How do you build backlinks?

Introduction

Are you fed-up with your company droning on about backlinks? Well to be fair most seo companies keep telling their clients that they need more backlinks for a good reason.

That reason is that backlinks are really important to the SEO process, the reason that is so is there’s thought to be over 200 signals that Google calculates in order to work out how important a website is.

And that’s right you guessed it! Backlinks are thought to be one of the more important signals, so this is why agencies spend so long building backlinks.

 

Okay, well I don’t know what backlinks are!

Well simply put backlinks can be internal backlinks, or they can be external.

Internal backlinks are used to help someone navigate your company’s website that bit easier. So, lets say for example you have an interior design blog, and you mention the term “farmhouse kitchen”- well you may think I have written about that before, in which case you could link to that page, that’s an example of an internal backlink.

Then there’s external backlinks, and from an SEO perspective these are the important ones, that’s because if the links you are building are high-quality, well you could be sending a lot of link juice to your website, and that’s right, that is really good for your business’s SEO.

So now you know a thing or two about backlinks, lets look at why they are so blooming important!

 

Why are backlinks so important?

Backlinks are important because they can give an idea of how important your website is.

Let’s provide you with an example, let’s say there are two websites, and both businesses specialise in employment law.

Now website 1 only has a few links, these are from local business directory websites, so from an seo perspective these links are not worth much.

Then there’s business number 2, this business has links from some really important websites, for example there are employment law news websites, these are respected by solicitors as a great place to get news on the employment law profession.

So which website do you think Google will deem as being more important?

That’s right! Business 2, as it has loads of good quality backlinks leading to it!

 

Okay, so what does link juice mean?

Think of link juice in the same way you would an electrical current, the more link juice the more power.

But here’s the thing, you don’t want link juice to come from low quality websites, for example a blog that asks for money in exchange for a backlink.

No, you want links from high quality websites, plus the websites must be relevant to what you do.

So for example, let’s say you are a dentist, and you run a dental practice, well you don’t want to be getting a backlink from a rugby club, you want backlinks that are to do with dentistry.

 

Does my business require “do-follow” or “no-follow” backlinks?

Both really. You may here some digital marketing agencies banging on about that you only need do-follow backlinks, but this isn’t true.

For those that do not know, do-follow links pass link juice, and no-follow backlinks do not. With that said most seo including us believe that for the backlink profile to look natural, well you need no-follow and you also need some do follow backlinks as well.

Now we know what your thinking, your thinking why do my backlinks need to look natural?

Well, here’s the thing, if you have 100 do-follow backlinks, and no no-follow, well it may look like you have bought the links, which is not good, as our seo agency recommends that you do not purchase backlinks.

So you want some do-follow and some no-follow backlinks.

 

Okay, so the more backlinks the better?

No. The more elaborate answer to that is this, you most definitely don’t want more backlinks if it comes at the cost of quality.

You only want quality backlinks.

 

What was the Google Penguin update all about?

If backlinks were built incorrectly, i.e low quality backlinks were built, well the website could incur a penalty.

For example, some businesses thought that they could fool Google into thinking their website was better than it was, that’s by purchasing backlinks, yet if the backlinks were low quality then this means the business will have most likely incurred a penalty.

 

So, sock it to me, what’s the best way to build backlinks?

This is the really important part, so listen up!

We think the best way to build backlinks is not to go looking for websites to contact, and then asking them for links.

We think the best way is to create simply brilliant content marketing. And what do we mean by brilliant content marketing? 

Well, lets say you are a dentist, and you want to promote your teeth straightening service, well we think you should write the best guide that you can explaining how your dental practice straightens teeth.

So for example, you could answer questions that your customers frequently ask, and when we say write, you don’t just have to use plain old text, no, you could use say a YouTube video within the blog post for example.

And here’s the thing, if the work is really good quality, and offers really good advice, well other websites may wish to link to the work.

So for example, a website that offers advice on how to look after your teeth may read your blog post and decide to link to it.

If your business requires help with your organic or local seo then we can help, why not call us today?