Content is king, we all know that. But it’s important to acknowledge that some well-timed, topical blog posts and a website stocked full of great market-specific, customer-driven content aren’t your only ranking factors…
Backlinks have been a buzzword in SEO for as long as we can remember. With recent news reporting that backlinks are still as important as ever, finding out more about why they’re so vital and what you can do to build the quality backlinks Google and other search engines expect is essential. Here at Onit Solutions, we understand the importance of on-page and off-site SEO, and backlinks are an integral part of the puzzle. Discover why filling in the blanks of your backlink profile is a job well worth undertaking.
What exactly is a backlink?
Backlinks are quite simply incoming links to a webpage. When a webpage links with another, a backlink is created. With every do-follow backlink, your webpage receives a vital injection of ‘link juice’ to fuel the ranking of the page and improve its authority on the web. If the backlink has the no-follow tag however, link juice is not passed and the link will have no bearing on helping your page rank.
The rules regarding backlinks have changed dramatically over the years. When the net and SEO was simpler and more spammy, backlinks to any old webpage could be generated to boost the ranking of your website no-end.
So what’s different?
Backlinks are still the major metric they once were but with search engines growing more and more sophisticated, the quality of said backlinks grows even more important. Now it doesn’t pay to have a lot of backlinks, it pays to have great quality ones that are relevant to your market and useful to your core demographic.
Backlinks that are low quality or ‘bad’ can get you in a lot of trouble, with websites subsequently penalised and losing ranking power. When it comes to backlinks quality should always be picked over quantity. High quality backlinks show that a webpage is relevant and useful, with the resulting organic traffic boosting its authority and helping the website rank even higher.
The secret to building backlinks?
Content is the key to building a high quality backlink profile. The link building techniques of yesteryear, including blog commenting, don’t render the quality backlinks that Google is looking for. By creating cornerstone content that’s an authority in your field of expertise, organic traffic can be attracted and quality backlinks built.
Infographics are great sources of quality backlinks. Submitting guest posts and web directory listings still work, but the blogs you are guest posting on and the web directories you use must be equally high quality and relevant. In fact, the more niche a blog or directory is, the better.
Get better SEO for your website with a little help from us. Contact our team today to discuss your requirements.
