SEO and external links: how to create correct external backlinks?
Off-site SEO along with technical and on-site SEO is frequently considered the best way to increase search traffic to a website. One of the most significant external optimisation activities is building of backlinks, which must be done properly in order to receive tangible results.
What is building of externalbacklinks?
Generally speaking, building backlinks is the search for the websites that post content similar to your website and hosting of their backlinks, which redirect to an appropriate page of your website. Backlink building is typically a time-consuming process that needs patience, motivation, a little luck and some of your budget. You should be noted that quality external backlinks are insufficient on their own. All website elements contribute to the end product. As a result, before you begin constructing a network of external backlinks, confirm that your website is:
- – User-friendly and meets UX and UI guidelines; is easy to load and convenient to browse;
- – Constantly updated, with fresh and distinctive content that benefits your visitors;
- – In good technical order.
When you have a solid e-commerce foundation, all you will need to do is to uncover the secrets of building website backlinks. Otherwise, all of your backlink building efforts will be useless and a waste of time and money.
Why are external backlinks significant for your business?
The first positive sign of your website to visitors and search engines is having high quality and trustworthy backlinks. In the eyes of Google, good and trustworthy backlinks serve as the proof that content on your website is of top quality. Accordingly, if someone offers to visit your website, it’s presumably because it contains excellent content that benefits the users of that website. Google generally directs more users to the websites that it trusts. Consequently, higher search traffic translates into more consumers, more conversions and, of course, more sales.
Backlinks from Google act as “votes.” Therefore, the more votes (backlinks) you have, the more likely Google likes you too. However, the quantity of backlinks is not the only factor. Their quality is also very significant. Not all backlinks are of the same strength. For instance, a backlink from Wikipedia will be considerably more effective than one from a brand-new site.
Which backlinks are trustworthy and powerful?
To help you better understand how external backlinks function, imagine that you run an online shop that specialises in exclusive perfumes.
1. Relevancy
Ideally, if the backlink is placed on a website that operates in the same business industry as yours, preferably one that deals with perfume, especially niche. The content that you publish, or at least its part, must also relate to the content of the other website, e.g.: What is niche perfume?, How to choose perfume? What perfume is the best for women?, etc. Visitors reading the content of another website may click on the link, get to your online shop and purchase the perfume.
2. Domain strength
Google prefers to see solid backlinks coming from high authority, well-known websites. If you get a backlink from the webpage of a famous perfume manufacturer, it will carry more weight than one from a small online perfume retailer. Why? First of all, the backlink will be more visible and perhaps result in more traffic. Second, consumers will regard your website as trustworthy and authoritative. Athrefs is one of trendy SEO tools that may assess the authority of a website.
3. Page strength
That would be great to put the backlink on a popular page of the website, which already receives some search traffic. By doing this, you can share the power of backlinks that is also known as Link Juice from another website. Keep in mind that the content must be of high quality when placing a link on a page with high authority.
4. Anchor titles
Anchor titles are clickable texts with a link that visitors see and understand as the result of a backlink. It is crucial to choose these words carefully and evaluate them against competitors, because we can then identify the words they employ to achieve high rankings. For instance, if a webpage in the top ranking for your target keyword exclusively uses the “brand” attachment text, you should employ this strategy as well. And do not forget the keywords, URLs, and other relevant “anchor” texts.
Tips for beginner on backlink building
Although backlink building appears to be a simple task at first sight, successful results will require some work. There is a fair number of rules, but one of the most important is placing backlinks simultaneously because some of them might not work.
Run a blog
If your website doesn’t have a blog yet, we recommend you starting one. This will bring benefits not only to backlink building, but basically to the overall SEO of your website as well. As soon as you begin creating blog posts, write them regularly. If you’re having trouble coming up with topics to write about, answer the following question: “Why have I started this website?“ Concentrate on your business, write about what you know best, and attempt to imagine yourself in the shoes of a potential customer.
Here are a few ideas for effective content:
- Posts with numbers and specific tips
Let’s compare these next 2 articles. One is How to Boost Enterprise Sales, and the other is How to Boost E-shop Sales? 10 Effective Strategies. People simply prefer numbers and lists where they can learn something new. Therefore, they’ll probably choose the second article.
- Instructions and tips
People search online for advice and instructions on how to accomplish particular business goals. More details and sources should be included in written instructions than in simple blog posts with numbers. If you write a blog post that is of exceptional quality, readers who will benefit from it will share it on their social networks or even their website.
- Infographic entries
Infographics is one of the content types that is gaining popularity. Some users find it easier to “read” information visually. For this reason, add pictures, and images to your blog post. If you remember to include high-quality image alt texts, your infographics will appear in the visual Google search, and perhaps someone will share it. Canva is a fantastic free online infographic maker tool.
- Posts based on investigations and statistics
Sharing your personal opinion is good, but if you also include some valuable statistics or facts that may be useful and interesting, it is likely your readers will want to share this information with others and you will “earn” additional backlinks. Tip: List the sources of data you used and notify them of your research. There is a high probability that they will include a link to your work on their websites.
- Experience and real stories
If you have a lot of clients and have successfully improved their results, share them with everyone. People like reading success stories because they want the same results on their websites. Don’t forget to visually display the results as well. People will share this information on social media, increasing their chances of receiving backlinks in return.
Tip: If your blog is empty and does not contain any content yet, do not place links because you’ll cause more harm than good.
Request backlinks
If you are developing your own business or are a marketing expert, you are definitely interested in current trends. By exploring in this way, you can surely locate trustworthy websites with excellent content. The simplest way to obtain links is to contact their owners and to ask them to exchange links. Inform them that you are interested in a particular topic of the post and that you wrote content as well, but with extra details that are not included in the post. And mention that you believe readers might find the blog post on this site beneficial.
Tip: Be sure to assess the authority of the other website and domain if someone has asked to place their link on your website.
Communicate
Establish and develop connections and join forums and communities that discuss your business industry or niche. Work together with the members of that community, share content from other websites, and sometimes share your own content as well. Participating actively in community activities will give you authority and encourage other users to share your work without even reading it.
Tip: Developing relationships and communication are not just helpful for building backlinks. You will connect with interesting people from whom you may learn new insights or ideas.
Send newsletters
It can be a little confusing at first to understand how a simple e-mail can enhance the amount of backlinks to your website. However, you should think of it as a consumer’s journey, and it involves numerous steps and ultimately results in a backlink. Sending a newsletter will, first and foremost, raise your awareness and serve as a reminder to the user of your company. There is a probability that the reader will share your high-quality content if you provide it. You are likely to obtain backlinks as well with sufficient sharing.
Tip: The best way to increase the number of people who subscribe to your newsletter, is creating downloadable e-books from your best blog posts. Asking for an e-mail address is the first step if someone wants to download your post.
Give an expert opinion
Maybe you are an expert and have a lot of knowledge in that area? Find related websites and blogs that discuss the subject matter you are familiar with. Then, get in touch with them and see if they would be interested in sharing your experience or feedback on a certain subject. If so, they will include your “quite” with a backlink to your website.
Tip: Be an active user of social media because partners will undoubtedly check your website, LinkedIn, and Facebook profiles.
If somebody refers to you on their website
It is very easy to check. Enter the name of your company into Google, and if you see that someone has provided a positive feadback and has not included your link, contact that person and ask to include.
Tip: Install the Google alert to get an email notification whenever somebody mentions your company name online.
In-House link building and link building services
If you think link building is challenging, consider other possible link-building methods. It is In-House link building and link building services.
In–House link building
In this case, you or employees of your company create external backlinks. Contrary to popular belief, unless you have hired a specialist, this type of link building is not the cheapest and best solution. Link building is frequently assigned to a marketing specialist who is a jack-of-all-trades and may not have as many skills and competences and thus perform the work with totally questionable quality. Certainly, this option also has some advantages, one of them is the complete control over the process.
Link building services
You may always hire experts to handle In-House link building if you believe it is not the best option for your company. Often the question arises, how to find trusted partners?
- – Avoid using services that are incredibly cheap. Quality and strong links cost money, and therefore low prices are typically not a good sign.
- – Avoid companies that offer lists of websites, i.e. link pools. If you see the list of links, Google also sees it. You may be added to the black list of SEO blacklist enterprises in this situation.
- – Avoid service providers that offer links from low-authority websites and with no search traffic. In this case, the backlink will have a much lower value.
Every business striving their e-shop items, blog posts and other relevant information to be well ranked, must understand link building as one of the most important parts of SEO strategy. Strong backlinks will enhance the value of your pages, strengthen the authority of your website, and boost user traffic and sales.
