If you want to increase your ranking in search results and drive more organic traffic to your site, you need to pay attention to backlinks.
While often overlooked, backlinks are a vital part of your SEO strategy.
What Are Backlinks?
When a third-party webpage links to a page on your site, that’s a backlink. Links between websites make it possible for internet users to find related and supporting content from around the web; they also help search engines to determine the quality and trustworthiness of a webpage.
The trick is in getting others to link back to your content so you get all that SEO juice. It takes real commitment to backlinking to see results. But if you understand just how big the payoff is, it’s a no-brainer investment.
Why They Matter
1. Backlinks Improve Your Ranking
Back in 2016, Google confirmed that backlinks are one of the most important search engine ranking factors. Read that again. If a page receives a backlink from a high-authority third-party website, search engines see the link as a vote for the site’s trustworthiness.
Backlinko conducted an extensive study of Google ranking factors, confirming that a higher number of these links correlates with a higher position in the search engine results page (SERP).
2. Google Uses Backlinks to Index Webpages
Google uses links to find and index new pages on the internet. If you publish a new piece of content or launch a new site, the Google spiders follow links on existing websites to find and index your webpages.
You can index your site quicker by getting high-quality backlinks from trusted third-party websites.
3. Backlinks Boost Website Credibility
Getting mentions and links from high authority websites can help to boost the credibility of your business.
How many times have you visited a website and seen a section of the homepage that looks like this?
Backlinks from relevant authority sites can position your business as a respected source of information in your niche. If people trust you, they’re more likely to purchase your products and services.
4. Backlinks Drive Relevant Traffic to Your Site
Search engines use backlinks as a ranking factor, but the primary purpose of links hasn’t changed. They are a navigational tool to help people move between different sites on the web.
They take people from website A to website B.
Backlinks bring people from other websites to your site. A backlink on a well-respected and high-traffic domain can drive tons of relevant traffic to your site.
What Are High-Quality Backlinks?
When Google rolled out the Penguin update back in 2012, the SEO value of backlinks changed. The number your website has is less important than the relevance and authority of the linking sites.
Loads of links from low-quality sites can actually harm your ranking in search results. If you have a website about apples, backlinks from a technology blog won’t offer much SEO value. But a link to your content from a big fruit publication or respected farming association will mean huge traffic flow and a big SEO boost.
Backlinks from relevant, high-authority domains offer the most SEO value.
Are They Worth the Effort? (Top Strategies Compared)
Now you know why backlinks are important, but are they worth the time and effort they take to build?
Regularly publishing high-quality long-form content and guest posting are two of the most effective strategies for link building. If you want to know more about the tactics you can use to get backlinks, check out our previous post here.
On average, long-form content generates 77.2% more backlinks than short articles, and companies that blog receive 97% more backlinks than companies that don’t. But both of these strategies require a lot of work, so are backlinks worth the effort?
Link building is a compounding SEO strategy. It’s a long-term strategy where every backlink you gain increases the chances of your site ranking higher in the SERP. The benefits multiply over time.
That’s not to say that you can’t achieve short term wins. A single backlink from a high traffic authority website can result in a significant increase in organic traffic.
When you have more backlinks than your competitors and improve your search ranking, you’ll get much more value from your link building campaign than you put in. Research from HubSpot shows that 75% of people don’t look beyond the first page of search results.
The Overlooked Solution
If you want to rank on the first page of Google for your target keywords, you need to pay attention to backlinks. They form a key part of SEO best practices. And because so few other brands and businesses are taking advantage of this powerful strategy, you can leapfrog past the competition if you’re willing to make the investment.
Remember:
- Backlinks are a key search engine ranking factor.
- Google uses backlinks to find and index your site.
- Backlinks boost your business credibility.
- Links from high-traffic sites can stream loads of qualified traffic straight to your website.
- It’s easy to outsource link building to a quality communications or digital marketing firm.
If you commit to building links from relevant high authority websites in your niche, you will see a lift in your ranking and increased traffic over the long term. It’s simply a question of whether you’re ready to turn it on!
What did you think about our take on back links? Leave us a comment!
