Search Engine Optimization (SEO) can be a bit confusing. Depending on who you speak with, you will get a completely different opinion on what works and what does not. In truth, many techniques used by digital marketers do vary. However, all have the same core fundamentals: fast-loading and engaging websites, high-quality content, and backlinks.
What Are Backlinks?
A backlink is a reference to a website from another web page. Also known as inbound links, these links from outside domains are viewed as referrals or votes by search engines. And like referrals or votes, the more your website receives, the more popular and trusted you become.
Increasing your website backlinks is one of the single most important factors for improving your rankings on all major search engines.
Types of Backlinks
There are two primary types of backlinks, DoFollow and NoFollow links. While each is good to have, the most valuable are DoFollow links.
DoFollow links are the equivalent of the referring domain voicing their trust in the website they are sending their audience too. Digital Marketers refer to this as ‘passing SEO juice’ from the referring domain to the target domain.
An example of what this looks like in the HTML coding of a web page is this:
<a href=”http://domfinder.com“>premium domains</a>
Backlinks from established websites that Google views as trusted sources are the most valuable. As an example, a dofollow link from Forbes or The New York Times (and others) are the most helpful to your SEO efforts.
NoFollow links are the opposite of DoFollow links. By adding a bit of code, this tells search engines to not crawl them or count the link as votes of trust.
An example of what this looks like in the HTML coding of a web page is this:
<a rel=”nofollow” href=”http://domfinder.com“>premium domains</a>
In many cases, authoritative websites default their outbound links as nofollow’s. Doing so ensures that websites they link too that participate in link schemes or other prohibited SEO activity will not impact their trust with search engines.
How Do Backlinks Help?
As mentioned above, a backlink is a vote for your website for trust and quality. Not only are backlinks important for search engines, but they can also increase your website traffic. Regardless of the type of backlink, each is important for your website.
For search engines, backlinks signal to them that your website is a trusted source and worth ranking higher. If many sites are linking to the same web page or website, search engines see this as content worth linking too and therefore can impact your overall search engines results. In the past, the total number of backlinks was an indicator factor used for ranking websites. However, with the release of Google’s Penguin Update, ranking factors have changed. Having a profile with links from high-quality referring domains are more important than thousands of links from low-quality referring domains.
Your website can benefit with increased traffic even from links providing you a NoFollow link. Referring domains with consistent traffic allow you to connect to new users you otherwise might struggle to reach.
Many third parties have created reporting to help identify which websites are the most authoritative or trusted. If you are new to SEO, we recommend focusing on Domain Authority from Moz and Trust Flow from Majestic. We include both of these in our reporting, also check out our blog What is Domain Authority to learn more.
How Do You Get Backlinks?
Now that you know what a backlink is and how they help, how do you get them? There are multiple ways to accomplish this. Link building is critical to the success of your website. Premium aged domains with quality backlinks are a great head start. Ask any SEO expert, and they will tell you it takes time to start seeing results. And if you are in a competitive niche or industry, that timeline only increases.
For those that already have a domain, here are some examples you can follow to build up your backlink profile.
- Guest Blogging
- Build relationships with influencers
- Find broken links and reach out to authors with your link
- Directory sites
- Press Release
Just be mindful as you build out your backlink profile. Add too many low-quality backlinks from spam PBN’s and your website results could come crashing down.
Conclusion
Building backlinks from high-authoritative referring domains are crucial for higher ranking in the SERPs and improving your SEO. With Google consistently updating their algorithm, securing high-quality backlinks is only getting harder. Building an online presence is getting harder and harder. Time and patience in combination with a proper link building strategy can set you apart from the competition. Or, you can use an aged domain with high-quality backlinks and save months of effort and thousands of dollars.