Backlinks, or incoming links are one of the cornerstones of any SEO campaign.
Why do I need backlinks on my website?
A backlink from a trustworthy website is a vote of confidence for your site. It suggests you are providing such high quality content full of reliable information that someone wanted to share it by directing their visitors to your site. Good quality backlinks will help you get that vital high search engine ranking.
What are good backlinks and where do they come from?
Good backlinks come in from relevant, authoritative sites. The best way to get the best sort of backlinks is to provide top quality content that other webmasters want to share with their audience. This may happen organically – but it will also depend on you building good relationships with the big names and influencers in your niche. Look for these people at networking events, but also engage with them on social. Share their content, and write your own blogpost adding value to their information and linking back.
You should also get yourself listed in appropriate directories. Think Yell.com; or directories run by professional or trade associations in your sector.
Guest posting is a bit of a two-edged sword. If you’re guest posting for the links, you’re on thin ice with Google Penguin. Avoid spammy sites that are only very loosely connected to your site. Aim instead for your sector’s influencers – they will share your helpful, well-thought-out post (and it’s link to your site) with their many, many followers, which will, with luck, result in more back links and more requests for a guest post.
What are bad backlinks?
Bad links are those intended to manipulate your site’s ranking in search results. Google Penguin considers these to be part of a link scheme and will penalise you for this. A few examples include:
- links you have paid for with money or goods
- over-the-top link exchanges
- very large-scale guest posting campaigns
- partner pages created for the sole purpose of cross-linking
- use of automated services that create links to your site
Google has an in-depth explanation of link schemes that you can read if you want more detail.
How do I know who is linking to me?
Google Search Console has a tool that will help you find out who is linking to you – and there are others as well. But by now you will have spotted a problem – you have no real control over who links to you. If you have links coming in from low quality sites, you should ask the webmasters in question to remove the links on their sites; and if that fails, turn to the Google Disavow tool, which can be found on the Google Search Console.
Too long, didn’t read
Incoming links from other sites are important, but you need to make sure they come from sites with a good reputation.
Eonic’s SEO experts can corrwill bring in top quality link assets – and because of our long experience in this area we can draw on extra insight that will give you an edge over your competitors. We’d love to hear from you if you want to get the very best from your website.