The Importance of Backlinks for SEO

Backlinks are an integral aspect of SEO; however, they are frequently ignored as they can be difficult to set up effectively. There are simple ways to increase the number of backlinks directly linking to specific webpages that you decide!

What are Backlinks?

What is a Backlink and Why are they Important?

A backlink is simply when another website links to yours, bringing in more traffic and telling Google that your site must have something interesting to say. Because backlinks have to sit on somebody else’s website, which you have no control over, many webpage owners miss out on their benefits.

The Importance of Backlinking

Currently, 66% of webpages on Google do not have any backlinks. However, Google has time and time again demonstrated that back linking is one of the most valuable tools when it comes to SEO. The search engine likes to think of back links as a “vote of confidence” or a sign that others vouch for your content, marking it as valuable and worthwhile for users.

Therefore, backlinking is an essential aspect of hitting the top spots for those Google searches. And with SEO driving over 1000% more organic traffic than social media, optimising your website and establishing backlinks is the efficient choice when growing your platform.

In this article, we will take you through some of the best ways we have found to build those backlinks, start ranking higher in searches and bring more traffic to your site.

Set Up a Blog

How to Build Backlinks Through Blogs

There are currently over 500 million blogs sat on Google (And with good reason!). Blogs are a great way to improve the SEO of your website as they offer informative, interesting and engaging content for your users to digest. They are also a fantastic resource for backlinking.

In a general sense, blogs step away from the typical sales content you find on many websites and offer tips, advice, stories and opinions to name a few. This makes a blog a more likely page to be linked to by other websites. If your content is original and interesting, other websites will want to use your site to enhance their own users' experiences.

Writing Content for Your Industry

When writing a blog or any website content, it is tempting to tailor everything for your target audience or customers directly. However, the likelihood is that your target audience do not have a website in your industry that they can use to link to yours. If you are a seller of artisan goods, for example, your customers are unlikely to have a fellow artisan goods website that could be used to link to your platform.

Therefore, in order to build backlinks, it is essential to include some content into your website that others working in your industry (with a website that they can link from) would find valuable. Industry news, opinion pieces and guides are great content pieces that other webpage owners would be likely to link to.

Often you may find this content less accessible for your site users, however finding a good balance between writing for your target audience and writing for your industry is important for building up a backlink portfolio and improving overall ranking.

Collaboration

Collaboration to Build Backlinks

Working with other content creators to build up links is a great way to increase traffic to your site. The majority of webpage owners are looking for the same thing, relationships to build back links, and useful webpages to link to.

Finding and building relationships with others in your industry and agreeing to link to one another’s pages is a fantastic way to build links without relying on being picked up on Google.

Collaboration with other creators allows you to somewhat control the sites directing traffic to you and ensuring that healthy, user-friendly webpages are linked to yours. It also takes out a lot of guesswork when it comes to building backlinks and measuring the SEO development of your pages. If you know which pages are being linked to, you can measure and analyse its growth.

Press Release

Press Releases and Creating Backlinks

Another way of controlling which sites link to yours, as well as where they link to, is through press releases. This may not always be a viable option; however online publications are often looking for interesting stories to publish on their sites for free. This makes press releases an invaluable tool for building back links and bringing in traffic.

Writing a press release or an update on your business (wherever possible) and sending it to local or industry publications allows you to direct traffic from their webpages to your site. Make sure to include the links in the document you send, as well as any images or layout preferences, as often, publications will post your content as they get it.

Building a Link Web

Link Creating Through Your Website

Whilst not exactly a backlinking strategy, building an intricate web of links throughout your own website allows you to direct your users and take them on a journey through your content. If a particular webpage has established backlinks or performs well in terms of SEO, it is worth considering where you can take your users next. Did they enter your website through another? What might they want to see next? How can you offer them a strong call to action to get in touch, buy or act?

These are all questions to ask yourself when adding links to webpages and writing engaging, yet useful content.

A web of links throughout your website not only offers your user interesting content, but also enhances your business’s Google ranking (if the links are relevant to your viewers). Think of your website like a house with doors going into as many rooms as you like. You can direct people to the pages that you want to be seen most.

Back Link Content Ideas

Backlinking for Beginners

If you’re looking to create content specifically designed to bring in backlinks, here are some content ideas to get you started:

• An ultimate guide: An ultimate guide allows you to offer in depth knowledge and insights for your target audience and anybody within your industry.

• Industry news or updates: Staying up to date with industry knowledge and writing content accordingly allows others in your industry to share your content.

• Thought Leadership: Writing opinion pieces or offering your viewpoint on industry issues (especially when backed up by facts) allows others in your industry to use your content as an authority piece.

To find out more about how to improve the SEO and overall Google ranking of your webpages, head to our article on enhancing the speed of your site.