Backlinks are anchor text links from one web page to another. If someone adds a link to your website, you are a backlink for them. They also have a backlink with you if you add a link on your website to their site.
What are the types of Backlinks?
There are many types of backlinks, but they have only two categories: Do-follow and No-follow. There are many ways to acquire backlinks to boost the website’s performance on search engines.
Here are a few examples of backlinks:
– Contextual (link is placed within the main content body) backlinks from guest post sites and other websites.
– Local directories and yellow pages website links.
– Forum/Blog comments and classified site links.
– Social media posts links.
– Business profile backlinks
– Press Release backlinks
Contextual guest post backlinks are considered high-quality and help a lot in SEO ranking when it is a Do-follow link.
What are the key benefits of backlinks?
Backlinks can help with three significant aspects.
Website Rankings
Search engines such as Google regard backlinks as confirmation votes. The more votes your website pages can get, the higher the chance they will be ranked in search results relevant to the user’s query.
The number of backlinks that originate from unique websites (referring domains) is correlated with organic searches & ranking.
Referring Web Traffic
Backlinks are used to refer users to helpful resources. That is why anchor text links are clickable and redirect users to a more information page.
You receive referral traffic if someone clicks the link and lands on your website. The same referral traffic you can find in your Google Analytics dashboard.
Discoverability
Search engines search for new content by crawling pages they are familiar with to see if they have new content and links.
Because search engines tend to revisit popular pages more frequently than less popular ones. They may find your website faster if you receive backlinks from popular and high-authority websites. In other words, having a backlink on a high authority domain with high organic traffic is good.
Branding & Credibility
Suppose your brand name and domain name are placed on multiple popular sites, and users find them everywhere on the internet. In that case, it helps brand recall and credibility. Because at the same time, Google will consider brand signals from numerous sites and push your brand upfront when users are looking for your products and services.
Do-follow vs No-follow Backlinks
Search engines like Google have many algorithms and tactics to award the top ranking on Search Engine Ranking Page (SERP), websites that acquire relevant and quality backlinks.
Search engines differentiate it between do-follow and no-follow backlinks.
Compared to no-follow backlinks, do-follow links are essential and productive and directly impact the website’s ranking. Guest post contextual do-follow link is a game changer in SEO.
Usually, no-follow links are given on forum posts and social media posts.
Since no-follow link does not help much in SEO ranking, we cannot simply deny the importance of no-follow links. Acquiring a no-follow link on a high organic traffic website helps refer traffic to your website.
You can easily find whether your backlinks are do-follow or no-follow by simply checking it on the page’s source code. Here is the code of the no-follow link:
<a href=”https://www.yourdomain.com/” rel=”nofollow“>anchor text</a>
“nofollow” with your anchor text and URL is a no-follow backlink to your website.
How to get a good backlink?
All backlinks are not the same and are fruitful for better website ranking on SERP. Here are a few factors that determine the quality of a good and healthy backlink.
Relevancy & Unique
Google emphasises relevant backlinks since people tend to be more inclined to click them.
Suppose an SEO agency’s backlinks are from two sites, one, accountants and the second, digital marketing websites. In that case, the second one is more valuable.
Domain Rating and Authority
Backlinks from websites with solid reputations typically confer higher “authority” than those from weak sites.
Domain Rating (DR) is an AHREFS metric that shows the relative strength of a website’s backlink profile. DR is measured on a logarithmic scale from 0 to 100, with the latter being the strongest (source: AHREFS).
Google declares that authority is divided equally among all outbound links on the web page. Suppose you have backlinks on two different pages, and one of them has more outbound backlinks compared to the other things being equal. In that case, the link on the site with the fewer links will be more authoritative and influential for better link-building results.
To conclude, internal backlinks help to increase the authority of a website.
Web Traffic
Links from high website traffic generally deliver more visitors than links from low-traffic sites. That’s obvious. But the real question is: can the backlinks of high organic traffic websites positively impact rankings of the website on SERP more than backlinks from less-traffic sites?
There is a direct relation between rankings and backlinks from websites with good organic search traffic. But, the number of backlinks from unique and high authority domains appears to be more powerful.
Placement of Backlinks
Many people are likely to click on prominently-positioned links. Some hyperlinks on websites are likely to be more trustworthy than others.
If a hyperlink is in the primary content section of a webpage, it stands out and has the kind of text that makes it likely to be clicked on. However, when it has elements that reduce the likelihood of being clicked, for instance. It could be in the bottom area of an article, in the exact colour text as the other content on the page and using the same font and anchor text that isn’t interesting to individuals. It won’t give many outcomes.
Avoid getting links on the sidebar and footer of the website, as such links will not yield better results for your website.
What is the Anchor text in the backlink?
Anchor text is the keywords that can be clicked and redirected to another web page.
Google claims anchor text is a factor in ranking any website on SERP.
Google utilises various methods to increase the quality of its search results, including ranking on pages, anchor words, and proximity information.
However, as per AHREFS, the SEO and anchor text connections were not strong when we looked at the relationship between anchor texts and ranking on 384,614 web pages.
While anchor text may impact, it’s not as crucial as other aspects of SEO.
To benefit from proper anchor text selection, add backlinks on long-tail keywords, brand name, domain name and some on your exact keywords.
How to check your website and competitor’s backlinks
There are a couple of ways to check your website backlinks. First, you can use Google Search Console, a Free option. Refer to the below screenshot and see how many backlinks and from which sites you have acquired more links.
If you have the budget to buy the paid tools for advanced backlinks finding and reporting, then go for SEMrush. One of the best SEO practices is placing your backlinks on the same sites that your top competitors use. Another way is to use SEO Tools. I use SEMrush, and below screenshot, you can see how you can find all the info on your website’s backlinks. Not only your website backlinks, but you can also check your top competitor’s links. You can rank your website higher on SERP and outrank your competitors.
There are many tools out there that you can use to check your backlinks. MOZ and AHREFS are also famous for this.
Things to consider before taking backlinks
Do you know that your website can be penalised by Google if you acquire backlinks wrongly? Before you jump on backlinks placement, you must read the Link Scheme guidelines of Google.
Many backlink factors must be seriously considered and applied in the SEO link-building strategy.
Backlink Domain Age: old domain backlinks are more reliable than new domains.
Root Domain Links: Getting links from more sites is one of the top factors of ranking on SERP.
Different IP Address Links: The search engine likes domains with various IP address backlinks. It is considered that the website is trendy and has content on many sites. If you start backlinks, consider this factor in getting long-lasting results and benefits from SEO.
Multiple Linking Pages: I don’t believe in this and recommend having unique and multiple domains backlinks. But, many SEO experts apply this strategy and have SEO success. You can get numerous page backlinks from the same domain.
Anchor Text Links: I highly recommend backlinks with long-tail, brand name words, and synonyms keywords. But, many SEO experts do exact keyword backlinks to show the results to the clients. Suppose you want to rank your website with the “the SEO company” keyword. In that case, apart from your domain name and brand name, getting the backlinks on such keywords will benefit in long-lasting results:
Reliable SEO Company
SEO company services at affordable prices
best SEO company in town
SEO company near you
On-page and Off-page SEO company
etc.
High Spam Score Site Links: This factor is from MOZ. Google has no guidelines on this, but a high spam score website means the site is not up to the mark and avoiding getting backlinks would be a wise decision. You can check any website’s Spam Score on this free tool: https://websiteseochecker.com/domain-authority-checker/.
Image Links and Alt Tags: When you add any image on your website, make sure it has the Alt Tag, and you can place your target keyword in it. It will be the anchor text of the image.
Forum Site Links: Avoid them. Forums are known for heavy spam.
Word Count of the Backlink Content: Keep it at least 700 words, and write the content around your target keyword that you want to rank on SERP.
Gov and Edu Domain Extension Links: Even though Matt Cutts had stated that such domain links would not impact the SEO. It still has a special place in the search engine’s algorithms. You can plan .gov and .edu domain backlinks and can see the benefits.
Authority Score of the Backlink Domain and Page: It is a significant factor in the website’s ranking. We must check the website’s authority score before planning the content, anchor text and backlink.
Backlinks from Competitors’ Sites: It is difficult for some niches and industries to get links on other top-ranking competitor’s sites. But some sites are ranking, which are independent blogs and can be approached to get backlinks. Getting backlinks from such sites is highly valuable as they are already ranking on Top, and Google likes them.
Gambling and Adult Domain Links: If you are not in the same industry, avoid taking the backlinks, as it may hurt your website performance on Google.
Backlinks from Advertisement: Make sure you have added a NO-FOLLOW tag or SPONSORED tag, as Google doesn’t like paid links.
Website Homepage Backlinks: Getting the link on another website’s homepage is a bit hard, but achieving it will skyrocket your SEO performance.
Contextual Backlinks: A link within the web site’s content body is a strong link.
Internal Links: Add relevant Anchor Text and link them to meaningful pages of your website. Such links help in SEO.
Country-specific Links: If you target a specific location, rank your website on Google. Add country domain backlinks to your SEO strategy. For example, if you want to rank your website in Singapore, try getting backlinks on .com.sg or .sg domains.
Link Placement In Content: Adding a link at the beginning of the web page’s content gives you extra weight than adding a link at the bottom of the content.
Relevant Domain Links: The same website or niche backlinks are highly recommended and more powerful.
Links Age: As per Google, older backlinks are powerful and help a lot in website ranking compared to the new site backlinks.
Natural Link Building Profile: Natural link building is key to successful SEO. Avoid doing bulk backlinks.
Reciprocal Backlinks: Avoid them. It means you are exchanging the links.
Increase Your Website’s Backlinks
If you offer unique and helpful information on your website, people find you through search engines and add your website link. That is one of the best and quality ways to get backlinks. It is a bit tough for small businesses. These links are natural, and Google like it. So, having unique and genuinely valuable content on your website is vital. For example, suppose you are the manufacturer of a product then the retailers. In that case, traders and suppliers will be adding your website link and info on their website. This way, you get natural and high-quality backlinks.
Apart from the above natural links, another way is to find the relevant websites and submit your content and backlinks. This is one of the most popular ways to get backlinks and is regularly used by SEO agencies. You can use the SEMrush tool and add your competitor’s domain to check their backlinks. You can approach those backlink site owners through their contact form and add value to your email when coming to them that you will supply quality content. Some are free, and some may ask for money to place your content and backlinks if they are popular domain and has enormous organic traffic. But paying for the high organic traffic backlinks is a wise decision.
Final Words
To rank your website on Top of the Google results with your targeted keywords, one must plan a precise backlinks strategy. Hire an expert who can not only plan a killer backlinks strategy but also will outrank your competitors on the SERP. Wrongly done backlinks will lead to no results or hurt your website’s performance on the internet.
Relevancy, location, exact niche domains and popularity of the backlink domain are the critical factors to SEO success with the backlinks.