As a content writer with over five years of experience in blog and article writing, I’ve seen how search engine algorithms works. However one thing that search engines always prefers has been the value of backlinks. Many Years ago, when I started working on my first blog, I remember the day I got my first high quality backlink from a well known tech site. Almost overnight, my blog’s traffic skyrocketed and my visibility improved in search engines. But It wasn’t magic – it was the power of backlinks.
So In this article, I will tell you guys about what is backlinks and how to create them for a higher ranking on SERP. This post may be a little longer than usual but I want to explain why the backlinks are important.
What Are Backlinks and Why Backlink Matter?
What are backlinks? A backlink is a hyperlink that links from one website to another website. We can consider it as a flag to the search engines that other websites are confident enough over our website content and they have linked us. Backlinks are an essential part of the SEO process because they are one of Googles core signals to rank a website.
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Search engines think backlinks as indicators of quality and authority. The more high quality backlinks our site has, the more credible it appears to search engines. This can lead to higher rankings. However, not all backlinks are created equal and that’s why we need Backlink strategy.
What are the Types of Backlinks?
If we want to build best backlink profile for our website, it’s important that we understand the different types of backlinks:
- Dofollow Backlinks: These are the most valuable because they pass on SEO “link juice” from the referring website to ours. They signal to search engines that our content is trustworthy and relevant.
- Nofollow Backlinks: No follow backlink don’t pass on link juice. But no follow backlinks still hold value for increasing traffic and search engines visibility. A healthy backlink profile have a mix of both dofollow and nofollow links.
- Internal Links: These are links within our own website. This connect one page from our site to another. They are important for site navigation and improving the user experience.
- External Links: These links point from our web site to another website. External links to high quality and relevant sources can improve our credibility in the eyes of both users and search engines.
- Guest Posting Backlinks: These come from guest posts we write on other website. In guest posting, we add a link back to our own website. This is one if the besg way to earn high quality backlinks.
The Importance of Quality Backlink
Years ago, when I first started optimizing content for search engines, I made the classic mistake of focusing on the number of backlinks rather than their quality. I remember working on a blog post that had gained hundreds of backlinks from various low quality directories and irrelevant websites. The result? No significant improvement in search engines rankings.
But I shifted my focus in securing a few high quality backlinks from well respected websites within my industry. For example, a guest post I wrote for a popular tech blog linked back to my site. Within weeks, I saw a noticeable rise in traffic and my blog started ranking higher in Google or Bing. So to create backlinks in seo we must get quality backlinks.
Avoiding Black Hat SEO Tactics to build backlinks
Avoid black hat SEO tactics like buying backlinks or participating in link farms. In the early days of my blogging career, I experimented with these types of methods. But the result was really bad which is – only to get my site penalized by Google’s algorithm updates. Google’s algorithms have become highly sophisticated and they can easily detect unnatural linking patterns in any websites.
Unethical tactics may give us a short term boost but they’ll harm our website in the long run. Which can lead to de-indexing from Google’s search results.
Methods to Build Quality Backlinks
If you’re wondering how to start building backlinks for SEO, here are a few strategies that have consistently worked for me:
1. Guest Posting
Writing guest posts for famous websites in our niche is one of the best way to earn quality backlinks. In this way, we get to share our expertise with a wider audience and we can also gain a link back to our site. Over the years, I have written guest posts for several industry leading blogs and the backlinks I’ve earned from those posts continue to give traffic and improve my site SEO.
2. Create Shareable Content for back link
Creating high-quality and shareable content like infographics, case studies, or comprehensive guides can naturally attract backlinks. When others find our content valuable than they’ll be more likely to link to it. I’ve personally seen a well-researched guide on SEO tips for beginners go viral within my community. Which result in numerous organic backlinks.
3. Build Partnerships for quality backlinks
Networking and building partnerships with other bloggers or businesses in our own niche can open doors for backlinks. This could be through co-writing articles, hosting joint webinars or collaborating on projects. A partnership I formed with a fellow blogger led to several cross-promotion opportunities that improved our site rankings and audience reach. We can use Backlink checker to check our site backlinks.
4. Use Social Media to Promote Content
The best way we can get backlinks for free is to share our post in social media. We should Never underestimate the power of social media. Sharing our blogs content on social platforms increases its visibility. I’ve had many blog posts that I shared across LinkedIn and Twitter. This resulted in backlinks from industry professionals who found my content useful.
5. Use Link Building Tools
There are a variety of tools available to help us to find link opportunities and track our progress. Some popular tools are Ahrefs, SEMrush, and Moz. Read more on this here.
The Importance of backLink Diversity
A diverse backlink profile signals to search engines that our website is earning links naturally. This means that we should aim to get backlinks from different sources such as blogs, news sites, social media, and industry publications. Too many links from a single site or source can look suspicious to search engines which can potentially lead to penalties.
Conclusion
Backlinks are a powerful way to boost our blogger or wordpress website’s visibility and search engine ranking. But the key is quality over quantity. Focus on creating valuable content, building genuine relationships and avoiding common blogging mistakes like buying backlinks or using link farms.
If we follow these steps than we can build a strong backlink profile that not only improves our SEO but also establishes our site as an authority in our niche. But we need to keep in mind that building backlinks is a long term strategy. So we should be patient and consistent in our efforts.
