If you’re new to SEO, you’ve probably heard the term ‘backlinks’ thrown around a lot. But what exactly are backlinks and how important are they in Search Engine Optimization?
Backlinks Explained
Simply put, backlinks are hyperlinks that take users from one web page to another. When another website links to your web page, Google sees it as a vote of confidence, which indicates quality and reputation.
Link building is the process of building backlinks and a core component of off-page SEO. Off-page SEO involves any activities taken outside of your website which involves not only backlinks but also social media, digital PR, and even influencer marketing.
As you invest more in off-page SEO, you’re likely to generate backlinks in the process. However, you need to be intentional and strategic to ensure not only backlink quantity but most importantly, quality.
In March 2024, Google rolled out the Google’s Spam Update, which introduced more advanced metrics for assessing link quality. Google then began suggesting that they would only look at a handful of backlinks and hone in on relevant and honest links.
Backlinks have been known as a major ranking factor, and many webmasters have been manipulating them by acquiring backlinks at scale which misleads the perception of trustworthiness. This manipulation allowed low-quality websites to gain traction which harms Google’s vision of creating the best search experience. In short, to support Google’s best interests, focus on earning backlinks instead of resorting to black-hat link schemes.
Best Link Building Strategies for SEO
There are dozens of link building strategies that could drive inbound or incoming links, but to stay on point and on budget, you need to be intentional about your link building efforts.
Here are some of the most effective ways to generate high-quality backlinks:
Get Listed in Local Business Directories
Getting listed in business directories not only creates backlinks but also improves discoverability as people still actively use local directories to find businesses in their areas.
To streamline the process, some webmasters resort to auto-submitting their websites to directories, but this is not entirely a good idea. It’s important to get listed in high-quality directories and avoid spammy ones that could only do more harm than good. When choosing directories, it’s best to go for those that are well-established and strictly moderated. Directories with an approval process can signal to search engines that your business is legitimate. Some popular local business directories include:
- Bing
- Foursquare
- Google Business Profile
- Yelp
Get Mentioned By Local Publications and Bloggers
Make your PR campaigns more local and tap local bloggers and publications. It’s best if you can have your business added to local business roundups. All you have to do is make a list of relevant publications and bloggers and start reaching out with a pitch or offer. To do this right, it’s best to go beyond transactional and really build connections and relationships within the community.
Discover Unlinked Mentions of Your Brand and Ask for Links
If you’ve been operating your business for some time now, it’s likely that you’ve already naturally amassed a few brand mentions across the web. Securing backlinks from these existing opportunities is an easy win. For starters, it’s much easier to send outreach emails if they already know your brand, and if they’re already discussing your brand, it’s reasonable to politely request a proper backlink.
Just scan the internet for unlinked brand mentions using tools like BrandMentions. You don’t need to pursue every single brand reference. Just go after those coming from high-quality, authoritative websites.
Try Guest Posting
Guest posting involves publishing your article on someone else’s website to not only generate backlinks but also widen your reach and establish yourself as an expert. Like being selective about directories, you also need to be picky about the websites you’re guest posting on and focus on building links from reputable sources.
Start by making a list of the blogs you want to guest post on and reach out to the blog owners or moderators. Most websites have a guest post policy published somewhere on their website, so check that out before making contact and make sure your pitch matches their guidelines.
Guest posting is a win-win game since it’s a great link building opportunity for guest writers and an efficient way for the website host to generate fresh and valuable content.
Use broken link building
The 404 error code is virtually one of the most frequent errors web users encounter. If you’re linking to other pages with such broken links, it does not only harm SEO rankings but also frustrates users. That’s why checking for broken links is an ongoing process in SEO.
This pain point can actually be capitalized on for link building efforts. If you help other relevant sites spot those broken links and offer a link replacement on a silver platter, that could be an easy way to generate backlinks while providing value to website owners.
To detect broken links instantly, you can use the broken link checker SEO Minion or the site audit tool SEO Checker.
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After identifying broken links and preparing a link replacement, you can reach out to the site owners, alert them of the broken links on their sites, and suggest a quick and relevant replacement, a.k.a, your content. Broken Link Building is the fifth most used link building tactic according to Aira’s State of Link Building Report. And for good reason because people are likely to welcome a ready-made solution, saving them time and effort.
Use a Link Bait
Certain titles and content naturally accrue backlinks because they act as a comprehensive and useful resource, rank prominently, or deliver value that’s hard to replicate. In short, content that’s so helpful and interesting that it’s hard to ignore.
The good news is that any piece of content can be link bait – as long as it’s valuable and engaging enough. Create content that’s in-depth, full of visuals and cited sources, stirs up emotions, and 100% satisfies the search query.
Link bait examples include:
- Interactive or visual content (e.g., tools, quizzes)
- Data-driven or research-based content (e.g., statistics, research study, report)
- Infographics (e.g., charts, data visualizations)
- Controversial or shocking content (e.g., unexpected findings, bold claims)
- Exhaustive lists and rankings (e.g., “Top 10 Strategies,” “Best vs. Worst”)
- Comprehensive how-to guides (e.g., step-by-step tutorials, beginner’s manuals)
- Freebies and resources (e.g., templates, checklists, e-books)
- Breaking news and trending topics (e.g., industry updates, viral trends)
- Expert opinions and predictions (e.g., interviews, forecasts)
- Personal stories and experiences (e.g., case studies, testimonials)
- Comparisons and alternative choices (e.g., product reviews, side-by-side analysis)
- Reverse psychology or click-worthy negativity (e.g., “Everything You Know About X Is Wrong”)
Titling is crucial when creating link baits. After all, your title is the very first thing people see before deciding to read and engage. However, the title’s promise should align with the actual content. If not, you’ll only end up risking users’ trust and your reputation. Plus, if the content is not actually good enough, it will only lead to high bounce rates which defeats the purpose of SEO.
On the flip side, as long as it’s done right, creating link baits can be an easy way to drive backlinks without the long and arduous process other link building methods require.
Collaborate with Your Partners
You may have vendors, suppliers, and other business partners with their own websites. Suggest a link building collaboration and find a natural way to link to each other. For example, you could announce your partnership on your blogs, list you on their ‘clients’ page, create a case study, or publish a testimonial. There’s nothing shady about this approach– only a win-win scenario if done well.
Build Your Brand
A strong brand identity can position you as an expert in your field, and once you establish such thought leadership, it’s easier to gain people’s trust and thus backlinks. For example, when choosing external links for content supplementation, health and wellness writers may not think twice about choosing an article from WebMD as an additional resource. If you get to the point of appearing often in search results for a broad range of keywords in your niche, you’ll eventually earn such perceived value and online credibility,
Other ways to build brand awareness include:
- Social media management for consistent engagement, audience growth, and brand visibility across platforms.
- PPC for driving targeted traffic and increasing brand awareness through strategic paid advertising.
- Influencer marketing to leverage trusted voices in your industry and naturally expand your reach.
- Full-on content marketing that establishes authority through high-quality blogs, videos, and thought leadership pieces.
The best part of it all is how solid link building eventually creates this flywheel effect. The more links you acquire, the more authority and visibility you enjoy. As long as you start the process carefully, consistently, and effectively, the results can be truly exponential.
Link Building: Dos and Don’’ts
Done right, link building can definitely supercharge your SEO strategy. Done wrong, it can trigger Google penalties or even hurt your reputation. Here are the dos and don’ts you should keep in mind to make sure your link building strategy is on the right track:
Dos
1. Focus on link quality instead of quantity.
SEOs have probably heard this advice a thousand times, but it’s still worth emphasizing. Now what exactly constitutes a good link quality? As a rule of thumb, here are the key factors to consider:
- Site quality– Backlinks from referring domains with strong site structure, user experience, and E-A-T qualities are generally preferred.
- Site relevance– The referring website should be closely related to your niche. It doesn’t have to be the exact same sector but should be close enough or complementary. If not, Google might view the activity as spammy.
- Anchor text– The anchor text or hyperlinked words should be contextually relevant. This allows search engines to better understand the context and reinforce keyword associations. If it’s an organically earned link, most likely the anchor text will be natural and relevant, but if you’re intentionally link building using methods such as guest posting, make sure to get the anchor texts right and avoid using the same anchor texts again and again to avoid over-optimization or spam detection.
- Link Attribution– The default links are ‘dofollow’ links that pass link juice from one site to another. However, some websites add a rel+’nofollow” tag to restrict passing link equity, It’s best to work towards collecting dofollow links. Nofollow links still hold value but just don’t contribute as strongly as dofollow ones.
2. Monitor competitors’ backlinks
Keywords Everywhere can help you monitor your competitor’s backlinks. Check out our step-by-step link audit guide to learn more. Knowing which websites are linking to the competing pages can help you keep up with their strategy and identify new link building opportunities you too can tap.
3. Disavow spammy backlinks
You may be receiving links you didn’t ask for, and if they’re coming from websites that are irrelevant, inappropriate, spammy, or just poor quality, it may end up hurting your overall link building efforts.
In most cases, Google already knows which backlinks are spammy, so you can simply ignore them. However, if there’s manual action against your site for unnatural backlinks, you can disavow the undesirable links using Google’s Disavow Tool.
Don’ts
1. Buying backlinks
Google, in particular, has gotten extremely effective at identifying paid links as well as excessive link exchanges. These practices violate Google’s Webmaster Guidelines, and to grow sustainably, it’s best to just focus on natural and white-hat link building efforts.
2. Using Private Blog Networks (PBN)
A PBN is a group of websites whose sole purpose is to provide and sell backlinks. If Google detects links from PBNs, your website will be penalized, causing manual penalty, complete deindexing, or significant drops in ranking.
3. Spamming blog comments and forums
Comment sections and forums are a great way to build relationships and engage with the community. It’s also a great way to build brand awareness. However, doing so in a spammy way to generate loads of backlinks can be a risky move that could lead to penalties. It would only tarnish other people’s hard work, not to mention lower the quality of the web.
4. Repeating backlinks from the same website
Backlinks from new websites are more valuable than repeating backlinks from the same websites. The first backlink you earned from a particular site holds the most value. Thus, it’s best to diversify your backlink profile to get more votes of confidence as well as exposure.
5. Automating link building efforts
Some people use automated software to submit links to directories, leave links on irrelevant websites, or even do outreach instantly. Automation can be good if managed properly. It’s okay to use automation tools to cover certain aspects of the process like finding prospects, tracking backlinks, or scheduling email outreach. However, if automation leads to low-quality links, risks of penalties, or lack of personalization, it’s best to rethink your options.
Conclusion
Backlinks can definitely make the internet go round. However, building backlinks is not enough to rank and dominate the SERPs. In the end, nothing can substitute quality content and real thought leadership. Building authority and brand awareness can definitely be a long game, but it’s definitely the most sustainable route.
It’s okay to cover the mechanical parts of link building and do them right, but it’s best to gear more focus towards the fundamental areas centered around creating value and making the overall search experience more useful and engaging.