you are a webmaster or a writer, you can create good and informative infographics by gathering statistical facts and attractive images and putting them in place easily with an Infographics Maker. Then you can distribute your infographics to various places where you think they would come in handy and ask for a backlink in return.
If someone has already used your infographics, you can contact them and ask if they can backlink it to your website or blog.
- Get a Shortcut with Presentations
You don’t have to write a detailed long post every time to get people to hyperlink to your content. Slide presentations are a good way to not break too much sweat and still create a useful piece of content. You can choose an important topic and create its presentation by adding important statistical facts and graphs, infographics, images, and much more along with witty and attention-grabbing one-liners. Then, you can put the presentation on your blog or share it with others via email or social media. You can even direct readers to go to a specific blog post of yours to get more information.
- Add Internal Links on Your Site
Link Building isn’t always concerned with external linking; you can internally link one blog of your site to another so readers on the blog can get more information related to the topic from your own site. Plus, it helps improve their experience as they seamlessly navigate through your site by finding useful content pieces.
This practice improves your page authority and contributes to the overall credibility of your site. But make sure to not indulge overly, and keep internal links on your page below 100.
- Websites Partnership
You can even collaborate with another website for the purpose of SEO. Here both of you provide backlinks to each other for specific blog posts, which contributes to your site’s authority. However, don’t go overboard with as all hyperlinks shouldn’t exclude other sites.
Before you partner, consider their domain authority, page authority, traffic, spam score, keyword ranking, number of readers per post, user experience, and bounce rates, or else you won’t get much out of this partnership.
- Guest Blogging Never Gets Old
You may be wondering why you should write for another website when you have a blog of your own, where you need to attract audiences. But your blog has a limited audience and one of the ways to attract new readers your way is to boast about your prowess on another trustworthy website, which has its own set of audience pool. Moreover, you can hyperlink that guest post to your website, so you would be killing two birds with one stone.
A lot of websites encourage guest posts on topics relevant to their audience pool and would gladly accept your link in exchange for a good quality piece of content.
In the End
Acquiring backlinks is time-consuming and challenging due to increasing competition in SEO. Therefore, websites are very picky about what content and link they will accept. A lot of websites do accept any content you throw their way but for a certain payment. This may give you backlinks but would not guarantee a new trickle of visitors.
The link building process is nonetheless important so as to build your website’s credibility and authority, which in turn contributes towards its higher ranking on the SERPs. Therefore, come up with the right mix of link building methods that you are comfortable and capable of performing, and which allow you to meet your backlink goals.
Baldwin Jackson is a successful digital marketer with expertise in search engine optimization and content marketing. The perfect balance of his analytical ability and creative thinking is what sets him apart from other practitioners in the digital marketing realm. He has helped a lot of small and medium-sized businesses in crafting their digital marketing strategies that are not only cost-effective but delivers results as well.
Baldwin is also a proud father of two kids and a Sports enthusiast. When he is not working, you will find him watching ESPN and NFL network. He has been able to get an amazing package on his favorite channels from Buytvinternetphone.com.
