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Links are often seen as one of the strongest ranking factors along with relevant content. Websites that are seen as authorititve within a given niche often link to other autorititive websites – and poor websites often link to poor websites.
This can often be a leading reason for your websites success or failure.
Backlinks are as descriptive as they are exact – they are ‘back links’ or links pointing from another website back to your website. They are links that, when clicked, take the user from another webstite to your website. Think of when you set up a social media profile, or when you see an advert in your Facebook or Twitter feed – you click that link and then you are taken to another website to see the information that you clicked and were interested in. This is a backlink.
One analogy that is used – think of your website as a popularity contest, with links being votes for your website. The more people that ‘vote’ for your website, the more authority your website gets.
But if you get a lot of people saying that they like you in the popularity contest and that you know what you are talking about – do these actual people doing the voting ‘know what they are talking about’ in the first place?
If Michael Jordan (the all-time hero of basketball) were to tell you about a person that was the absolute expert in shooting hoops, you would listen right? But if the same recognition was given from someone who knew very little about Basketball gave you the same advice….you might listen less. Make sense?
Website links are quite like this. It is not about the amount of backlinks that you have, but the quality of backlinks that your website has pointing towards it.
Linkbuilding is an on-going process, rather than a ‘set and forget’ one-off aspect of SEO. To progress with linkbuilidng, you will need to maintain a good level of learning and delving into current trends as they emerge.
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Off Page Optimisation
The final part of the SEO jigsaw.
You have a website that screams great content, and tick all the boxes for the search engines to agree with you that your website is awesome! But this alone will not get your website ranking. Let’s look at the final part of the SEO puzzle – off page optimisation – backlinks to your website and brand awareness about what it is that you are doing online.
Links are often seen as one of the strongest ranking factors along with relevant content. Websites that are seen as authorititve within a given niche often link to other autorititive websites – and poor websites often link to poor websites.
This can often be a leading reason for your websites success or failure.
What is a backlink
Backlinks are as descriptive as they are exact – they are ‘back links’ or links pointing from another website back to your website. They are links that, when clicked, take the user from another webstite to your website. Think of when you set up a social media profile, or when you see an advert in your Facebook or Twitter feed – you click that link and then you are taken to another website to see the information that you clicked and were interested in. This is a backlink.
One analogy that is used – think of your website as a popularity contest, with links being votes for your website. The more people that ‘vote’ for your website, the more authority your website gets.
But if you get a lot of people saying that they like you in the popularity contest and that you know what you are talking about – do these actual people doing the voting ‘know what they are talking about’ in the first place?
If Michael Jordan (the all-time hero of basketball) were to tell you about a person that was the absolute expert in shooting hoops, you would listen right? But if the same recognition was given from someone who knew very little about Basketball gave you the same advice….you might listen less. Make sense?
Website links are quite like this. It is not about the amount of backlinks that you have, but the quality of backlinks that your website has pointing towards it.
Ok, so how do I get backlinks for my website?
Linkbuilding is a massive area of SEO – in SEO agencies, there are often link-building ‘experts’ who dedicate their full time employment to building backlinks for their customers. Here is a list of some methods of creating backlinks. The list is far, far from exhaustive – and as the internet evolves, more methods and strategies emerge.- Guest-posting. Offering quality content to relevant industry-related blogs. You must be aware that posting to low-quality blogs, and giving low quality information just for the sake of getting a backlink is being stamped out by Google and is just not a good way to get a solid backlink profile. As with our mantra throughout this guide – focus in giving quality content and information for user experience.
- Creating unique content. Give your target market something that they need – something that they will value. Do this right and people will share, refer to and link back to your resources.
- Join online communities and provide value. By doing this, people will see that you are an expert in your niche, you will build up reputation and trust. Have this and they will not think twice to link back to your website as a point of reference for others.
How can I check my link profile to see if it is strong or not?
You could be working on a new website and want to check your linkbuilding efforts, or inherited an already website and wish to check if you have a good or bad linkbuilding profile. Semrush is an online tool that does this (and more) with gusto! You could be working on a new website and want to check your linkbuilding efforts, or inherited an already website and wish to check if you have a good or bad linkbuilding profile. Semrush is an online tool that does this (and more) with gusto!
Linkbuilding is an on-going process, rather than a ‘set and forget’ one-off aspect of SEO. To progress with linkbuilidng, you will need to maintain a good level of learning and delving into current trends as they emerge.
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