If you’ve dabbled in the world of Search Engine Optimisation, there’s a fairly good chance that you’ve encountered the term “backlink” at least once.
For those new to the SEO scene, it’s important for us to demystify what backlinks are and just essential they are.
In the current setup of SEO, backlinks play a pivotal role. With that in mind, we’ll invest some time trying to fully elaborate just what backlinks are why you need to embrace them in your marketing strategy. As we provide this in-depth analysis, we’ll be sure to mention a couple of pointers on what you can do to help gain them without going against the rules of play defined by search engine algorithms.
Definition of terms
Backlinks refer to a link found on another website that directs visitors back to yours.
In a way, you can view backlinks as the resultant product from link building. So, what exactly is link building? Well, this refers to the process of getting hyperlinks from other websites to your own landing page.
A hyperlink (in simple terms known as a link), describes the way users are able to navigate the various pages on the web. Since search engines use links when crawling through the web, it’s important to come up with ways in which you can assist the algorithm to find a connection between your platform and others.
When it comes to building links, the difficulty is of varying degrees. That said, many analysts in the world of SEO tend to agree that link building is one of the most complex aspects of the job. Since many SEO experts invest heavily in devising ways of doing link building just right, it’s quite important to master the very art of developing high-quality links. Once you’re able to master this art down to a tee, then you can stand tall against the competition.
The Importance of Backlinks
Relationship Building
Since backlinks usually involve outreach to other relevant websites and blogs in your industry, there’s a fairly good chance you can establish a good rapport as you go about your business.
Having such partnerships with key influencers in your trade can lead to bolster your brand’s image. This means that backlinks are a valuable business strategy since it creates unpretentious believers and evangelists for your enterprise.
Referral Traffic
Already, we’ve referenced just important backlinking can help improve your search engine rankings. What we’ve not shared is that backlinking can also help improve the traffic to your website.
While being exposed to a large audience is a fantastic strategy, there’s also plenty of benefits to be found in being exposed to a smaller community of passionate supporters.
In essence, striking the right cords that resonate with keen supporters of a particular blog is where you should launch every backlinking campaign. Then, you can seek to grow further outwards.
How to Get Backlinks
Given just how important backlinks are in determining how your website performs in search results, it’s necessary to come up with a firm backlink foundation.
It’s worth noting that getting backlinks is often a lengthy and mind-numbing process. However, to save time you can can outsource the link building process to a dedicated link service like Linkplicity, who are known for delivering high quality backlinks across a wide spectrum of niches.
Thankfully, there are numerous ways for you to get backlinks if you would rather do it in house, all of which are helpful in building your website’s backlink portfolio.
Online & Local Directory Submission
Having your enterprise listed in online and local directories can benefit your cause with a strong backlink, despite the fact that they may be nofollow backlinks.
Despite this, having your business in directories like Yellow Pages, Yelp, and Four Square makes it relatively easy for prospects to find your website, check out the reviews and decide whether you’re the best option to handle their issues.
Notably, Google’s My Business pages give users the ability to have their businesses and website on Google Maps. This can massively help you connect with clients looking for your services. Should you decide to take this option, make sure that you’re listed with the correct name, phone number, and address unfailingly all through the online directory listings.
Guest Blogging
This has quickly gained prominence as one of the best ways for businesses to generate high-quality follow backlinks. Guest blogging on other websites within your niche usually helps build your brand reputation.
While it’s relatively more time consuming than the other options highlighted, it’s still regarded as the best way for enterprises to come up with high-quality backlinks. For you to start off as a guest blogger, you need to look up quality sites within your trade and discover which ones give you the freedom to guest blog.
After you note them down, you’ll need to make sure that the content you develop conforms to the provided guidelines and send it over to them for review. Before you dispatch it, ensure that you include a link back to your website somewhere in the copy. This is usually the key premise of guest blogging.
While it’s true that many websites aren’t usually interested in a guest blog, you’re sure to find a couple that wants to get such services, especially when they keep in mind the free content they’ll be receiving thanks to the backlinks.
Blog Comments
This tactic can be quite rewarding to your website. You can register backlinks to your website by checking out a good number of authoritative websites, review the blogs shared and leave comments on them expressing just how wonderful the content was. Right before you leave, ensure that you pose a thoughtful question. While at it, also don’t forget to link back to your website.
While there’s a high chance these are likely to be nofollow backlinks, they can still help build a good rapport with influential companies and websites in your industry.
All the same, you need to ensure that you only comment on suitable and pertinent posts for your industry. Else, the comments you leave may be regarded as spammy and you may find your comment barred by the website administrator.
Parting Shot
Having listed out a couple of backlinking manoeuvres to gain strong inbound links for your website, you should not forget that you still have to put emphasis on devising content that will need backlinks itself. This process is no different than the content you discover to comment and share a link of your platform. If you pen amazing content that’s beneficial to members of your industry, the odds are that they’ll start to link to it all on their own.
If you require help with any of the processes stated above then feel free to get in touch with our SEO Consultant Joshua George and he will be more than happy to offer some solid consulting services to help you get things in order.
