Publishing fresh high-quality content is still the number one way to boost your site’s SEO. The second most important factor is having a great link network. A site with a large number of links from high-authority domains will rank higher than one with fewer backlinks, or with links from less relevant sites.
In this article, we’ll go over exactly what backlinks are, discuss how they impact SEO, and explain some ways you can build an effective link network. Let’s get the ball rolling with a brief look at what backlinks are and why they matter.
What Are Backlinks? And Why do you need them?
Backlinks, also known as outbound links, are hyperlinks that allow the users to navigate between different web pages. Or we can simply say, links coming from other websites to your webpage.
If anyone links to your website or store, this means you have a backlink from them. And if you link to another website or store from your webpage, they have backlinks from you.
Backlinks play a major part in how search engines rank your site, and not all will have a positive impact on your ranking. Those that do will be from high-authority websites that people trust. Having backlinks not only helps improve SEO but also fosters brand recognition. Links in a blog post stand out, and some people hover over them before they even read the post. For the reader, that creates an association between your brand and the topic of the post. Backlinks allow you to reach people who may not otherwise be aware of your business or blog. They can help establish a relationship with your audience and attract new social media followers.
Building a backlink network is easy. There are only two steps:
Create high-quality content that’s worth linking to.
Find sites that are willing to link to yours and reach out to them.
Both those link-building steps come with challenges. Creating high-quality content requires domain knowledge and creativity and researching potential link sites can be time-consuming.
We’re going to delve into both those areas, but first, let’s take a quick look at how important a quality link network can be to your site’s SEO.
How Backlinks Impact SEO
We all understand that be it any online business niche, gaining maximum online visibility helps in rising above our competitors. And if I ask you readers about one practice that enhances the visibility of online websites, I am sure Search Engine Optimization(SEO) would be the unanimous answer.
SEO plays a very significant role when it comes to gaining organic traffic for your online store. And link building for better search engine rankings is an absolute necessity. This implies if you have an online store, and wish to stand out from all your competitors, you need to have more quality backlinks.
And if you are an eCommerce marketer, you must be familiar with the importance of backlinks for site rankings.
A backlink is directly proportional to organic search traffic.
This means the more backlinks you have, the more traffic you will get. The number of sites linking to yours is only one example of how backlinks impact SEO. Here’s a list of some ways Google analyzes your backlinks and uses the information to determine your ranking.
Age—The longer a backlink has been around, the better. Google will rank your site higher if your backlinks are older, while newly created backlinks will be considered less valuable.
Authority—When a linking site has a very high ranking in search results, that backlink is perceived as having a higher value than one from a site that appears buried in search results.
Relevancy—A backlink from a site that’s doing something similar to yours has a more positive impact on ranking than a link from a site that’s not related to your niche. This relevancy analysis extends down to the page level.
Diversity—Are all your backlinks from blog posts? A disproportionate number of backlinks from a single source warns Google that your links may not be organic. The search engine favors a natural link profile, with backlinks from a wide variety of source types.
Context—Backlinks that appear in a page’s content will do more for your ranking than those found somewhere else, like in the sidebar or footer. Even the location within the content is important. For example, a backlink at the beginning of a blog article is seen by Google as better than one that shows up at the end.
Content-Length & Quality—Backlinks from a long blog post—anything over about 1000 words—will have a greater impact on SEO than a link from a short blurb. Content quality matters too. Backlinks from content that’s full of spelling errors or is unoriginal will not help your ranking as much as links from high-quality content.
The right backlinks can help to supercharge your SEO strategy, and there are many ways that you can earn excellent links. But where do you start?
Following are the ways to generate quality backlinks for your website:
Content on your site has a big influence on your website’s ability to attract backlinks. Here are a few tactics and link-building strategies you can implement to gain links to your on-site content.
1) Publish High-Quality Content on Your Entire Site
First thing first. All of the content on your website should be high value and high quality if you want to attract links. Your content helps other sites determine whether they want to link to you. It is a reflection of your brand and organization as a whole. If your website pages look low quality or lack valuable information, other sites will not see you as an authoritative brand worth linking to.
2) Publish Original Research
One type of content you can publish on your website to attract high-quality backlinks is original research. Conduct surveys, use your business data, produce case studies, and create other content that is focused on original research that can’t be found on other sites. When you publish original stats and data, other sites will be likely to link back to your fresh and new information.
3) Create Comprehensive Resources
Another way to use content to catch the attention of other publishers and build high-quality backlinks is by producing comprehensive, in-depth resources. Create detailed, high-value guides, checklists, and glossaries that other websites will see as a source worth linking to.
4) Publish Your Content as a List
Audiences love posts that are published as lists. The scan-ability and bite-size chunks of information make this format easy to read on both desktops and hand-held devices. Tap into this audience interest by formatting your large resources or top blog posts as lists to catch more attention and lead to more links.
5) Create Visually Driven Content
When creating content to get high-quality backlinks, don’t focus solely on copy and text. Content that is visually driven also can attract links. Media such as charts, infographics, and videos are even more effective at attracting linkings from other sites. So don’t just create copy-based content. Add graphics to your posts, and create stunning, informative graphics that can stand on their own.
6) Build a Library of Evergreen Content
Websites often link to web pages that offer timeless information that will be relevant over a long period. This type of evergreen content is often linked to, as other publishers know it will provide long-term value and is less likely to expire or become irrelevant. Build these types of evergreen resources and pages on your site to encourage more links back to your website.
7) Tap Into News and Trending Topics
While evergreen content will build links and provide value over time, it can also be beneficial to publish time-sensitive content on your site to build high-quality backlinks. Content on trending or newsworthy topics can often lead to links from news sites and other fast-moving media outlets. This type of content may not provide the lasting linking value of evergreen content, but it can help gain quick, relevant links.
8) Make It Easy to Link to Your Content
Creating high-value, high-quality content will improve your chances of getting other sites to link back to your pages. You can improve these odds by making it easy for other publishers to link back to your site. Use HTML-ready snippets that other publishers can copy and paste on their site and link to you. And use tools that insert a link back to your site when users copy and paste content from your site.
Outreach
Creating awesome, high-quality content helps you organically earn links from publishers who value and appreciate your work. But to get even more links, you will also need to reach out to other blogs and websites to help them find your content and choose to link to you.
9) Know How to Identify High-Quality Links
Not all links have the same value. Links that come from authoritative sites will improve your search rankings more than links from low-quality sites. So as you conduct your link-building outreach efforts, know which sites are worth pursuing, and only reach out to qualified sites worth your time and effort.
10) Reach Out to Sites That Link to Competitors
To identify sites that are likely to link back to your website, first look at the sites that link back to your competitors. You can safely assume that if the sites link to your competitors, you have a chance of getting a link from the site as well. Click on any backlinks website to get the exact URL that links to the competitor. View the type of content that links to your competitor and then send a request to the publisher to publish a link to your website in the same capacity. For example, if your competitor is included in a roundup list of businesses in your industry, reach out to let them know about your product or service. Give them a compelling reason that adding your business to the list will improve their readers’ experience.
11) Request Links with Your Brand Mentions
If you’re producing quality content and actively engaged in outreach efforts, you will start to receive mentions of your brand on other sites. This is great, but it’s better if each mention of your brand includes a link back to your site. Sometimes websites will mention your brand without including a link or sometimes even linking to the wrong site. Set up a Google Alert for your brand name and regularly search for your branded terms to find mentions of your brand. If the mention doesn’t include a link back to your site, reach out to the publisher and request it.
12) Rebuild Broken Links
Just as some website publishers don’t always link when they should, they might also include links that are broken or incorrect. Keep an eye out and search for these types of broken links, as they provide an opportunity for you to gain high-quality backlinks. When you see a broken link on a website (that is relevant to your brand or industry), contact the publisher, notify them of the error, and provide a link back to your site that would be a good replacement.
Relationships
Outreach is a type of relationship building that helps you get high-quality backlinks. But it’s not the only way you can leverage your connections to earn links. You can also use the following tactics to leverage your partnerships and contacts to grow your backlink profile.
14) Link Out to Related Sites
The best relationships are the ones where both sides gain something through the connection. So as you engage in link-building activities, spread the benefit to both sides. Link to other sites to improve your chances of getting links back to your website. Linking to another site can help you get on their radar. So when you reach out to request to guest post or to be added to their roundup, etc., they will be more receptive to your request.
15) Feature Other Brands
One of the best ways to link back to another site is by featuring them on your site. This helps you start the relationship, but it also increases your chances that the site you link to will return the favor. When you feature a brand on your website, the brand is likely to mention the post (and might link back to it) on their website. The brand is also likely to share the post through their media distribution and social networks, which provides even more benefits and exposure.
16) Give an Interview and Contribute to Roundup Posts
Another way to get high-quality backlinks is by offering to give an interview or contribute to roundup posts. When blogs publish features on a person or brand or create a list of marketing quotes, best practices, or examples from a group of people, they typically link back to the featured person.
17) Write Testimonials
You can also get your name and link back on websites by offering to write testimonials or leave a review about another brand. Choose the top tools or brands you work with and contact them to offer to write a review about your experience. Brands are usually eager to feature testimonials on their site and often link back reviewers in the credit line.
18) Host an Event or Sponsor a Meet-up
You can build high-quality backlinks by making connections offline. Host an event or sponsor a meetup or conference. When you host the event, you can gain links from event listing sites, and you typically get a link on the event page when you sponsor a meetup or conference. Plus, you get a bonus of additional exposure for your brand.
19) Have a Strong Social Sharing Strategy
While the debate is still up in the air if social shares send signals to search engines and improve a website’s rankings, there is still a lot of value in having a strong social strategy for improving SEO. A strong social strategy helps drive traffic to your content and increase your exposure, which is great for your brand and also your link-building efforts. As sharable content gets spread around the internet and more people see it, the odds that other websites will link to the page also goes up. So share your content, making it easy for others to share your content, and helping your posts get maximum exposure on social networks can and will improve your site’s SEO.
20) Set Up Digital Business Profiles
To increase your brand’s footprint online and build high-quality backlinks, build profiles for your business on all relevant business directory sites. Business profiles typically include a link back to your website, which helps you build your link portfolio. So look for social networks and high-quality directories that are related to your industry or audience, and create profiles on those sites to gain both links and exposure.
Conclusion
If you want your site to be competitive in search, you must find backlinks that are high quality and secure them with a thoughtful outreach strategy. This process works best when you use organic and authentic strategies, like those listed in this post, to build your backlink profile. If you choose to buy quality backlinks or use black hat methods to grow your link portfolio, you won’t reap the same rewards as you would using white hat tactics. Organic and natural link building will create a genuine link profile that won’t lead to search penalties. Instead, you’ll be rewarded with long-term SEO benefits, more traffic, and better performance in search.