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What are Backlinks and Why Does Your Website Need Them?
If you click on a link and it takes you to another website, then you’ve just clicked on a backlink.
It is considered an internal link if you click on something that moves you from one page on a website to another page on the same website.
Search Engine Optimization services (SEO) use backlinks and offer link-building services—finding placement sites that are ranked as sites of authority in Google.
Link building services aim to achieve these end results:
- Higher keyword rankings for your website
- Increased visibility
- Increased clicks
Knowing that you can achieve these results with backlinks, you can answer the question: Does your website need backlinks?
The answer is very clear. Few people ever click through search results on any but the first page of the search engine results pages (SERPs), so without quality backlinks, along with other important SEO elements that put you on the first page of SERPs, your chance of being found in searches is pretty low.
So, let’s dive into the most common FAQs related to ‘backlinks’:
What is a Backlink?
Backlinks are simply the links on other websites that bring them to a page on your website.
They are the links on one website that will take the user to another site when they are clicked.
Search Engine Watch enumerated the ten types of backlinks that will deliver the greatest value to your SEO efforts:
- Editorial backlinks
- Guest blogging backlinks
- Backlinks in business profiles
- Backlinks from webinars
- Free-tool backlinks
- Acknowledgment backlinks
- Guest post bio backlinks
- Badge backlinks
- Backlinks derived from press releases (on topics worthy of media interest)
- Comment backlinks
Do I Need Backlinks?
Digital marketing strategists agree on the idea that backlinks show search engines what resources on the internet are trustworthy and useful.
If you have great content on your site that other sites link on, it means that other sites think your site is a credible resource.
Search engines have their own fine-tuned algorithms that recognize if your site has a growing link profile.
The quality of your backlinks will determine how search engines will look at your website. It will tell them if your site deserves to be ranked on top of the SERPs.
But backlinks go beyond SEO. There are other benefits that come with backlinks aside from gaining search visibility.
Backlinks are not all about ranking. The following marketing benefits make backlinks worth seeking:
Boost Referral Traffic
Search engines will direct about 47% of your online traffic that is independent of search engine rankings. This means that well-placed backlinks do not only impact search engine traffic. They can direct a lot of referral clicks that increase your referral traffic.
Helps Establish Your Brand
Branding is important because it is what makes a memorable impression on consumers. It is how you establish yourself apart from your competitors and what makes you the better choice.
Your website is one of the best representations of your brand, and backlinks allow people to look at your brand.
Once they click your branded anchors, they are led to your site, which is your biggest branding opportunity.
Increases Your Authority
When you get backlinks on authority sites, you rub off some of their authority on your site.
The backlink is considered a vote of confidence both by search engines and by users.
High-quality backlinks will help your site attract customers because they see your site as an information source within your industry.
This can even lead to other websites linking to your content. Consumers will see this as a good indication that your brand has the type of authority that is worth taking an interest in.
Builds Relationships Within Your Niche
Getting quality backlinks will be much easier when you have relationships within your niche that can help you gain visibility.
Campaigns built on backlinks can help you create client relationships outside SEO.
These relationships open advertising opportunities for you.
When you are linked to good content that a user reads, there is a very good chance that they will click your link to learn more about what you offer.
A series of actions can follow after they get to your website and see more of the content you offer.
This just shows that a simple link can bring you and a potential customer together even if you are not on top of the search engine rankings.
Substantial Promotion -H3
Having a backlink on a curated list of resources has the potential to send traffic to your site for years.
A press release is still an effective method of promotion.
Submit your important product launch, for example, to a press release site and you will get links from this site and many other sites that pick up the press release.
All the above benefits give a solid answer to the question: Do I need backlinks?
Even if these social benefits are not part of Google’s algorithm in ranking nor carry a ton of SEO value, they still indirectly impact your ranking on SERPs.
How Many Backlinks Should I Create Per Day?
SEO experts say that it’s not purely a numbers game when it comes to backlinks.
This means that you should not be merely getting more links than any of your competitors. The rule of the game that matters is to get more high-quality backlinks than they do.
Track your performance in the search results for a range of relevant key terms. This the only easy way you can judge if you have enough links that are giving you the benefits you should be getting.
In short, how many backlinks you need depends on these four things:
- How many keywords you are targeting
- The level of competition for those keywords
- The quality of the backlinks you acquire
- How good your on-site optimization is
Getting Professional Help With Your Backlink Strategy
To make sure that your backlink strategy will not harm your search engine visibility, you need to be confident that you know what you are doing and that you can do better than your competitors.
Your website will get the benefits of backlinking if you ask for help from professionals who are experts in backlinking strategies.
They will know exactly what to do to help boost your landing pages to rank higher in the SERPs while also hugely benefiting your internet marketing strategy with your content and social media with the perfect backlink strategy for your site.
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Big Easy SEO is a web design, SEO, and digital marketing agency that strives to help small to medium-sized businesses boost their brand in the online market and search engines.
Our goal is to provide metrics, results, and services tailor-made to your business through a variety of strategies including search engine optimization (SEO), web design, and ads.