Are you looking for a way to get more backlinks? Backlinks are the lifeblood of your website. They’re what keep people coming back and they’re what help search engines rank your site higher in their results pages. But how do you build them? It can be hard to know where to start, but this article will give you some ideas to get you started.
Content That Attracts
This should almost go without saying – you’ve created content that attracts, entertains, and engages your followers. It answers their questions about the topic you’re writing on and the search engines will love it, too!
But how are you going to get links to that wonderful content?
A Little Primer in Links
Links have been around since forever on the Internet – or at least as long as we’ve had a World Wide Web, that is! Links go from one page to another, or from one part of a page to another part of the same page. Links enable people to navigate through webpages by clicking on the links (aka hyperlinks) which lead us to different pages with more information about our topic of interest.
What Are Backlinks?
So what is the difference between a link and a backlink, you ask?
Well, a backlink is really just a regular link, but when the term “backlink” is used, it means a link from another site to yours, also called an “inbound” link.
Clicks from these backlinks will have a positive impact on how high up your page ranks within search engine results pages (SERPs), as well as bringing an increase in web traffic to your site.
External Links
If you link to another site from your site, it’s called an “outbound” link, or an “external” link.
It’s not just inbound links, or backlinks, that bring traffic to your site. Outbound links can also be a great idea, too! Research shows that search engines reward sites for linking out by sending them more visitors through web crawlers than those who don’t link out at all.
Suppose you want your website and content to rank higher on Google or other major search engine results pages (SERPs). In that case, it makes sense then to make sure there are at least one or two “outbound” or external hyperlinks from every webpage- because this will help position the page more prominently within SERP rankings.
Internal Links
If you link to a different page on your own site, that’s called an “internal” link.
Internal links are the unsung heroes of search engine optimization. They can have a big impact on your ranking, but they’re often ignored because people don’t realize their value, or it’s just too easy to forget about them.
Internal links send signals to the search engines that this page has more information on the topic at hand and is important enough for other pages on your site to link back to it consistently.
Internal links are highly effective in helping your site’s SEO ranking. They will help get your site ranked higher in the search engine results, which will mean more people will see your site and be more likely to link to it. Internal links should be used as often as possible!
My Link is My Vote
The internet has always been a place where popularity is valued. How many likes, how many shares, how many comments, how many links. They all have a say in how popular a piece of content is.
Search engines have historically seen links as votes for popularity and importance on the web. For years, search engines have used this method as their main metric when creating algorithms in order to rank pages by how popular they are among users.
Google’s PageRank system was originally created with reliance almost exclusively on hyperlinks between web pages A and B instead of ranking sites based on other factors like keyword densities or the value of the content.
When My Link is NOT My Vote
There may be times when you want to link out to a site, but not in a good way. Maybe you are showing examples of bad content, bad design, or a spammy site. So how can you link to an untrustworthy site without making it more popular, and without passing any of your link juice onto it? By using a “nofollow” link.
No Follow Links
When the search engines come across a link, they follow it. In other words, they go to the page that it points to. When you mark your links with a rel=nofollow attribute, it tells the search engines to not follow the link. It says you do not want to vote for it, you’re not giving it your trust.
The search engine may follow it anyway, but they won’t give it your vote, or pass any of your link juice onto the page.
Follow Links
Search engines are thirsty for your votes. When they find a link on the internet, if it isn’t marked as a nofollow link by you or whoever posted it, then they will automatically follow it and cast the owner’s vote. These are the best kinds of links to have pointing to your site.
Link Building
Now that you know something about links, how do you go about building them to your site? There are many different ways to go about it. The first one, as we’ve said before, is by creating and publishing content that your audience will find interesting, valuable, or entertaining; so they’ll want to share it with their friends and followers on their own sites, or on social media sites like Facebook and Twitter.
1. High-Quality Content
It seems that good content is becoming more and more of a must. With the most recent update from Google, high-quality content has become an even bigger factor in ranking on search engine results pages (SERPs) for various keywords.
Creating quality content can be difficult and time-consuming. Long-form content is all the rage now. 500-word articles are pretty much a thing of the past. But if you’re doing it right, then your posts should earn links back to them from other sites in the space.
2. Building Authority
Many of us find it difficult to get the backlinks that will help us to rank among the top sites because we lack authority in our niche. Building your authority can be a lengthy process, but you’ll find that the time spent will show in your success.
It takes patience to build up an online presence and grow into something of substance on what is essentially just one platform – your own website. Besides publishing quality content, here are a few other things you can do.
- Connect with your readers and social media friends and followers by talking to them. Ask what they think about the topics you are writing about. Respond to their comments.
- You can also try to get in touch with influencers who share similar interests as yours. Try getting quotes from them or interviewing them for a piece of content.
- Answer questions on sites such as quora.com.
- Repurpose your content and share it on social sites, YouTube, SlideShare, and others.
The most important factor when it comes to building authority is connecting on the internet! As I said, it will take time, but in that time, the backlinks will begin to build.
3. Broken Links
The internet is a vast and ever-changing place. Websites come and go, but when they go, they leave behind them all sorts of backlinks that now point to the empty pages where they used to be.
These broken links are more than just an inconvenience to a user. It can frustrate or confuse someone who’s looking for information on the web, and it can also potentially negatively affect a site’s search engine ranking if they have too many dead links pointing nowhere.
There is software that can look for these broken links. When you find a broken link that points to a subject that you write about, you can contact the site’s owner, point the dead link out to them, and ask politely if they would replace it with your link. Win-win.
4. Interviews
Interviewing experts or influencers in your field is another way to earn backlinks. The interviewee will often link to their interview on your site, and their friends or followers will likely click through to check it out.
It doesn’t necessarily have to be an expert or a famous person that you interview. I have a dog site that talks about their care, nutrition, training, and other things. It also has a section where people talk about their own dog(s). I “interview” them about their dog, they send me some pictures of their dog, and I publish the post. Invariably, they post a link to the article, and all their friends and family come to check it out. Oftentimes, a couple of them will also post a link.
These types of backlinks will still serve your page well despite being less prominent than a link from an authoritative site. An authoritative link is always desired, but a varied backlink profile can help you rank higher in Google.
For some great interview tips, visit U Interview Me.
5. Round Up Interviews
This is a combination of an interview and a round-up post. Instead of interviewing just one person, you interview several. But you ask them all just one question. What’s your favorite method for getting backlinks, and why? – would be a good interview question for this site. Of course, you’ll tailor your question to your site.
Make a list of experts and influencers in your niche and contact them with your question. Not everyone will respond, but if you contact enough people, you’ll get enough for your post.
When the post is published, let each person you interviewed know, and you’re sure to get some backlinks. And some traffic!
Conclusion
Backlink building is often challenging for a website owner looking to compete with larger popular internet brands when they don’t have much initial reach or accumulated domain authority. Link building is a crucial part of your website’s success. The more links you have, the higher your website will rank on Google and other search engines. Hopefully, these few ideas will help you get started on your path to success!
