Backlinks? How do we build them?
Link building is the process of gaining new backlinks to your website through social sharing, content creation, public relations, promotion, and outreach.
The purpose of link building is simple, it’s to improve the reach and footprint of your site by appearing on relevant and authoritative sites. This not only brings traffic from the site where the link that was built but more importantly improves your site’s authority by association.
When other websites link to your website, it helps your SEO.
Link building can be as simple as sending a message to a blogger asking them to share a topically-relevant page with their audience, or can be as complex as building a 50-page guide that gets shared over social media and industry sites.
So.. What even is a backlink?
A backlink is a link that exists on another website and leads back to your site. All backlinks (and all links in general) have 4 parts, which help the reader and search engine answer 4 distinct questions:
Anchor text, the text that is clickable and, hopefully, gives the user some context around what they’re about to click. (Example: “the services Honest London offer”)
URL, or the destination the visitor will go when the link is clicked, is where you want people to visit.
Linking Page is the referrer, which describes who is sending you to the URL
Context is why the link is on this particular page.
The copy and links make sense to the reader, and anyone who clicks any of the links knows what to expect. This page is on a reputable site, linking to another reputable site, is well cited, and has measurable value to both a reader & a search engine, thus tends to perform well in search.
On the other hand, be careful not to provide low-quality links embedded in spammy text. Here’s an example:
The anchor text consists of short, specific keywords, the copy is unintelligible to a human reader, and the URLs all point to the same keyword-heavy domain name. This type of link spam is easily caught by most search engines, and the offending page is typically penalised or simply not included in the index. (That’s bad FYI.)
Why are backlinks important?
Backlinks are considered a “vote of confidence” from one website to another, and pass authority from the referring site to the referred site. Pursue links from other reputable sites, such as newspapers, industry magazines, experts in your field, or other local or industry-specific webpages, and avoid building backlinks on low quality, spammy, or irrelevant sites.
A great backlink profile, with links from a myriad of trusted sites, will drive a site higher on the search engine results page, as search engines use backlink profiles as a way of determining the legitimacy of a website (or page).
In short, backlinks tell Google’s algorithms that you’re the real deal and that you’re putting good content onto the Internet. So it wants to help more people find you.
How should I build links?
There are a huge amount of ways to earn and build quality backlinks to your site, so select link building tactics that match with your company goals and available resources. Here are a few suggestions to get you started:
Publish a case study
Explain how you helped a client/customer solve a problem. Reach out to the company right after you publish, and ask them to share it on their blog, social media, or on their site.
Most companies would love the opportunity to be featured, and would gladly oblige.
Publish a how-to guide
Teach others how to solve a problem in your industry. Promote it to an audience of people within your industry, and send it to industry bloggers, writers, and journalists.
Find broken links
Ideally, find them on an industry-relevant website, and message the webmaster. Suggest pages from your site instead.
Be a resource for students
Looking for interns? Have a scholarship? Reach out to local universities and let them know about your opportunity. They’ll be glad to post it in their student resources page.
Find local directories
Submit your site manually. People use all sorts of resources to find new business, and being visible on high-quality and relevant directories will increase your chances of being found.
Appear in every relevant directory
Completely fill out your profiles on various industry sites. Include your link, phone number, descriptions, and any other relevant information. Many people neglect this step, which can be a great opportunity for visibility.
Answer questions on Q&A sites
We love sites like Quora. When people search for a problem they’re having, your answer is there, along with a link to find out more information.
Reach out to influencers
Focus on people discussing a topic in your industry. Many times, they’ll be glad to share your post with their audiences, if the content is worthwhile.
What link building approaches should I avoid?
Comment spam
Adding your link to the comments section of random sites will do little to help your business, and will hurt it in the long run. While the quantity of links can help a site, quality links do all the heavy lifting work. A link in a featured story from a great news site is worth millions of low-quality comment links. In addition, due to spammers overusing this approach, many comments automatically add no-follow tags to links, preventing them from benefiting your site at all.
Low-quality directories
There are services out there that will add your website to hundreds of directory sites. Most of these are low-quality rarely-visited websites, which do nothing to improve your own website’s visibility. While it may seem like a bargain, your funds would be better spent on:
Improving your local listings
Writing better content
Or even improving your website