Backlinks’ Importance: How They Can Help You Build Authority

If you've been looking for ways to boost your web traffic and improve your search engine ranking, many strategies can help you.

You may be familiar with SEO and how it can help your website rank higher in search engine result pages. But, SEO is complex, and it can be hard to understand each ranking factor that influences where your website appears on SERPs. 

One of those factors is building backlinks, otherwise known as link building.

To understand backlinks’ importance for a successful SEO strategy, let’s talk more about what they are.

Backlinks include any incoming link that directs visitors to a page on your website from an outside website. They are a crucial component of SEO because they help Google in understanding which pages are most relevant for specific queries.

Search engines consider that a website's content is worthy of linking when numerous websites link to the same web page. 

Backlinks are part of how search engines assess the authority and relevancy of your website for particular search queries. Therefore, building quality backlinks can increase your website's traffic, search engine visibility, and revenue.

Google's search engine algorithm employs a weighted point system known as PageRank, and backlinks are one of its key ranking factors. 

Backlinks are not created equal, and to rank high on SERPs, you must focus on obtaining high-quality backlinks.

SEO agencies encourage all business owners to incorporate link-building into their online marketing strategy. With the majority of businesses moving online, you should invest in the best strategies to make it easier for your customers to find you online.

Backlinks are used in search engine rankings to determine where a specific webpage ranks in the results. Google interprets backlinks as a vote of confidence from other websites. In general, the more websites that link to you, the higher your ranking.

Backlinks are also important because they help people discover your content. This results in ranking high in organic listings.

Search engines use backlinks to determine how popular a page is. Because popular pages are crawled more than unpopular pages, gaining links from popular websites can enable search engines to find and index your pages faster.

Through referral traffic, backlinking may provide you with more website visitors. People who read a popular website may click on your backlinks.

Backlinks also help to raise brand awareness on the internet. You can increase brand awareness by reaching the visitors of other websites, by gaining backlinks from authoritative websites.

Backlinks, like most aspects of SEO, are not one-size-fits-all. 

While there are bad backlinks, understanding the characteristics of a good backlink can help you develop the best backlinking strategy. 

Backlinks that are relevant, authoritative, and bring referral traffic to your website are the best. Let’s see why.

Your backlinks should be on sites or pages related to the page you're sharing. If you sell cat products, for example, you can look for backlinking opportunities on cat blogs. Readers of a cat blog are more likely than readers of a beauty blog to click your link.

The trustworthiness of the site is another factor that contributes to a high-quality backlink. One of the benefits of the internet today is that anyone can publish their work; yet, not every source is trustworthy, especially if you need quality links.

High-quality websites have more "authority backlinks" and provide more value link equity than low-quality websites.

Search engines use quality links to label your page as authoritative. Search engines value links from other high-quality websites to websites with great content.

The type of backlink also has an impact on how beneficial it is to your website. Backlinks are classified into two types: dofollow and nofollow.

Nofollow links do not pass as much information as followed links, but they do allow you to build up a high domain rating and they can help you improve your backlink profile. 

A nofollow link from a high-authority site with a lot of traffic can be as beneficial (if not more so) as a follow link from a low-authority site.

Follow links function similarly to nofollow links, but they differ in that they pass link juice. When your site is regarded as an authoritative source, a website will include a follow link to inform Google about where they obtained a specific piece of information.

For example, if you conduct a survey and another site wants to include the findings in a piece of content, they would write "a recent survey revealed X" with a link to the page on your site.

Anchor text refers to the clickable words or visible characters that comprise a backlink. These are words or phrases that are usually highlighted in blue as hyperlinks.

Google claims that anchor text influences rankings. A keyword that captures the topic of the page is an exact match anchor text.

It is best to avoid manipulative or unnatural links, which have the potential to harm your website's rankings. What makes these types of backlinks deceptive is that they appear natural, but what they're doing is harming your Google ranking.

When a search engine detects spammy backlinks in your link profile, it devalues the pages from which these links originate, resulting in decreased visibility and rankings for your site.

While backlinks help improve page and domain authority, internal linking can help search engines understand your website's structure and the importance of various pages. 

However, when attempting to improve your rankings, there is a third type of link to always consider: external links. 

External linking is when your site links to another site. While it may appear that these links direct visitors away from your page, they can actually be beneficial for SEO.

External linking can boost your credibility by allowing you to cite sources and provide links for references, while also assisting search engines in determining the relevance and usefulness of your pages.

While backlinking is required if you want your site to rank high in search engines, it can be harmful if done incorrectly. 

Google and other search engines have specific guidelines for earning backlinks. Collecting backlinks that violate Google's rules can have a negative impact on your entire SEO strategy, causing your rankings to fall.

Search engines consider excessive backlink building to be spammy. 

Gaining an excessive number of backlinks in a short period of time may lead search engines to believe you are using SEO black hat tactics. These toxic backlinks may all have the same anchor text or originate from websites with low trust scores.

While SEO backlinks are an important ranking factor, they are not the only ranking factor. 

Your web pages won't rank for your target keywords if you spend too much time creating backlinks and not enough time creating high-quality content for your website.

Backlinking takes time, and many people who attempt to do it on their own run into many low-quality websites, which may have the opposite effect on your rankings. Rather, you should seek high-quality backlinks from authoritative and popular websites. 

Your backlink strategy will only be as good as your business partners. So, look for ways to collaborate with reputable agencies to support your marketing strategy and create partnerships with like-minded businesses and industries.

Backlink analysis is useful for planning websites and assessing links to competing websites. 

Through Google Search Console, you can learn how many backlinks your websites receive. You can also use it to see how your link profile looks without revealing your competitors. 

To search for links on websites other than your own, you can also use an online backlink checker like Ahrefs or Semrush. These tools can provide you with detailed information about each link, enabling you to spot unnatural links pointing to your own website.

For example, if you are linked to from a site that appears to be spammy and examine its backlink profile, you can determine whether the site is likely to be part of a Public Blog Network. 

These are the types of links you want to avoid, and you can remove them by using Google Search Console's disavow tool.

It's challenging to set yourself up for success. When it comes to SEO, having a strong web presence is essential. Google's algorithm has evolved to rank link quality over link quantity. As a result of the high level of competition in the online marketplace, it is critical for businesses to seek professional help when looking to build links to boost SEO.