Why are backlinks so important for SEO?
In the world of digital SEO, there are many different tools and strategies for boosting your site’s SEO so you’ll gain more online visibility. An effective SEO and marketing plan will incorporate many of these options, including high-quality content, solid site security, fast page speed, and much more. But one of the core rules for quality SEO is a long-standing one: ensuring you have authoritative and trustworthy backlinks.
But for someone new to SEO, you may not even be sure what a backlink is. But don’t worry—we’re here to help. Here, we’re taking a closer look into the world of SEO and focusing on backlinks. We review what they are, why your site needs them, and some strategies for getting more quality backlinks.
What are backlinks?
Also known as inbound links or one-way links, backlinks are simply a link from one website to another. When you click the link, you’ll jump to the new site or it will open in another window. Generally, a backlink is in place to offer more information on a certain topic or to refer back to the original author or source of some piece of information. Backlinks are different from internal links in that they take you to a new site altogether. Internal links on pages simply take you from one page on that domain to another, such as jumping between a homepage and a “contact us” page or a blog.
Why are backlinks so important?
So why are these seemingly simple hyperlinks so important for SEO and search engines? Well, essentially, a helpful way to think about backlinks is to look at them as a seal of approval or vote of confidence from one website to the other.
Backlinks function as a signal to search engines that the content on your pages is valued by these other sites. Because, after all, you wouldn’t risk linking your page to another if you didn’t trust the site or its content. Thus, the value of backlinks is determined by both quantity and quality. Having a lot of backlinks signals to search engines that many different pages are interested in your work. But if they’re all low-quality or “spammy,” this can actually have the opposite effect and hurt your site. Thus, you want to make sure you’re only linking to high-quality, trustworthy sites while also striving to get your own links to quality sites.
How do I get more backlinks?
Getting more (and high quality) backlinks is an essential component of good SEO. The primary method for creating backlinks is through a process known as link building. Link building is a method of creating links between your site and another publication. This includes outreach where you’ll request to have a piece of content published on their site (generally news or niche interest sites) in exchange for a payment, or at times, a backlink for their site. Thus, when web users are browsing their site, they may read your piece of content or post, click the link, and then have the chance to explore your page.
Additionally, you can also gain backlinks in other ways. Two common ways are posting on message boards (but not spamming) and making a guest post on a blog or news site that includes valuable information for that audience.
Conclusion – why are backlinks so important for SEO?
Backlinks function as a way to let search engines know that other sites value and appreciate your content. They work as a badge of approval between sites, and the more sites that value your pages, the better your SEO can be boosted by these simple hyperlinks.
