There are billions of websites out there and millions of blogs too. Whether you’re starting your first blog or you’ve done it before, you know you need to do something special to get people to take note.
That’s where search engine optimization comes in. SEO helps propel your blog to the front page of Google. The higher your search engine results page ranking, the more visible your blog will be to your audience.
As with almost everything, there are good seo examples and some bad ones too. One thing good examples of SEO have in common is a strong backlinking strategy.
backlinks are important for SEO, but they can also be tricky to get. This guide will help you create a winning strategy for backlinking and boosting your SEO.
What is Backlinking?
Links are an important part of any SEO strategy. Adding both inbound and outbound links to your blog posts helps credibility. A most trustworthy page has more authority and ranks higher in search engine results.
An outbound link is one that takes the user to another website.
What is an inbound link then? Unlike an outbound link, an inbound link is one that brings the user back to your site.
This is also known as “backlinking.” Backlinks come from other sites. Google monitors these links to establish your site’s authority and credibility.
The Importance of Backlinking
If you have backlinks coming from reputable sites, Google will rank your blog higher. The idea is that if other credible sites are linking to you, then you’re likely a trustworthy expert on the subject.
If you don’t have any backlinks, Google won’t give you as good a rating. The lack of links makes it more difficult to judge your site’s credibility.
Google and other search engines want to direct their users to the most trustworthy, authoritative sites. Backlinks are thus a good way of proving your expertise.
Backlinks also serve another important function. With hundreds of new sites coming online every single day, it can take Google some time to find your site. By following backlinks, Google’s crawlers will find your site sooner.
SEO Examples of Good Backlinking
Backlinking is simple in principle, but it’s often one of the hardest parts of any SEO strategy. How do you convince a site like Forbes.com or Reuters to link to you?
You might believe that if you create good content, the links will come. In most cases, you’ll need to work for those links. Having an informative article just isn’t enough.
That’s where a backlinking strategy becomes crucial. The good news is that once you know how to create a backlinking strategy, it becomes much easier to do.
Guest Blogging Opportunities
The first step is to find trusted websites and bloggers who write about similar topics. Their audience will have plenty of overlap with yours.
Once you’ve found some authoritative, popular sites in your niche, it’s time to start outreach efforts. Many popular websites and blogs will invite people to guest blog for them. If you don’t see a page about guest blogging, don’t be afraid to get in touch and ask about opportunities.
In a guest blog, you’ll be able to link back to your own blog or articles. Be careful not to spam your links. Your guest blog should still include links to other reputable sites, as well as your own.
Replacing Dead Links
Another part of your backlinking strategy should be looking after your mentions. If a high-profile site mentions you, reach out and ask them to convert the mention to a link.
You should also keep tabs on mentions that may be outdated or have gone dead. If your site has been redesigned or content has moved, links may no longer be working. Link reclamation can help you hang on to high-quality backlinks.
Managing Your Backlinks
Not all backlinks are created equal, and you may find some backlinks do more to hurt your SEO than boost it.
Some SEO examples of bad backlinks include:
- Links you pay for
- Low-quality websites, like article directories
- Sites with low Google trust rankings
- It comes from a website with little or no original content
Why are these links harmful to your SEO? Essentially, they make your site look less trustworthy to Google. If your backlinks are coming from sites that endanger users or steal content from other sites, Google may rank your site lower.
There’s a problem, though, in that you can’t control which sites are linking to you. What happens if a low-quality site keeps linking back to your site?
You do have some options to manage your backlinks.
Disavowing Links
The most obvious thing for a blogger to do is to contact the webmaster of another site. You can ask them to remove the low-quality backlink.
In most cases, though, this doesn’t work. Many low-quality sites don’t have contact information. If they do, there’s a chance your link removal request will be ignored anyway.
Luckily, Google has your back on this front. The search engine giant knows how much emphasis it places on backlinks. It also recognizes how little control you have over who’s linking to your site.
That’s the reason they allow you to disavow links. If you can’t get spammy links to your site removed manually, you can use Google’s tool to disavow those links.
This helps the search engine evaluate incoming links. By disavowing links from low-quality sites, you’re telling Google that you don’t want to be associated with them.
Keep in mind that Google can take a few weeks to incorporate this new information into their search results.
Link Your Way to SEO Success
As you can see, backlinks are an important part of any SEO strategy. If you’re hoping to get your site to rank, make sure you’re getting some quality backlinks.
Are you looking for more SEO examples and advice? Take a look around and discover everything you never knew you need to know about doing SEO right.
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