Learning SEO takes time, patience and passion – if you have those three criteria then you’ll be in a good place for 2022 with your SEO endeavors.

In this post we will take a look at one important aspect of SEO – that is – the art of linkbuilding.

In other posts I’ve outlined an introduction to what we mean by “backlinks” and I’ve even discussed ways to on how to get links to your website, but in this post I’ll explore the continued importance and getting backlinks to your site.

What Are Backlinks?

Backlinks (also known as “inbound links,” “incoming links,” – often abbreviated as “IBL” or “one-way links”) are links that go from one website page to another website page. Backlinks are regarded by Google as “votes” for a page by all the major search engines.

The important point is this: organic search engine results tend to favor pages having a large number of backlinks.

Links to a page on your website from websites other than your own.

Backlinks are also known as inbound links since they indicate traffic from another website that is directed to your own. Backlinks of varying quality and number might help you rank better in search engines like Google and Bing.

Google SEO Metrics Continue To Favor Backlinks

Backlinks are vital for SEO since they tell Google that your content is valuable enough for them to link to it from their own site. As a website accumulates more backlinks, search engines deduce that it has excellent material worthy of high rankings in the SERPs.

The lifeblood of search engine optimization is backlinks.

The most important ranking variables, according to most SEO professionals, are backlinks and content relevancy. Backlinks, on the other hand, are not all created equal. When it comes to SEO, the quality of the backlink is the most important factor. In fact, suffocating your website with low-quality backlinks might impede your success. So, how can you find and build high-quality backlinks? What’s more essential, how do you avoid the bad ones? This blog will show you how.

Several metrics are used by search engines like Google to assess the quality of backlinks. Although these requirements are not overtly stated for everyone to see, they may be divided into three categories:

• Relevance
• Trust
• Authority

Let’s take a look at these in turn…

Topical Relevancy

When you type a search query into a search engine, you want the most relevant results to appear first. This is Google’s and other search engines’ primary goal. They must continue to provide the most relevant results to their users in order for their audience to expand and return. As a result, it makes sense for them to use relevance as a link quality criterion.

Backlinks from relevant sources are the most valuable. An inbound link created from a pharmaceutical website, for example, will be deemed more relevant than a link generated from an online apparel store if you run a health and wellness website. However, you should keep in mind that it’s not so straightforward; there are a number of additional elements to consider, but hopefully you get the concept.

Visitors are more inclined to click on links that are related to the content of a website. Anyone interested in learning more about a dentist’s services (for example) will probably want to look into some treatment options as well. As a result, they will click on a link from a dentist directory website.

The point I am making here is one of topical relevancy.

Trust (Flow)

Google and other search engines have methods for determining a website’s credibility. Backlinks from websites that are trusted by search engines are considered good. Search engines, according to SEO professionals, evaluate a network of reputable websites to decide whether or not a domain can be trusted. The main notion is that websites that are closely related to this trusted group may be trusted.

The amount of links between a specified domain and a reputable website is used to determine how close they are. As a result, if you want your website to rank better on Google, you’ll need a lot of backlinks from well-known sources.

Keyword-Rich Anchor Text

While creating keyword-rich anchor text is a smart idea, don’t go overboard. Google has measures in place to identify websites that employ black hat link-building and SEO techniques. Penguin, a software update, is one such approach. This Google update was released in 2012, and its main purpose is to prevent websites from manipulating their search results through links, both in terms of quality and other aspects. Having an excessive number of links with keywords connecting back is unnatural and may result in a penalty or low results.

Authority

Tools are the best way to gauge authority. For example, Open Site Explorer can estimate domain authority on a 100-point algorithmic scale.

High-quality links are those that originate from websites with a lot of authority. When a high-authority website links to yours, Google gives it a lot of weight, and you’ll almost certainly see an increase in organic search traffic.

When you think about it, it makes a lot of sense. Would you appreciate a link from a random unknown website more than a backlink from the SCMP, for example? Search engines, it turns out, function in the same manner. The greater the authority of a website, the greater the influence of its backlink on your site. As a result, you should try to obtain backlinks from high-authority websites.

Do-Follow vs. No-Follow Status

HTML code may be used to make a link “do follow” or “no follow” when it is added to a website. To examine backlinks and determine their SEO worth, use link signal search engines. No-follow links, on the other hand, tell search engines to disregard backlinks and hence have little or no SEO value.

Do-follow links are more beneficial for SEO since they give positive signals to search engines. As a result, your links should be coded as do-follow. A no-follow link, on the other hand, may still be able to drive visitors to your website. No-follow links should not be dismissed because a natural link profile has a mix of both.

On-Site Link Location

Websites are divided into many areas. The link value is related to the webpage area where it is posted in some way.

Backlinks with a high value are frequently found inside a website’s primary body text. Search engines may not see links placed in the page’s header, footer, or sidebar as extremely important. When building backlinks, keep this in mind at all times.

The Most Beneficial Backlinks

Let’s look at one of the greatest backlinks in SEO now that we’ve gone over what defines a high-value backlink.

Editorial Backlinks

Some of the most valuable SEO backlinks are those that originate from editorial references in reputable publications. This occurs when a high-quality piece of content on another website refers to and connects to your website.

The following are examples of an editorial links:

• Citing a piece of content on your website as a possible source of information
• Referring a visitor to your site for further reading
• Citing your site as the source of an info graphic
• Listing your website, resource or article on your website in a roundup

In Summary

To summarize, the relevancy, authority, and trustworthiness of a backlink, as well as the content that is used to link back, among other aspects, determine whether it is considered high-quality. Building ad hoc connections is unlikely to have a substantial impact on the performance of a website.

A consistent supply of high-quality links with a variety of anchor text is essential for achieving high rankings. As a result, SEO Freelancers or agencies are frequently enlisted to complete this task since they have a large network of connections and resources that enable them to offer the volume and authority of links necessary to rank for competitive keywords.