What is a backlink?
A backlink is a hyperlink that links from a web page, back to your own page.
Search engines essentially view each link to your site as a vote of confidence in the quality of your content.
If another site is willing to cite you as a source or direct their users away from their own site in favour of one of your pages, you must be offering something of value.
So the more links you have to point to your site, the more trustworthy your site will appear.
Why are Backlinks Important for SEO Ranking?
1. Improve understanding of your market.
Through the process of market research and earning backlinks, you’ll understand the needs and desires of your target market better.
That knowledge will come in handy if you decide to run paid traffic or focus purely on SEO.
2. More long-lasting than paid ads.
Put $1,000 into Facebook Ads today, and that traffic will come and go.
It’s an effective way to get a fast rush of traffic but earning backlinks, in contrast, will stay in place for months and years afterwards
3. Grows your business network.
In business, the best opportunities come through your network including high paying jobs and unadvertised joint venture opportunities.
When we build relationships with respect, you can keep those connections and develop them for other opportunities.
How to Get More Backlinks for SEO?
1. Guest post
- Guest posting is the practice of contributing free content to another website or blog in exchange for a link back to your own site.
- This is a popular link building method since it’s a win-win for both sites: One gets free content to share with their audience, while the other earns a high-quality link.
In brief, here are the steps you need to follow to get free backlinks through guest posting:
- Create a few highly valuable pieces of content
- Google appropriate sites to which you can contribute.
- Visit the podcast website and look for information on how to become a guest
- Publish your content and make sure to include backlinks to your website.
2. Write High-value Comments on Other Websites
- Comments won’t get you as much as guest posting but they help you to build relationships and send higher quality traffic to your website.
- This approach also helps to build your network and opens the door for guest posts later.
Is it still worthwhile to write blog comments?
- If you approach it with the goal of building a relationship with the website owner, the answer is yes.
- Make sure you leave high-value comments not writing 2-to-3-word meaningless comments like “great post.”
3. Repurpose Your Content
- Content repurposing is creating one piece of content and get three different backlinks from it by spreading it across the different medium.
Here’s an example of how to put this into action:
- You write a popular blog post that attracts backlinks and plenty of traffic.
- Create a related piece of content on a different platform covering the same information
- For example, you could create a 2-3 minute YouTube video where you cover the main ideas or create a presentation and post it to SlideShare.
- Create social media updates pointing back to the YouTube video or SlideShare presentation, and to the original article.
- Depending on your skills, you can keep using this strategy over and over again to spread your same message.
4. Ask Your Friends for Backlinks (The Right Way)
This is another way of building a network for free backlinks. However, this method only works if you do it the right way
The Wrong Way
- Asking for backlinks from irrelevant websites or from past acquaintances who barely remember you.
- Asking for backlinks to your homepage instead of a specific resource or product.
- Specific requests tend to be more compelling.
The Right Way
- Add value when asking for a backlink. For example, if your friend loves “Game of Thrones” and your new infographic references House Lannister, then you have a winning combination.
- Alternatively, connect your request to a goal your friend has.
