Backlinks are critical for SEO because they tell search engines your website has authority. The more backlinks you get from certain sites, the higher your web pages might rank. It's that simple. This article explains the importance of backlinks and how to obtain them!
The Basics: What are Backlinks?
Backlinks are links to your website on other websites. Say you have a small business website. If another small business posts a link to your website on its website, that's a backlink!When it comes to SEO and backlinks, quality trumps quantity. It's better to have a few backlinks from credible websites rather than a large volume of links from untrustworthy, deceptive, or poorly-performing sites.
Why are Backlinks Important for SEO?
Think of a backlink as a "thumbs up" from another website. That website thinks your site is valuable enough to link to. Perhaps because it provides interesting information or includes products that people will like. Backlinks earn you brownie points on search engines. Google, for example, can deem how valuable or reliable your website is based on these links.If you have enough backlinks from high-quality sources, the sky's the limit for SEO. You could notice a huge jump in your rankings if a credible news source or government organization links to your site. That might happen if, say, a news website features one of your products in a feature article and links to it.
Backlink Benefits for Your Business
Here's how backlinks can transform your rankings on search engines:
More traffic
When search engines crawl your site and find high-quality backlinks, your search rankings should improve. That can lead to more traffic from search engines to your website. Potential customers in your target audience who have never heard about your site can now explore your products and services and learn about your brand.
More conversions
With more traffic comes more conversions. People who visit your website from a search engine might sign up for your mailing list, download your ebook, or purchase a product. All these conversion events could be a direct result of backlinks!
More trust
Backlinks can make your business more trustworthy. When people see a link to one of your pages on a credible website, they will know your company is the real deal. This trust can improve your online reputation and drive sales!
How Many Backlinks Do I Need?
There's no specific number of backlinks to aim for. As mentioned earlier, it's all about quality, not quantity. Google PageRank, for example, will measure your website based on the number of quality links that direct to it. So one backlink from a reputable source will be worth more than ten links from a not-so-reputable source. In fact, backlinks from some websites can actually harm your search rankings. Say a website dealing in black hat SEO techniques links to your site. Google might think you've paid for these backlinks and penalize your website on its search results.
How to Get a Backlink
There are multiple ways to generate high-quality backlinks:
Guest blogging
Creating a blog post for another website provides an opportunity to include backlinks in that post. These backlinks will appear on the website that features your blog post.
Interviews
Including an interview on your blog is an awesome way to generate backlinks. That's because other companies can quote parts of the interview on their website and link back to your site. If your interview is interesting enough, other websites will definitely want to feature portions of it!
Customer reviews
Customers who leave reviews on third-party websites might include a link to one of your product pages in their feedback. So encourage your customers to post reviews after purchasing one of your products.
Link to your site on social media
Links to your site in social media posts still count as backlinks. For example, you can create a post on Twitter highlighting a new item and link to its product page. Alternatively, link to your blog articles in social media posts.
Find broken links on websites
If a high-quality website has a broken link that directs to a competitor, ask them to replace the link with one to your website. Doing so is great for backlinking and SEO!
The Importance of Backlinks for Your Company
Backlinks are one of the most important search ranking factors for your website. Collecting meaningful backlinks from highly-authoritative sources can result in more traffic and conversions and make your site appear trustworthy. Working with a performance-driven digital marketing agency can help you realize the importance of backlinks and answer the question, "How many backlinks do I have?" Experienced marketers will find guest blogging opportunities, discover broken links on authoritative websites, and implement a new SEO strategy for your business. Want to improve your backlinking prospects? Start with an SEO audit from Symphonic Digital to see how your website currently ranks.
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