What is backlinking? Why does it matter?
Google search for the main topic of your website. Does your website pop up on the first five links? What about the first ten links? If not, it’s time to start utilizing backlinking – NOW.
Websites use backlinking to generate organic clicks to increase the number of views and engagement on a site. Backlinks are also used by search engines such as Google to determine domain authority. They serve as a way for one website to prove confidence in another.
The SEO Benefits of Backlinking
For clients to find a website, it must have high search visibility, where backlinking can come in handy. When searching for a product or service on Google, the greater the number of clicks and confidence, the higher the site’s list will stand. The goal of each website is to be that number one link on Google. Backlinking acts as a voucher for confidence in a website that triggers the search engine to recognize the site as trustworthy.
Quantity vs. Quality Backlinks
Neil Patel, an expert on Search Engine Optimization, explains whether the number of backlinks or the backlinks’ quality is better for your website. There are pros and cons to both quantity and quality of higher or lower domain authority websites. The graphic above illustrates these points:
- The more low domain authority sites that use your website’s links, the better, but ultimately the value of engagement is lacking.
- The higher engagement traffic is preferred, but they come from more challenging high domain authority sites.
Patel concludes that it is not a situation where you have to pick one or the other; instead, find the happy medium between the two. As every website is unique, their backlinking situation will be unique as well.
Domain Authority
Domain authority is critical to backlinking. Essentially, domain authority is how websites are analyzed to determine their relevance to a subject, impacting the site’s rankings on search engines. If a website is on a site with high domain authority, it would be a high-quality backlink. This would serve as a way for the website to gain interaction or clicks and increase the site’s organic growth.
Backlinking onto a high domain authority website is a challenging task. A site with high domain authority has already been perceived as a reliable source, and backlinking to a different website would mean that it is also reliable. The two sites must have something in common because Google uses an algorithm to determine if they are related. The algorithm then filters out websites with a lack of relation to provide individuals with the best search results.
Gaining links from sites with high domain authority increases the number of clicks your website receives because it gives search engines confidence that your site is delivering quality content. Over time as your website grows and the number of backlinks increase, so will your domain authority.
The Different Types of Backlinks
There are a variety of backlinks that will connect your website to another. They include:
Natural links
Natural links are unique because they are organic. The site owner does not ask to be linked; instead, the author of the article linking to your website is confident enough in the material that they organically decide to link to it.
Manual links
With manual links, the backlinking is due to a request of some sort. These requests are considered link earning activities that can be your site requesting a link or another website reaching out to you hoping to gain a backlink.
Self-created links
Self-created links are tags in the comment section on a blog post or a social media post, which are the easiest type of backlinks to create but are challenging not to get flagged with “no follow” tags. These types of links will generate no benefit to your website on most blogs and social media outlets.
Backlinking is Essential
As you can see, backlinking is an essential tool for search engine optimization because it proves confidence in a website and its content. It can be used as a mutually beneficial device for sites to boost clicks and engagement. There are different types to choose from, but all can help a website grow organically. While there are positives and negatives to having many websites backlinking to your site and benefits to having only a few high-quality websites backlinking to your site, the best way to receive the most valuable organic growth is through a combination of both.
To optimize backlinking for your website today, reach out to [email protected].
Imagine what the increased engagement and views can do for your business when you are one of the top results on Google!
