What is Backlinking?

Backlinks are links on a web page that lead to different websites. Major search engines like Google consider them as a way of verifying your website’s authority and relevance to its niche. They also serve as a token of trust from one website to another.

Backlinks help visitors find additional, more thorough information that the original website doesn’t provide due to topic differences. By adding links to other websites, you get to create high-quality content without derailing from the main idea.

For these reasons, the number of quality backlinks you get from other websites could greatly determine your site’s ranking position in the search engine results pages (SERPs).

Stick with me as I will uncover everything you need to know about backlinks — types, benefits, and the proper ways to build links.

Types of Backlinks

The following are several types of backlinks that may benefit your site.

• Editorial backlink — another website links to your site in quality content. This type of backlink includes citations, references, and information sources.

• Guest posting backlink — occurs when you’re writing guest posts for other websites. Besides creating a new channel for more traffic, it also allows you to build credibility and trust.

• Webinar backlink — a link to a webinar as a form of high-quality resource. Due to its nature, you’re more likely to get more links to your site with this type of content.
• Comment backlink — includes a link on a comment posted in a high-quality post. Spammers often abuse this type of link, but it can generate lots of traffic if you don’t overdo it.

These types of backlinks boil down to two fundamental kinds — dofollow and nofollow backlinks.

A nofollow backlink prompts search engines to ignore its value and not count it towards SEO. Meanwhile, a dofollow backlink urges search engines to notice its SEO value.

What Makes a Good Backlink?

To successfully link-build, you need to be able to differentiate good links from bad ones. Only then can you improve your SEO and increase your search engine rankings.

Google and other search engines use many factors to determine the quality of your links. There are four factors you should look out for when creating backlinks — relevance, authority, dofollow backlink, and anchor text.

Relevance

Search engines value links that generate clicks. To ensure that, the links must be relevant to the content that displays them. Stuffing irrelevant and spammy backlinks into your copy can lead to a Google penalty, which may harm your traffic rate.

Getting backlinks from authoritative sites that have authority over a subject or various topics and trusted websites with high traffic is your best option. The more backlinks you earn from websites with high TrustRank, the higher your chance of optimizing your site’s SEO is.

Authority

While you would want to get as many backlinks as possible, you should be wary of the reputation of the sites that recommend yours. Getting backlinks from a reputable website can improve your authority as a trustworthy platform with high-quality content.

In this case, it’d be best to prioritize quality over quantity.

Dofollow Backlinks

Since the goal of link building is to improve your SEO, you would want to make sure your effort doesn’t go to waste. By focusing on getting followed backlinks, search engines would likely favor your site in the ranking system.

Despite this, don’t dismiss any nofollow links that you get. While they don’t affect your rankings, Google starts to consider this type of backlink as part of their search algorithms.

Anchor Text

To add a backlink to your content, you need an anchor text — a phrase that links to another website. Since Google considers it a ranking factor, your anchor text must reflect on the quality of your content.

It’s best not to overstuff your anchor text with keywords to make it appear more natural. As you’re writing for your audience, awkward linking can affect your bounce rate and SEO rankings.

Benefits of Backlinks

The following are some of the perks that come with knowing how to get backlinks for your website:

• More exposure — the more backlinks you get from other websites, the more exposure you will receive from their visitors as well.

• Brand credibility — getting backlinks signals your trustworthiness in producing high-quality content worth reading.

• Higher rank in SERPs — being a ranking factor, backlinks may increase your chance of getting higher rankings.

• Faster indexing rate — by easing Google’s indexing process, you’re likely to gain more organic traffic and boost your site’s visibility.

• Build relationships — backlinks let you build a mutually beneficial relationship with other websites within the same niche.

How to Earn Backlinks to Your Website?

Link building is one of the most contributing factors of off-page SEO. The following are some of the best methods of link building that can help you achieve optimal results.

Create Good and Useful Content

The best way to get backlinks is to create high-quality, useful content. The more people can benefit from reading it, the more incoming links it will generate.

There are many factors involved in creating useful content. Here are some tips to help you get better at producing quality copy for your website:

• • Pick a style — your style and tones represent your brand and website. So, it would be best if you don’t change it regularly.
  • Understand your audience — if you want to have a loyal audience base, your content needs to cater to their needs and preferences.

• Use screenshots to support your copy — visual content like screenshots gets your points across faster than words. Plus, they make your post look more appealing to the eye.

Network with Influencers

Online influencers are individuals with a massive following and engagement on a specific social media platform. They can be bloggers, video creators, or Instagram personalities.

Due to their influence over people, you would benefit from collaborating with them. While it may not directly affect your rankings, doing so can lead to an increase in exposure and brand recognition.

Broken Link Strategies

Broken links are links that lead to a nonexistent web page or website, which causes the 404 error. While they’re harmful to your link building, you can turn them into an opportunity that benefits your SEO and traffic.

You can leverage this chance by contacting the webmaster’s site where the link points to and offering to write similar content in an exchange for a backlink. Not only do you help them optimize their website, but you also get to improve your link building effort.

Please note that this is only applicable if the proposed content is relevant to your site’s niche.

Guest Blogging

Guest blogging is one of the easiest ways to earn and build backlinks. You push your content on other websites in exchange for a backlink to one of their web pages.

When doing so, make sure to pick a site with a similar niche and target audience as yours to ease the writing process.

Wrapping Up

Link building is vital to a website’s growth as it’s one of the most critical factors of off-page SEO. To reach optimal results, you need to earn quality backlinks from reputable sites and create useful copy worth linking to.

I hope this article helps you understand the ins and outs of backlinks and how to get them for your site. If you still have any questions, please drop them in the comments section below.