In this digital age visibility is paramount so understanding and implementing backlinks can significantly enhance your SEO ranking and create building blocks for your marketing strategy. So, what are back links and how do they make your site more visible? In this post we will provide a brief introduction on how they can enhance your algorithm and support you in achieving a higher Search Engine Ranking. Let’s dive deeper into the fundamental aspects of backlinks and how they can support SEO with the following subtopics
Defining Backlinks
Backlinks serve as a pathway by pointing users from the website they are on over to yours, thus enhancing your site’s relevance, credibility, and authority. Backlinks are also referred to as ‘inbound links’ because they refer a user from another website to yours, thus bringing inbound traffic to your site.
The Various Types of Backlinks
Natural Backlinks: Just as it sounds, natural backlinks or organic backlinks are inbound links created by users wanting to provide genuine endorsement for your webpage. Natural backlinks are usually created by a person that found your webpage relevant, helpful, and thus worthy of acknowledgement and further reference. An example of a Natural Backlink would be a person or business that purchased a product from your store and as they detail their steps via a blog post they link your webstore as the place of purchase, further adding to your websites credibility as a solution to other users.
Manual Backlinks: This is one of the best ways that you can actively start to build traffic to your store and will increase your SER as a credible resource for new users. Unlike Natural Backlinks, manual backlinks take a bit more effort and require deliberate practice and implementation of actively requesting backlinks to your website. With manual backlinks it’s important to ensure you are focusing on high quality links over the number of links, which we will go into further detail later. To get started on Manual Backlinks reach out to some of your Business Partners who already have an established relationship with you and ask them to reference or link your store as a resource for some of your Brands or Product Lines. This helps their clients find the items they were looking for and will leave them feeling satisfied with a sense of appreciation that they were directed to the right place and a solution was provided to them.
For example, here at Yodify we’ve created profiles on various pages like Design Rush, Capterra and SourceForge so customers looking for an excellent solution for product data management, CPQ and e-commerce will find us and be introduced to our services.
Self-Created: Self-Created backlinks refer to links in places like comments or forms that are generated by your employees with the intention of marketing your site. Of all backlinks we have reviewed, this is the least impactful of the three as they can be seen as ‘spammy’ and if used too aggressively can negatively impact your overall ranking. However, the more users who find the information on your site relevant, the higher you will rank so these types of backlinks can be useful when used sparingly.
Now that you know more about some examples of types of Backlinks, lets review some of the Key Practices to ensure you’re using them effectively.
Sometimes Less is More
You should be proud of the website you’ve created and want to share it with the world, but before you go adding links to your site, ensure you limit your links to related to topics, industries, or customer types. If you sell construction equipment people won’t be expecting to see your store linked to a Vegetarian Recipe Blog post. Using links on forums can have a negative impact on your search engine ranking as you’re not providing a relevant solution to the users.
In addition to staying relevant, websites that have a high ranking create greater credibility for other sites that are linked on their site. For example, having a backlink for your store on Forbes is a lot better than having one on a teenager’s blog post.
Earning Successful Backlinks
From creating compelling content to networking with influencers, discovering effective methods for attracting valuable inbound links should be based on your network and the clients you want to attract. Building relationships is a key component of every business. Engage with influencers bloggers and other business owners in your niche to create connection and expand your network. Collaborating on your shared success can contribute to insights and content on their platform and can lead to Natural backlinks as a reference to your work and recommendations to your site from their audience.
“Today it’s not about ‘get the traffic’, it’s about ‘get the targeted and relevant traffic.’” – Adam Audette.
By mastering the art of backlinks and integrating them strategically into your SEO arsenal, you can propel your website to new heights of visibility and authority in the digital landscape.
