The Importance of Backlinks and How to Get Them

Backlinks, also known as incoming links or inbound links, are links from another website pointing to yours. Search engines like Google consider backlinks as votes of confidence for your web pages, which could help your site achieve higher rankings. Here’s why backlinks are essential for your business and some strategies to get them. 

Why Backlinks Are Important to Your Business

Few businesses can operate successfully today without an online presence. If you have a business website, one of your goals should be to attract as many targeted visitors as possible and outshine your competitors. Backlinks can help you do this. 

Links are what enable searchers to move from one place to another online. Therefore, they make your website more discoverable by the average searcher. They are also important for search engine indexing and page ranking. Finally, you can use backlink reports to gain intelligence on your competitors by finding out who is linking to their pages so you can better inform your own strategy. 

How You Can View Your Website’s Backlinks

You have several options for viewing your website’s current backlinks. One is to add your site to Google Search Console and run a backlink report. However, it’s important to understand that this report only displays a sample of your total backlinks and won’t provide data about your competitor’s links. 

There are some other free backlink-checking tools you can use online. Some are better than others. If you work with a digital marketing agency, they will not only run this report for you but also interpret it and provide you with recommendations for improvement. 

What Makes a Backlink Good or Bad?

In the past, any backlinks were considered “good,” which led website owners to abuse the practice of linkbuilding. Now, Google only values relevant and high-quality links. If yours don’t meet their criteria, your site could end up getting penalized, which would have a disastrous impact on your digital marketing efforts. Here are some of the aspects of good vs. bad backlinks. 

Good Backlinks:

• Originate from trusted sources that are relevant to your business or industry
• Won’t involve any money or benefits in exchange for links
• Result from the quality of your content and brand
• Feature diverse anchor text, not the same linked keyword or phrase over and over
• Take the internet user where they expect to go

Bad Backlinks:

• Result from large-scale linking schemes
• Come from the exchange of perks or money
• Are listed on sites used for “link farms” or other spam activity
• Include any attempts to hide or redirect links

10 Strategies for Getting High-Quality Backlinks

Some backlinking strategies are more effective than others. But it’s useful to have a diverse set of links. Here are 10 strategies your business can use to get high-quality backlinks. 

1. Create Linkable Assets

Creating high-quality content and promoting it to outside resources will help your website get quality backlinks. Some examples include long-form guides, video content, and data-driven studies. 

2. Get Added to Resource Pages

One simple and effective way to get backlinks is to get added to other company’s “Resource Pages.” These are pages for niches or industries that direct readers to recommended businesses, such as “Resources for estate planning” or “Information for home brewing.”

3. Locate Broken Links

Broken link building is the process of locating broken links on pages in your industry or niche and contacting the website owners with URLs of your own to replace those bad links. 

4. Check Your Competitors’ Links

Another way to secure high-value backlinks is to see what sites your competitors have gotten links on. There’s a good chance that, if a website has linked to your competitors, they may also agree to link to you. 

5. Improve Popular Content

While it takes some work, you may be able to get some high-value backlinks using what’s called the “skyscraper technique.” The goal is to become the tallest “skyscraper” in your content space by having the best content. You do this by finding a successful piece of content, creating something better, and then promoting the content to those who linked to the original piece. 

6. Provide Testimonials

It’s not uncommon for customers to rely on testimonials when they make purchasing decisions. Fortunately, you can also use these to gain valuable backlinks. To do this, write a blog post highlighting some of the products or services your business loves. Then, let those businesses know about your post. Often, they will link to the content or share it on social media, which gives you a backlink. 

7. Help a Reporter Out (HARO)

HARO is a resource that connects journalists with valuable resources for their work. You simply register with the site and list your particular expertise. If a journalist decides to use you as a source, they may provide a backlink to your business website. 

8. Ask Business Associations

If you’re a member of any national or local business associations, this is a simple and straightforward opportunity for you to get a backlink. These associations, like Chambers of Commerce and Bar Associations, will usually have a members directory where you can add your website link. 

9. Partner With Your Suppliers

If you sell products to other businesses or have strong partnerships with materials suppliers, collaborate with them about exchanging links. For example, you can list your materials suppliers on a separate page of your site. And your suppliers can also have a page indicating which manufacturers use their products. 

10. Look for Relevant Listicles

Listicles are content pieces similar to this one that present lists of items. Depending on your industry, the topics can vary. However, you can search for relevant listicles to see if there are any that would benefit from your inclusion. If you find some, it’s time to send a pitch to the writer or website owner. 

Start Getting the High-Quality Backlinks You Need Today

It’s a fact that SEO is a powerful tool for improving a business’s online visibility and attracting more customers. But securing high-quality backlinks that the search engines will value isn’t easy. For help understanding and mastering this process, reach out to Too Darn Loud Marketing Directly. Our results-based digital marketing solutions are customized to suit the needs of your business. Give us a call at (800) 649-1764 or contact us online to schedule a free consultation and website evaluation.