What Are Backlinks in SEO?

Backlinks are an essential part of any effective SEO strategy. This is how

What Are Backlinks?

Backlinks refer to a link on one website that leads to another page on a different website. These hyperlinks are also called “inbound links”, “incoming links”, or “one way links” and help Google gauge the quality of your article. Backlinks act as a signal of quality and trust–and the more you have, the better.

These hyperlinks have two parts:

• the URL, which refers to the address of the page the website is linking to
• the anchor text, which refers to the text you click on the site

Together, these two make the backlink we see and know today.

Are Backlinks Important for SEO?

Yes, backlinks are important in SEO.

Think of each backlink as a citation and vote from other websites. Whenever you receive a backlink, Google notes that your page is high-value, credible, and useful for users. The more quality backlinks you have, the higher your page can rank.

Backlinks also make your page more discoverable. Since these links are found in useful articles, users who have related queries or interests can find your articles easily. They also draw in more traffic to your website, particularly referral traffic.

How Do SEO Backlinks Work?

When a website links to another website, Google takes this a vote of confidence. These hyperlinks contribute to how pages rank in SERPs. As such, the more backlinks a page has, the higher it can rank on Google. Additionally, a higher ranking page may also get more backlinks.

The best way to understand how backlinks work is to think of them as citations and peer reviews. Each time your page or article is used as a “resource”, Google notes that your content is valuable for users. The greater the number of links, the more trustworthy your page becomes.

More than the quantity, you should also consider the quality of your backlinks. Your website becomes more valuable when you receive backlinks from quality or authority websites. Meanwhile, multiple low-quality backlinks from untrustworthy websites can be more detrimental for your page.

Do Backlinks Help SEO?

Backlinks are a vital part of any SEO strategy! From the very start, Google has always considered backlinks as an important indicator of your website quality. Before, the search engine would rank pages based on how many backlinks you have. Today, it isn’t as straightforward, with Google considering the quality as well too. Despite the many changes in Google’s algorithm, backlinks continue to play a key role in your SERP rankings.

How Do You Build and Create Backlinks For SEO?

If you want to get more links, then link building should be a natural part of your SEO strategy. 

Unlike before, getting backlinks isn’t just about quantity. Today, having multiple backlinks from low quality sites or multiple links across a single website isn’t going to do the trick. Now, Google focuses on quality and relevance when we talk about backlinks.

Generally there are two ways you build your backlinks:

1. Natural Accrual: If your website writes about evergreen, high quality content, then you have a high chance of naturally accruing quality backlinks from relevant websites. The biggest con of this method is that it is incredibly slow! After all, you’re just waiting for backlinks to arrive.

2. Outreach: If you want to be more proactive with your link building strategies, you can build it by reaching out to various blogs and authority websites and ask if they can backlink to your page. This process is more tedious, but definitely yields better results. The best way to maximise this method is by hiring an SEO agency who can help you expand your link building portfolio.

What Are Good Quality Backlinks?

Backlinks are powerful instruments that can get you to the top of Google results. But not all links are made equal. High quality backlinks are links which are relevant and come from legitimate websites and these are the links that will positively impact your performance.

You can get high quality backlinks from the following:

1. High-authority websites: Being recognized by an industry leader is huge–so, a backlink from an authoritative website adds credibility, relevance, and value to your page.
2. Do-follow backlinks: When you get a backlink, it’s important to make sure that they are do-follow backlinks. These kinds of backlinks direct Google and other search engines to your website, allowing them to crawl your site.

Should I Work With An SEO Agency Just To Link Build?

Link building is a vital part of SEO and it takes a lot of work. If you’re a startup or a small to medium business, then managing your SEO and digital marketing presence can be quite difficult. Working with an experienced SEO agency is a great option.

An SEO agency will have experts managing your SEO strategy, which includes your link building efforts. Agencies will be the ones to search for, monitor, and analyze your backlinks for your benefit. They’re also an incredible way to expand your link building portfolio.