A backlink is a hyperlink from one website to your business website. Sometimes called inbound links, backlinks from outside domains point to one of your site’s specific webpages. Simply put, backlinks help you get in front of your audience.
Backlinks, more modernly referred to as native content, can help drive traffic to your website. That’s why if you aren’t backlinking, you absolutely should be as part of a comprehensive SEO strategy.
Keep reading to learn why backlinks are so valuable to your search engine optimization, and why your marketing efforts can’t do without them.
Why Do I Need a Backlink to Build Domain Authority?
Search engine algorithms see a quality backlink as a vote for the expertise and value of a webpage. The more backlinks you have from quality websites with higher domain authority scores than yours, the more positive the effect on your search engine optimization rankings. And the higher your search engine ranking, the more visibility your website will receive from end users.
Building backlinks isn’t always easy, but it’s rewarding work. A digital marketing agency can develop an effective backlinking strategy for you, as it takes a certain amount of finesse and expertise to do it right and get measurable results.
What Makes a High-Quality Backlink?
Not every inbound link is valuable unless you ensure you’re getting high-quality backlinks positioned on reputable websites.
Follow the Google Webmaster Guidelines on inbound links to ensure your backlinks are working well for you – not falling into the category of black-hat SEO link-building. For best results, follow these tips for producing content for backlinking.
- High-quality backlinks are well-written blogs with fresh, informative content, never rinsed-and-repeated from other sources, including your own website.
- Each piece of backlinking content you write should be a minimum of 500 to 750 words in length.
- Backlink content should be written to attract attention and encourage site visitors to stick around and, ideally, click on the hyperlink to your business’s website.
- One or two hyperlinks back to your website per blog are adequate; stuffing inbound links into the content can negatively affect readers’ perception of the piece.
- Your hyperlinked anchor text – a descriptive phrase that is also a keyword you want to rank for – should never be in the first few or last few sentences of your blog post. This can make your content look like spam or appear too sales-driven, rather than what it should be: an informative text to pique the interest of curious readers.
What Are the Benefits of Backlinks?
Remember that the main reason you need a native content strategy like backlinking is because these inbound links help search engines like Google determine whether your website is authoritative and relevant on the keywords or topics you rank for in search engine results pages (SERPs). Having a backlink is essentially like receiving an endorsement.
When search engines see that many quality websites link back to the same webpage on your site, the algorithm will rank you more highly in the SERPs – just one of more than 200 ranking factors. But remember that while quantity can certainly get you seen, it’s quality that is most important.
When someone searches for a keyword relevant to your business, they could encounter one of your backlinks before your website appears in the SERPs. When this user clicks on your backlink, they have the chance to read more about the topic they’re interested in – and they’re presented with a unique opportunity: a direct hyperlink back to your website to learn more.
How Do I Get Backlinks?
To climb the organic search ranking for meaningful keywords, you need link-building. Acquiring backlinks will help get you there.
So how do you get a backlink? You can work hard to build relationships with local influencers and get a guest spot on their blogs. Alternatively, subscription-based search engine tools can help you manage your backlink profile and integrate inbound links into your SEO strategy.
Truthfully, getting quality inbound links in native content can be difficult, especially if you have little-to-no experience in the digital marketing world. For something as complex and seemingly ever-changing as search engine optimization, many small businesses find it best to work with a marketing agency in lieu of DIY efforts.
Agencies often have the industry connections and tools to build effective and valuable backlinks for you to help your business website climb the SERPs, so you can focus on growing your business.
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