What is a backlink?
A backlink is a huge deal when it comes to SEO, it’s a kind of internet pointer. Outgoing links from other sites that lead to your site are backlinks for you.
Backlinks are an integral part of SEO website promotion. They help search engines crawl your site and understand the subject of the pages. The PageRank algorithm, despite the long and active evolution, still takes into account the link profile of a particular page and domain, as one of the most important ranking factors. This is why every website owner wants to get as many backlinks as possible.
Types of backlinks
Dofollow – hyperlinks leading to a specific site or page. The increase in their number increases the “link juice” of the resource in search engine’s ranking. Logical scheme: hundreds of people link to a site (or a separate page) – the material is interesting, useful. Search robots consider all links by default to dofollow, unless another parameter is specified.
Nofollow – a tag attribute that tells the search engine that you don’t need to click on the link. Donor’s PageRank does not change during the transition, the link weight of the source site is not taken into account. WordPress and some other engines automatically set this attribute to all links that users post (for example, in comments). A similar system works on Wikipedia.
Recently a couple new tags were introduced – UGC and SPONSORED. They act exactly the same as Nofollow, but they help search engines understand what type of nofollow links they are.
UGC – you should mark user generated content with this tag (i.e. comments)
Sponsored – For paid or sponsored links. This would assumingly include affiliate links, although Google hasn’t explicitly said.
Number and quality of backlinks
Unfortunately, backlinks are not free (especially at the beginning), and creating them takes a lot of time and effort. That’s why it’s crucial to learn how to make each acquired backlink as profitable as possible.
For this, first of all:
- Perform technical optimization of the page and the entire site;
- Create a reliable site architecture;
- Create interesting content.
How to check backlinks to the site
It’s no secret that getting good quality backlinks is one of the best ways to improve your site’s position on Google. But how to distinguish good links from bad ones? Careful selection, verification and analysis of backlinks is a very important task for anyone who wants to optimize their websites. There are many different tools that can help you check if your backlinks are trustworthy and can add value to your website.
How to get relevant high quality backlinks
1. Keep your links relevant
Relevance depends on the following points:
- General subject matter of the domain linking to the page;
- Content of the linked page;
- Relevance of backlinks that refer to a domain.
2. Search for reputable sites
Links from reputable sites enhance your link profile more than regular links. Analyze competitors’ links with Ahrefs, Semrush, Majestic, Serpstat, and Linkstrategy, and try to get backlinks from reputable domains.
3. Focus on sites with real traffic
A link from a site with a lot of real traffic looks more natural and will be much more effective. Check domains for traffic with SimilarWeb, Ahrefs, Semrush before placing links and you will save yourself a lot of time and effort.
4. Be careful when choosing anchors.
If the text of the anchors looks unnatural, and you place it incorrectly, there is a threat of getting penalties. Most backlinks should be branded or unincorporated.
Backlink building
There is quite a lot of different methods of generating some basic initial backlinks to your website.
1. Directories with niche goals
Although directories are considered meaningless and worthless, there are some that might be useful (especially at the beginning). They are called niche target directories and are able to provide you with relevant dofollow links. Finding them is not so easy, so you need to look for them using the following combinations in a Google search:
- Niche + “add site”
- Niche + catalogs
- Niche + catalog
We also compiled a complete guide on Canadian Business Directories – you will find everything you need to know there.
2. Social networks
Create company pages in the following social networks:
Initially, such accounts are registered only for the first links. Further, you may notice that in some of the networks your content finds a great response from the audience, and more time should be devoted to that specific social network.
3. Business listings
Many of these resources are full-fledged search engines with convenient filters and high registration requirements. Some of them can bring you a lot of relevant referral traffic if you fully complete your company profile.
4. Regionally referenced catalogs
Such directories are an integral source of links for local businesses.
Alternatively, use the following tips to find geo-targeted directories, just do a Google search for:
- Catalog + city name
- City name + catalogs
- City name + catalog
- niche + city name + catalog
- add site + city name
5. Backlinks from niche related forums
- Try to find forums related to your topic;
- Make your profile true and detailed information;
- Stick to forum rules;
- Make a lot of publications and make friends;
So, when you find the appropriate forum, make sure that you have created a high-quality profile description. Then study the forum, its rules and how it works. Examine the forum to see if its members share links in the discussions. Become a reliable person by making more and more friends and posting.
6. Comments on Niche Blogs
Posting comments on such blogs helps:
- Notify search engines about the subject of the site;
- Get referral traffic;
- Significantly modify your anchor sheet;
- Make acquaintance with bloggers, and then post links already in partner articles.
It is important that the comments somehow complement, expand the topic that is described in the article by the author. Write about the best solutions that you know, quote from official sources, etc.
7. Merge Method
This procedure consists of two stages:
- Find the relevant expired domain;
- Configure 301 redirects to your site from it.
8. Effective use of relevant dead domains
Acquiring an expired domain is dangerous. It is necessary to check its history and relevance well. These resources can help you find an expired domain:
- PR Powershot;
- Freshdrop
- DomCop;
- ExpiredDomains.net.
How to earn backlinks
1. The user must be interested in your content
When an Internet user begins to search for something, he tries to solve a specific problem or achieve something. The main goal is to help him find a good solution. Do not be obsessed with the sheer volume of the article and keywords. Think about the needs of the user.
There is no difference between 40,000 and 1,000 words when we talk about their value. Try to create high-quality content and ignore any stereotypes.
2. Your content should be unique, attractive and valuable.
Why does the content of a site fail? There are several reasons:
- It’s information is outdated. For example, there are almost no people who want to read about the iPhone 5 when the iPhone X already exists.
- It lacks research and numbers. This usually happens when a blogger wants to be the first and forgets about quality. He publishes general provisions that will not last long.
- It does not take into account the level of knowledge of his reader and is considered “too smart and difficult to understand” or “too simple, as for schoolchildren.”
- It is not easy to read due to the lack of paragraphs, vibrant headlines, proper design, images and lists etc.
3. Do what others do not.
Don’t be lazy and improve your content daily. Do not write short or long articles only. Try different options, but do not forget about quality. Remember that some users do not like to read a lot, while others prefer the long reader and a detailed explanation of the problem that they are going to solve.
4. Look for new profitable connections
Do not forget about relationships and relationships. A blog should not be isolated. Nothing could be better than building relationships with famous bloggers. This is not easy, because you have to show that you can be useful to them. This is only possible if quality content is available.
It is important that your name is always visible due to the repetition of well-designed comments and non-binding email newsletters. Ask bloggers how you can help them. This is the best way to start a partnership.
