Try Our FREE Content Analysis Software and Find Out Where You Stand Against the Competition
Get startedBacklinks are an important component of effective search engine optimization strategies as they essentially allow another authoritative website to vouch for your own website. Backlinks are important because they show search engines like Google that your content is noteworthy and worth being ranked highly on search engine results pages. Good backlinks support the ranking position of your website as well as its visibility to new users. Learn everything you need to know about getting and maintaining quality backlinks with the topics below:
Image via Unsplash by mjessier
A backlink is a link used to connect one website to another. For example, another website may include a link to one of your blog posts related to their particular message. This is considered a backlink, also referred to as an incoming link or an inbound link. When another website uses an external link to connect to your website, your website now has a backlink from the other site. These are the two basic link types you’ll see:
Backlinks offer several benefits for your website regarding SEO and how your site ranks in search engines. A few key benefits of backlinks include:
There are several steps you can take to increase your number of backlinks. These steps include:
This method involves finding broken links on websites you’d like to get backlinks from, informing them of the broken link, and then making recommendations of other websites to replace the link with. You would, of course, recommend your own website. Since you are technically doing a favor for the webmaster by notifying them of broken links, they may be more likely to include your link over others.
You can use this method by first finding other sites within your niche that have resource pages. Do a Google search such as “keyword + links” or “keyword + resources.” The Google Chrome software Check My Links is also an excellent tool to find any broken links on the website’s page. Once you’ve found broken links on a website, reach out to the webmaster in a professional and friendly way and inform them of the broken links. Offer alternatives that also include your own website.
If there’s a particular website you want to get a backlink from, you’ll need to reach out to them to inquire about this. But, it’s important to keep your email short, concise, and easy to read. Many high-quality websites receive several inbound emails each day, so keeping your request to the point and easily skimmable will ensure your message is received and read and that you get a fair chance in terms of pitching your site to the authoritative website.
Blog posts and articles are typically considered the main type of content that gets backlinks, but that doesn’t necessarily mean it’s the most effective form of content for backlinks. According to BuzzSumo, a study of one million articles and blog posts found that 75% of online content gets no links. However, certain types of content performed better than others. These types of content include:
Creating relevant content in these forms can increase your chances of getting backlinks and increase how long a person spends on your site once they get there.
Comprehensive guides are highly popular in backlinking and can quickly help establish your website as an authority on search engines. Guides perform so well as backlinks and in search engines because they contain a large amount of high-quality content on a single topic. For example, a guide on backlinks will include everything you need to know about getting and maintaining backlinks as well as tips and tools you can use to boost your efforts. This can be incredibly beneficial to readers, as they don’t have to search multiple websites for the information they need but rather can get it all from your guide.
Don’t be afraid to include every detail of your topic in your guide, as this can help set you apart as a resource on the topic and within your industry. Once you create your guide, reach out to relevant and authoritative sites and recommend your guide as a backlink.
If you already have existing relationships with authoritative companies in your industry, reach out and request to be included on the resources page or their website’s relevant web pages. If your relationship is good with the company and you offer high-quality backlinks for it to use, they will likely agree to include your links on their page where relevant.
It’s important to keep track of the tactics your competitors are using for their online SEO strategies. Looking at their social media and link-building techniques can provide you with insight as to what they are doing and if it is working.
You can also use a tool like Monitor Backlinks to get weekly reports on any new backlinks your competitors have earned. You’ll also receive important insights on these links and be able to see various SEO metrics for your competitors. You can then use this information to identify new link-building opportunities that have worked for your competitors’ websites.
Another way to get more backlinks is to effectively promote your best content. Regularly send updates to important sources in your industry about your latest content and post about your new content on social media. You can also reach out to websites or bloggers that regularly run “roundups” of the latest and greatest content. Provide them with a brief introduction to your website and a few links to your best content.
There are several tools you can use to support your efforts in getting more backlinks. The most popular backlinking tools include:
Several key components make a quality backlink. These components include:
High-quality backlinks can provide many benefits for your overall SEO strategy. Be sure to use best practices when getting backlinks and create high-quality content to increase your chances of attracting authoritative websites to use your links.
More from the author: