What are backlinks?
Backlinks, also known as inbound links or incoming links, are simply links from one website to another. Think of them as votes of confidence from other sites, indicating that your content is worth sharing and linking to. The more high-quality backlinks you have, the higher your website is likely to rank.
For example, if a popular blog links to your website in an article, that link serves as a backlink. Search engines, like Google, use backlinks as a ranking factor, making them a crucial component of any successful SEO strategy.
Types of backlinks
A backlink is a powerful tool for improving your website’s ranking. However, not all backlinks are created equal. Here are the 5 most common types of backlinks that many services use to boost their rankings:
- Do-follow backlinks: Pass on SEO value and authority from the linking site, or link juice, to your website, directly impacting rankings.
- No-follow backlinks: Tell search engines not to pass SEO value. While they don’t boost rankings, they can still drive referral traffic and enhance visibility.
- Editorial backlinks: Earned naturally when your content is cited by other websites as a valuable resource. These are the gold standard of backlinks.
- Guest post backlinks: Acquired through contributing articles to other websites in exchange for a link back to your site.
- Directory backlinks: Links from online directories where your business is listed. These are useful for local SEO.
Why are backlinks important for SEO?
One of the most significant benefits of building backlinks is the ability to improve your website’s rankings. While Google’s ranking algorithms have evolved over time, backlinks remain a crucial factor alongside high-quality content and RankBrain. Quality backlinks signal to search engines that your website is trustworthy and relevant, helping you rank higher for keywords that matter to your audience. This can drive organic traffic and connect you with potential customers—at a lower cost than running ads.
Backlinks are also a valuable long-term strategy for businesses. Beyond boosting rankings, they increase your website’s visibility and enhance brand awareness by exposing your business to a broader audience. By focusing on quality over quantity, backlinks can play a key role in building a sustainable online presence.
Qualifying backlinks: Not all links are created equal
The quality of a backlink matters far more than the quantity. In fact, one backlink from a highly authoritative website can have a greater impact than hundreds from low-quality or spammy sources. When evaluating backlink quality, consider these key factors:
- Relevance: Backlinks from websites in the same or related industry are more valuable.
- Authority: Backlinks from websites with high domain authority (a measure of a website’s overall trustworthiness) carry more weight.
- Anchor text: The text used to link to your website (anchor text) should be relevant to your content.
- Follow vs. Nofollow: “Follow” links pass link equity (ranking power), while “nofollow” links do not.
- Placement: Backlinks within the main content of a page are generally more valuable than those in sidebars or footers.
Strategies for success
- Create high-quality content: The foundation of any successful backlink strategy is creating content that others want to link to.
- Guest blogging: Contribute valuable content to other websites in your industry.
- Outreach: Reach out to other website owners and bloggers and suggest linking to your content.
- Broken link building: Identify broken links on other websites and suggest replacing them with links to your relevant content.
- Directory submissions: Submit your website to relevant online directories.
