When talking about SEO in general, you can be sure that backlinks will be part of the conversation. Backlinks are one of the most important ranking factors when it comes to search results. In essence, if you could have two similar pages on the web, those with more backlinks of the same quality would more than likely rank higher.
Search engines like Google continuously refine their algorithms and ranking metrics to give users the best search results. Regardless, the fundamentals of having good quality backlinks, with authority, relevance, and trust, consistently play significant roles in search ranking results.
The Importance of Backlinks
A simple analysis of websites clearly shows a considerable advantage for sites with more backlinks. Most people give this metric the tag, authority.
The name is quite fitting, considering a backlink is a show of confidence to the page being linked to. Since search engines like Google can’t decipher all the content on a page, they heavily rely on links.
However, it’s almost hopeless to try to trick search engines these days with black hat methods of driving traffic to your pages. All of them reward natural backlinks and punish black hat methods of SEO.
Visit this page to see how search engines such as Amazon need organic and quality traffic to scale a product’s ranking.
Google Follow Backlinks to Find New Pages
Search engines use bots to crawl through pages on your site by following backlinks on individual pages. Google uses spiders to move from one page to the next, forming relations and mapping pages within and without your website through their links. The anchor text’s words also help the search engine interpret what is being linked to, increasing the pages ranking for particular keyword/s.
The more backlinks that your page has, the higher the chance of it being spotted and given relevance by the bots. Google’s bots give sites with more links a higher priority when it comes to indexing their pages. Page value is usually a combo of link value and authority. This measure is quite reasonable since many people are probably already querying authoritative sites. Therefore, Google spiders are always lurking on such websites.
Most search engines find no use in indexing pages with low value, as it clutters the index. For Google’s algorithm to give your site priority, ensure that your pages frequently get high-quality and relevant backlinks.
Google Use Backlinks to See If You’re Popular
More backlinks show search engines that your site has more trustworthiness. This trust also catches on to the end-user. For example, Google looks at not only the quantity but the quality of backlinks pointing to your site.
In turn, its algorithm can determine if the links are legitimate, based on history, and the linking domain’s authority. Obviously, the algorithm is more complicated than that, but that’s just a fundamental part of it.
Google and other search engines assume that links received are legitimate endorsements to your websites page being a great and relevant resource. The value of the backlink is diminished if Google’s elaborate algorithm finds out that you are compensating those linking to you,
Relevant Backlink Improve Your Niche Credibility
The key to improving credibility is getting endorsements from other websites with their backlink. A backlink is essentially a vote of confidence in your web content. However, each backlink does not carry the same weight or power. Sites with higher ranking or authority help smaller sites show up in search results. Google relies on links to show its algorithm, which niche your site is in, and how laudable it is.
Links from non-relevant sites are of little to no good. Sometimes, shady links can even make google ranking algorithm overlook your site or penalize you. Links originating from pages or websites of a similar niche or related topic to yours are worth more than those from sites on an unrelated subject. If you get a keyword/s continually being referred to your website, then you’ll steadily rank for the term if your competition is slacking.
Seek for backlinks from already ranking sites that are relevant to your niche. You can do this by looking at targeted keywords, and looking at the sites ranking for the terms. Actively reach out to those website owners or influences in your niche. Links from ranking sites will give your website more credibility in the eyes of regular users and search engines. Both search engines and end users will also believe in your content since they were referred to your page from a site, they already trust.
Quality Backlink Drive Traffic to Your Business
Therefore, it would be in your best interest to get links from sites that rank as well. If a site ranks well, it means that Google already trusts their credibility and those they are linking to as well.
Referral traffic from other sites is quite valuable because users are more likely to convert after clicking the backlink. Your content must be of quality as well. With outstanding content and products, you can step back and worry about promotion rather than link building, which should come naturally to your site. Ensure that your website is crawler friendly and optimized for search engine’s bots to navigate through.
Become a regular contributor or guest posts to high authority sites to get repeated links from them with ongoing posts. Try to add links to your site from varied websites, rather than exhaust a few sources. If you only get backlinks from a cluster of sites, then most search engines might see this as some manipulation leading to the penalization of your website.
You could reach out to national or local media sites, university sites with programs related to your niche, or any other relevant website. Search engines regularly tweak their algorithms, and the value of a single site referring to you might lose some value. You wouldn’t want to go down with a few partners, making diversity in the sources of your links relevant to your niche all that more important.
I am a UK tech blogger and have been in the industry for over 10 years now, running Mighty Gadget and its sister sites and contributing to other sites around the web. I am passionate about all tech, including mobile, wearables, and home automation. I am also a fitness fanatic, so I cover as much fitness tech as possible.