Imagine you have a new shop opened in the town. But unfortunately, you, as an owner of the shop, are not able to see much customer turnover. Now here, you can follow many marketing strategies to create a sense of awareness among the people around to visit your shop. Or one way can be asking your fellow shops to recommend your shop to their customers.
You might not know, but word of mouth is a powerful tool that can help businesses become more visible to the public. This is exactly the value that Backlinks aims to bring to the websites; referral traffic.
The situation of a new website is the same as that of a new shop that we discussed. Backlinks are an important part of the SEO Toronto Strategy. It comes under the scope of Off-Page SEO which is primarily done off your site. Understanding backlinks can help websites frame SEO strategy that brings your website higher on the search engine result page. So let’s begin.
What do you mean by Backlinks?
Backlinks are simply a hyperlink that directs users from one web page to another. They are built on a third-party website. The aim of the backlink is to provide value to the users. You might have seen while reading a blog on any website that a blue coloured text, when clicked, directs you to another webpage or website. If the link directs you to another website, it is called a backlink. If not, it is an internal link, which also is an important aspect of Search engine optimization.
What is the Difference Between Internal And External Links?
| External Link | Internal Links |
| Directs the visitor from one website to another | Directs the visitor from one web page to another webpage of the same website. |
| It helps the website improve its credibility. | It helps the website give a better User Experience to its visitors. |
| Brings traffic to a desired page of the same website | Brings traffic to another website in the form of referral traffic. |
| Helps to rank higher on Search Engines like Google. | Also, a ranking factor for Google as it provides value to the visitor. |
What are the Different Types of Backlinks?
There are generally 5 types of SEO backlinks. Understanding them can help better frame your link building strategy for ranking high on search engines.
1. Do Follow Link: It is a link that signals Google to transfer the authority to the website linked. Google usually understands any links as Do follow links as default. You just need to put extra attributes to change the link follow signal to Google. A follow link look like this in aN HTML code:
<a href=”https://www.cllax.com/”>this is a follow link</a>
2. No follow links: As the phrase suggests, it is a backlink that signals Google not to transfer the value to another website. In many cases, you will see competitors linking to each other. Why? Because the content of the competitor’s website can bring value to the visitors of your website. But as you guessed here, the transfer of value or authority does not take place. As the owner of a related business, you do not want the value to be transferred to your competitor. It is a basic human tendency. This is the link which is written with no follow attribute in the HTML code as shown below:
<a href=”https://www.cllax.com/” rel=”nofollow”>this is a nofollow link</a>
3. UGC Links: It is nothing but a link created by a user on a forum post or a blog comments action. UGC means user generated content to which a user can write a link to. With a UGC link, you tell Google that the link built on your website is generated by the user and that the link does not hold any credibility. A UGC backlink is written in the HTML code as below:
<a href=”https://www.cllax.com/” rel=”ugc”>this is a UGC link</a>
4. Paid Links: It is the link which is acquired by paying money to a third-party website having a good domain authority. You can signal Google about the paid link by adding an attribute sponsored in the HTML code as below:
<a href=”https://www.cllax.com/” rel=”sponsored”>this is a sponsored link</a>
5. Editorial Links: These are the backlink that you acquire without having to persuade a third party to link to your website. Here the mutual exchange is that the website that links you to our website finds value in your website’s content. In return, you get a link that improves the ranking potential of your website on Google SERP. Google tends to value editorial links as they are meant to provide value to the reader or visitor.
Why are Backlinks Important?
The aim of the Backlinks is to increase the credibility and authority of a website. A website that has good domain authority above 60 is easy to get rank on search engine result pages. But to make you cautious, acquiring backlinks from websites that are spammy and of low quality will not be able to fetch a ranking on the SERP. Besides, the number of domains linking back to your website should vary. What this means is you should not get backlinks from the same website as it will lower the credibility of your website and can attract penalties from Google.
Furthermore, having backlinks allow Google to find new web pages on your website, provided that you interlink your related web pages with each other.
Backlinks also help to send referral traffic to the website, which benefits the website as follows:
- It helps to introduce new audiences to your website.
- It helps to create brand awareness among the people visiting the websites that link you.
- It helps to generate qualified leads that have the potential to take action.
- It helps to improve the credibility and authority of your website.
What is a Link Scheme?
It is an unethical practice to acquire backlinks in a way that is prohibited by Google. It is intended to manipulate Google for better ranking on SERP. But to tell you the truth, the link scheme is more likely to bring you a penalty than a higher ranking. It is usually done with the help of the following ways:
- Providing a monetary value to websites.
- Agreeing to exchange links among each other.
- Using automated programs that help in creating links to your websites.
- Over Optimized guest posts with keyword rich links.
Did you know?
You can disavow links built with the help of unethical practices to make sure that you do not face any penalty from Google.
How to Check Backlinks on Your Website?
Any individual who has a website can check their backlinks with the help of Google Console. It will only tell you about the backlinks that point back to your website. To check the backlinks of your website, follow the below steps:
Click on the Link button on the Left Sidebar of the Google console towards the bottom of the list.
You will see the overview of your website’s backlinks under the External link section.
This report includes 3 sections that are:
- Top Linked Pages: It tells you about the web pages on your websites with the most backlinks.
- Top Linked Sites: It tells you about the website that you link most to.
- Top Linking Text: It tells you about the most common anchor text used in the backlinks.
By checking the status of your backlinks, you can better prepare your backlinking campaign for success with Google Console.
How to Acquire Backlinks for Your Website?
This may be the trickiest activity in regard to backlinks. Many people are unaware of how to secure backlinks that are free and in line with Google prescribed way of acquiring. But do not worry, as we have filtered out some of the ways that anyone can do to acquire a backlink with the following ways:
1. High quality Content: Why ask for backlinks when you can compel other websites to link to your content? This can be done by writing content that is thoughtful, informative and provides value to the readers. For Example, you have published a report on your website that explains certain trends of an issue or topic. Any website writing a blog on that particular topic can see the report as valuable to its users and may link to your report. By doing so, you were able to gain backlinks that will help further your goal of ranking higher on the Search Engine Result Pages:
Below are some of the key aspects that you can follow to make sure that your content stands out among your competitors on Google:
Keyword Research: The most important part of writing content is to know what your audience is searching for. This can be done with the help of keyword Research. Look for the Google LSI or Related Searches section to get an idea of what people are typing to arrive at a product related to yours.
Also, make sure that you inculcate the target keywords in your header tags and the introduction part of your content.
In Depth Coverage: You want to make sure that the content written by you does not leave any important topic unturned. It has been seen that users do not stick to a website that does not cover a topic holistically. You want to make sure that you have covered the search intent of your users by providing accurate information about the topic they searched for.
Structure: Good content should be written in a manner that inspires readers to read till the end. This can be done by framing your content with short paragraphs and bullet points. It is a psychological fact that users prefer reading short sentences as compared to long ones. The problem with the long sentence is that it often becomes very hard to follow, which results in the loss of interest of the user.
2. Write Guest Posts: Writing Guest posts for a website that is related to your niche is one of the best ways to secure a backlink. Well, you might have a question why you can’t link to websites with unrelated niches. It is because you do not want to click on an SEO backlink provided by a website selling pizzas. Funny right? It lowers the credibility of the links in the eye of the users as well as Search engines.
3. HARO: It stands for Help a reporter out. HARO aims to connect journalists with the sources. If journalists decide to use your content as a source, it is very much likely that they will link to your content. You can start by signing up free to the HARO. You will get an Email thrice a day from Monday to Friday. Make sure that the source request is related to your work before you send a pitch email.
Final Words!!
If you are a new website looking to make yourself more visible on the search engine, backlinks can be an excellent option for the same. Backlinks help build reputation, which is a must for any new website out there. Moreover, Google also sees backlinks as a ranking factor for a website. Not only it helps to rank better on search engine result pages, but also it helps to provide value to the visitor landing on your website.
To make sure that your backlinks campaign is a hit make sure to structure your web pages interlinked with each other. This way, you can have Google and users discover new web pages on your website.
You might have heard this many times that content is king. This is also true for backlinks, where you can create content that couples with other websites to use your content as a reference and link to it.
By having the knowledge of Backlinks, you can surely be in a good position to optimize your SEO strategy for Success.