SEO, backlinks, ranking, domain authority, do all of these words mean nothing to you currently? Well once you’re finished here you should be well versed in the world of backlinks.
Did you know that 55.24% of pages don’t have a single backlink?
This is even more mind-blowing when you hear that the top results on Google’s first SERP have 3.8 times more backlinks than results below them!
Backlinks are alive and kicking and just waiting for you to make the most out of them…
First of all, what is a backlink?
Simply put, backlinks (aka incoming links and inbound links) are links from one page to another.
Backlinks are seen by search engines, such as Google, as “votes” for the page.
The more backlinks a page has, the more likely it is to have high organic search rankings and be found. Here at CREATIVE in TiME, we are alllllll about being FOUND!
So, why are backlinks important?
A backlink can be compared to a positive vote. Each time your website receives a backlink, it tells search engines that your content is useful, relevant and trustworthy.
As you may know, Google makes changes regularly to its algorithm however backlinks have always remained as a key ranking factor, building backlinks isn’t going out of style anytime soon so hop on the trend!
Are all backlinks made equal?
No, having a high number of backlinks is perfect however this is only the case for high quality backlinks.
Quality over quantity.
Having a few high quality backlinks is more desirable than having 100 low quality backlinks. Think of it this way, are you more likely to trust a recommendation from a sketchy guy’s website or from Forbes? Exactly.
What makes a quality backlink?
1. It comes from a trusted website
As we have previously mentioned, the website from which you have a backlink is important. This is called having “domain authority”. Domain authority means that the more authority a website has, the more it can pass onto your site through the link.
Backlinks from authority sites have more weight under Google and can easily boost your organic search traffic. This does mean that quality backlinks are harder to get than low quality links, but they are absolutely worth the effort.
2. Your target keyword is in the link’s anchor text
What is anchor text, I hear you ask? Anchor text is the visible text part of your link which people click on.
If possible, you want the anchor text in your links to include your target keyword. Including your target keyword has been shown to cause higher rankings for said keyword.
If you are thinking “this sounds too good to be true”, well you aren’t totally wrong. You want to be careful not to go overboard with keyword-rich anchor text as this can harm you if you’ve done too much.
3. The webpage linking to your site is topically related to you
This is likely the most obvious of all, Google wants to see a relation between your website and the website which is linking to you.
For example, you have written a blog detailing how to bake a cake.
Google will put significantly more weight on backlinks from websites that are related such as baking, cooking and recipes as opposed to websites about fitness and electronics.
Reach out to other people in your industry, you likely already know people who will have relevant websites and may wish to host each other’s backlinks.
4. The link is from a fresh domain
Backlinks from new websites are more effective than websites who have already linked to you. If a website links to you more than once, all links after the first will have lower returns.
Once you have a link from a domain, do not focus your efforts on being linked to AGAIN.
The number of websites linking to you is more important than the total number of links. 50 links from 50 websites is better than 100 links from 1 website.
How do I GET backlinks?
If you want to get backlinks, then you need something for people to link to. You need something that other people will recognise as being worth linking to.
We would recommend:
- Blog posts
- Videos
- Quizzes
- Surveys
- Software
- And anything else that people will want to link to.
For people to link to your website, it needs to be useful and relevant content. Here’s a tip, when creating your content, look at what other people AREN’T doing.
If you are writing a guide then check out what other people are missing, maybe they haven’t included examples or do not have enough detail. If people are looking for the best guide on a topic, ensure that yours will be the most relevant.
Another way to build backlinks is through guest posting. Writing guest posts for quality sites in the same field as you is ideal. Avoid guest posting for unrelated topics as this can look suspicious to Google.
Find websites in your niche that support guest posting and try reaching out to get the ball rolling.
Now, go forth, and get BACKLINKS!
You should now know what backlinks are, why they are important and what links are most desirable for your website.
If your website has backlinks and is still struggling to be found, get in touch with us now. Our team of SEO experts are just waiting to get stuck in!
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