What are backlinks and what does backlinkbuilding mean?
The link that links to your website is a backlink for you. You can compare backlinks with recommendation, because a backlink refers to or "recommends" your website and your content. The more websites recommend you, the more interesting you are for Google.
Types of links
Basically, there are two types of links - those that concern your own site and backlinks. On the one hand there are the internal links. This means that your own website is linked into each other and the user can shimmy from one page to the next. These are also called inbound links - inbound links are recommended for your own content. On the other hand, there are external links on your page, and that is when you link to other websites with your website. For the other website, this link is then a backlink - and so we come to the third category.
If another website links to your website, for example because of a product recommendation or because you have written content for this page, then this is called a backlink. The website recommends your content and can bring the user with the link to your website.
The totality of all links and backlinks of a domain is called a link profile in the SEO industry. A good link profile consists of many internal links, few external links and high-quality backlinks. If you yourself give few recommendations, but many refer to you, then this is a sign for the search engines that you are the expert in this field - This will make your domain rank higher and appear further in front.
Relevance of links and backlinks
At SEO-Backlinks have a great relevance in the Google ranking, because backlinks are also connected with the Google ranking. Even though the Google algorithm is generally a well-kept secret, we still know some factors - one of the crucial points are the backlinks.
In the past, you could simply buy links - who had the certain small change for it available, could bring his website with it quite forward. But for Google, user satisfaction is at the top and thus the quality of the website is very important to them. Since the Google Penguin update in April 2012, this is no longer possible - this is a so-called "spam filter". It is integrated into the core algorithm and runs in real time. Bought backlinks are a clear violation of the rules and both sides are punished by Google. There must be a natural progression of backlinks - Too many at once, can be considered a manipulation attempt by Google and these are not recognized.
The right strategy in link building has become all the more important for Google's ranking - And in the SEO field, a very costly but necessary step to stay competitive in the long run.
Advantages of link building
The goal of link building in SEO is clear - a higher ranking in search engines. A strong link building gives Google in several respects a good reason to rank a particular website better:
- Many recommendations (backlinks) to your page, Google recognizes as relevant and important.
- Internal linking leads to Google also noticing your subpages better and thus also ranking certain keywords better.
- Your domain builds more credibility and trust, gets stronger and that leads to better ranking.
- Through targeted backlink building, you can bring traffic from the right target audience to your site faster.
From today's point of view, link building is indispensable and must not be neglected in search engine optimization.
Backlinkbuilding - Quality before quantity
The quality of backlinks is crucial, not the quantity of backlinks. There are a large number of factors that make up a good backlink:
- The strength and trust of the domain are relevant - the stronger and more trustworthy the domains of the websites linking to your website, the higher quality the backlinks.
- The positioning of the backlinks on the page also illustrate the importance of the links - Is the link in the footer or on the home page?
- But not only the position, but also whether this link stands out by font color and size is evaluated by the search engines.
- What kind of rel attributes the backlink has, also has a high value - In the best case this should always be on "follow".
- Google recognizes whether the web pages that link to each other also thematically fit together. This should always be given, because otherwise it may be that the Google algorithm suspects abuse and punishes this.
- The fewer backlinks a page gives, the unique and high-quality this is to be valued for Google. Therefore, it is better to also put a focus on it.
- The right anchor text or a mix of these is also relevant for the weighting of a backlink. A natural linking results in a mix of the brand name, the title of an article or "click here", etc. Keyword-optimized. Commercial anchor texts are a violation of Google guidelines.
- The greatest priority is given to the links set editorially - Here the search engines assume that no manipulation has taken place.
Backlink building strategies
Nobody knows exactly how the search engine algorithm works - one SEO strategy works for one person, but not for another. It's the same with backlink building - there is no one perfect strategy. But there are clues that have stood the test of time.
Starting point
All beginnings are difficult, but also doable. The approach differs for new or existing websites.
Registration in company directories of a new website
Have you just put your website online, then the first step is to register your company, as well as your website in all trustworthy Company directories. This supports you on the one hand in marketing and that you are found and on the other hand generate company directories also backlinks. So you collect a lot of backlinks from the beginning, which can push your domain. This saves time and gives you a push in the right direction.
Analysis of an existing domain for backlinks
Therefore, it is important to find out how the status quo is, especially at the beginning. There are different tools, such as XOVI, which you can use to perform a backlink analysis. Here your current backlinks are displayed. It is important here to recognize which backlinks are really high quality or which may even harm you - These should be removed immediately.
This way, you can also find out which already generated backlinks you have lost over the years and may be able to regain them.
Competitor analysis of the backlinks
Analyzing your competitors can also give you a great advantage. The same principle applies here - Find out which are the high-quality links and try to place one there as well.
Possible strategy approaches for new backlinks
Once the starting signal has been given, it is time to pursue new strategies.
- Provide high quality content
Are you an expert in your field? Then put it on paper - online - and create your own blog. If users appreciate the value of the content, then this page will also be linked on other websites.
- Expert interviews for industry-specific online magazines
If you are an expert in your field, you can also contact industry-relevant online newspapers and have your online presence as an expert.
- Links from existing brand mentions
If your product has been on the market for a while, it may well be that several websites have already reported on you or your product, but no link has been generated. This can often be changed with little effort.
- Writing guest articles for someone else's blog
But you can also write to other operators who run blogs relevant to the topic and offer them a well-written guest article with a new and interesting content.
- Job postings
Job postings and a link in online job boards are also a way to generate backlinks and especially interesting for larger companies. A separate subpage for internal jobs on the domain also offers a possibility to get backlinks by publishing the job postings and the appropriate link.
- Cooperation partner
If you have cooperation partners, you can also ask them to create a link to your website.
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Backlink building is one of the most time-consuming tasks in SEO, but is one of the most important ranking factors next to the right content on the web pages. So it definitely pays off to invest time in backlinks! |
