In this blog we share the importance of backlinks in SEO, but first let’s look at what backlinks are:
What are SEO backlinks?
SEO backlinks, also known as inbound links or incoming links, are simply hyperlinks from external websites that direct users to a page on your website. These can be through either an anchor text containing a relevant keyword, your URL or an image link. In terms of search engine optimisation (SEO), backlinks are crucial because they provide confidence or endorsement from other websites.
Backlinks play a significant role in Search Engine Optimisation as they contribute to a website’s overall link profile. This is an important factor used by search engines like Google and Bing to determine the relevance, authority, and popularity of a website.
Why are backlinks important?
So, why are backlinks important for SEO? Google and other search engines use backlinks as a signal of the quality and relevance of your website’s content.
The more high-quality backlinks your website receives, the more trustworthy your website is seen to be by search engines. This can help your website to rank more prominently in search engine rankings and thus you have greater organic visibility.
While not all SEO links carry the same weight. The importance of backlinks in SEO is based on prioritising backlinks from reputable and authoritative websites. You can get an indication of the strength of a website using Moz’s Domain Authority (DA) score, which gives a rough estimate of the strength of the website with a score out of 100.
What are the types of SEO backlinks?
There are 2 main types of SEO backlinks available to websites:
- DoFollow Backlinks
- NoFollow Backlinks
DoFollow links – DoFollow links are links that allow search engines to crawl and pass on ‘link juice’ (aka authority) from the referring website to the linked website. These links inform search engines that the linked website is trustworthy and thus should be considered in search engine rankings as it offers relevant or authoritative information to users.
DoFollow links are the standard link that is offered, however, if the webmaster decides, they can change this to a NoFollow link by changing the code to include a NoFollow Prompt.
Nofollow links – NoFollow links are similar to DoFollow, with the exception that the code has been amended to prevent any authority from being passed on to the linked website. They will provide a route through to the website for the user, but search engines will not consider the link when assessing the indexability of a website.
These SEO links are commonly used to combat spam and prevent manipulation of search engine rankings. While nofollow links do not directly impact SEO rankings, they can still provide other benefits such as traffic and exposure.
How to build a link-building strategy
So now we know the importance of backlinks in SEO, we can look at how to build backlinks.
There are many stages in defining a link-building strategy for your website. These include
Step 1: Define Your Goals. Identify your specific goals for link building. What are your aims – increase organic search rankings? drive more referral traffic? enhance brand visibility? Clear goals will shape your strategy.
Step 2: Identify Target Audience and Websites. Determine your target audience and the websites they frequent. Look for websites that align with your industry or target market. These websites include industry blogs, news sites, directories, social influencer accounts, and similar businesses.
Step 3: Conduct Competitor Research. Review your competitors’ backlink profiles to see where they have high authority links. This can help you discover potential linking opportunities and learn from their tactics.
Step 4: Build Links. There are plenty of routes to actually build the links that point to your website, these are listed below.
Step 5: Monitor and Analyze Results. Regularly track and analyse your link-building results. Monitor the number of backlinks, referring domains, traffic patterns, and search engine rankings. Identify what strategies are working well and make adjustments as needed. You can use SEO tools such as SEMRush or Google Search Console to see your current backlink profiles.
Step 6: Stay Updated and Adapt Your Link-Building Strategy. Keep up with the latest SEO trends and search engine guidelines. Link-building strategies evolve over time, so it’s essential to adapt and refine your approach to stay effective.
Link building can take a lot of time and effort and is usually an ongoing task for companies, but it is a vital part of Search Engine Optimisation that all websites must engage in to rank highly in SERPs.
Our link-building services can help guide you through creating a link-building strategy for your website. Contact our link-building agency for more information about our link-building agency services.
How to get backlinks for your website
Once you have a link-building strategy in place, our link-building services agency knows there are many routes for actually securing the links back to your website. These include
Create High-Quality Content. Develop valuable and shareable content that targets your target audience’s interests. By using PR, blog posts, articles, infographics, videos, or guides, you will be producing content that others may find valuable and want to link to.
Outreach and Relationship Building. Reach out to website owners, bloggers, journalists, influencers, and industry experts to establish relationships. Highlight how your content can benefit their audience.
Guest Blogging and Contributing Content. Offer unique content in the form of guest posts or articles to relevant and authoritative websites within your industry. This allows you to showcase your expertise and gain exposure for your company while earning backlinks. If it is well received, you may be asked to write even more articles in future.
Use Social Media and Influencers. Use social media to share your content and engage with your target audience. Using influencers or thought leaders in your industry can help boost the number of eyes on your content and in turn attract more backlinks.
Monitor Mentions. Set up alerts (Google Alerts or similar for real-time mentions) or use tools to monitor online mentions of your brand or website. When you receive a new mention online, you should reach out to the outlet that mentions your brand and kindly request an SEO link to improve the user experience and provide proper attribution.
When you secure your links, it is important to remember not to buy links or sign up to ‘link networks’ which mean your website secures 10’s to 1000’s ‘spammy’ links. If search engines believe you are engaging in either of these practices, then your website may be liable for a penalty which usually results in SERPs performance drops. So, it is vital that you stick to natural link-building strategies. You should only target external links from websites that either have relevance (websites that are topically related to your industry or niche) or a good level of authority (websites with a strong reputation and high domain authority).
It is important to work on creating a diverse backlink profile that includes links from a variety of the above link-building opportunities is beneficial. Aiming for a mix of different types of websites, social media platforms, and industry-specific websites provides search engines with a signal that your website is relevant and valuable across various online channels.
How to get local SEO backlinks
As well as a wider link-building strategy, businesses are advised to also consider local link-building strategies. Local backlinks are vital for businesses that rely on local customers – such as brick-and-mortar stores.
At Bidmark, we know how to secure local backlinks and there are a number of key local SEO backlink opportunities that should be utilised to secure an increase in local trade, including:
Business Profiles. There are some key directory profiles that all businesses should consider signing up for, which include Google My Business, Yelp, Yellow Pages, TripAdvisor, and Bing Places. These profiles can help increase online visibility, improve local search engine performance, and enhance their overall online presence, whilst securing SEO backlinks to the company website.
Directories. Local directory listings are links secured on online directories that specifically focus on listing businesses, organisations, or service providers within a specific geographic location, allowing users to search for businesses near them.
Director listings are designed to help users find local businesses or services quickly and conveniently and often include key business/store information such as:
- Business name
- Address
- Phone number
- Website URL
- Operating hours
- Services or products offered
- Customer reviews
This information should be kept up to date at all times and key updates be added – for instance if opening hours are different for a bank holiday.
Need help with Increasing your website backlinks? How Can Bidmark’s Link-building services Help You?
Bidmark’s link-building services can provide several benefits to enhance your website’s SEO and online visibility and focus on the all important backlinks. Contact us today to see how our link-building agency can help you increase your SEO backlinks.