What Are Backlinks?
Backlinks, also known as inbound or incoming links, are a link from one website to another. When you link to another website, they have a backlink from you and when another website links to you, you have a backlink from them. If you’re trying to optimize your website’s SEO, backlinks are incredibly important because search engines like Google use them as a ranking signal.
Why Are Backlinks Important?
Backlinks refer users to other sites, which signal to Google that the content is trustworthy. Consider them as votes of confidence: the more votes you have, the more trustworthy your content is. Google, as well as other search engines, use the quantity, quality, and relevance of backlinks to determine how important your site is. They also have a purpose outside of simply trying to please Google and other search engines. Backlinks help build your brand in general because when another website links to yours, users from the that site will see yours when they click on the link. When you have backlinks (especially high-quality and relevant ones), these can help to increase your site’s ranking as well as help your overall strategy for growing your business.The quality of your backlinks is more important than the quantity, so it’s critical to ensure that your backlinks are from websites that are trustworthy, well-known, or of authority. Ones from sites that are of low authority or are potentially spam are not desirable. Domain authority, also known as site authority, is a metric used to determine how “rankable” a site is, so it’s extremely valuable to have backlinks from sites with high authority.
How Do You Build Backlinks?
Ask. You can build backlinks by reaching out to other site owners, bloggers, or editors and ask them to link to your site. The hard part is getting responses back and finding those willing to link your site on theirs. Building backlinks can take some time and effort but can pay off in the long run for your site and your business. Here are some tips when building backlinks:
- Have a clear value proposition when asking for a backlink
- Produce relevant content and link-worthy content to stand out against competition
- Show legitimacy through well-produced and well-written content
A Few Things to Remember
Backlinks are crucial when it comes to ranking well in search engines and for your website’s overall growth, but it’s not about how many you have - it’s about how much they’re worth. When it comes to backlinks, quality trumps quantity. And building quality backlinks takes time and effort. There are many tools available to help you with this, but if you’re looking to improve your website’s SEO and aren’t sure where to start, contact 20North today and let’s talk.
By Abby McCool
