A backlink or an inbound link is a link that a third-party platform uses to link to your website. It directs users from one website (third-party platform) to another (your website), and is considered an extremely important search engine optimisation marketing strategy.  This is because search engines perceive backlinks as a vote of confidence and use it as a measure of the quality of content found on the website.

Why Is Building Backlinks Important?

Having backlinks allows your pages to rank higher on SERPs because they’re viewed as more credible and authoritative sources. It also gives websites endorsements from other brands, adding to their reliability. This helps businesses establish themselves as industry experts.

Moreover, backlinks also help readers get answers to their queries easily. They can use the links used in a content piece to track specific questions and/or learn about specific products and services.

Backlink Quality vs Quantity

We’ve established that getting backlinks is important for your business. However, it’s crucial you get high-quality backlinks. Having a dozen different backlinks for a particular web page wouldn’t help your brand much unless those backlinks add value to your SEO strategy. Therefore, your backlinks must be:

Authoritative

A backlink from a credible website or platform is considered an authoritative backlink. Websites with high DA are considered authoritative websites and typically generate greater web traffic.  Credible websites include those with .gov and .edu domains.

Relevant

Backlinks that refer to a page tackling an industry-relevant topic or a related issue are counted as relevant links. The more relevant your backlinks, the better it is for your SEO strategy.

Unique

Unique backlinks are links that can be sourced to a page where your brand has been highlighted without any mention of your competitors. This gives you an edge and makes your brand appear more credible.

How to Get Backlinks to Your Site

While buying backlinks is an option, you don’t have to resort to this option. There are other, more effective strategies you can adopt for more sustainable and long-term backlinking results.

Write Strategic Guest Blogs

Guest blogging is a great way to promote your content across renowned platforms and get backlinks. However, if you want high authority websites like Forbes and Business Insider to publish your content, you need to ensure you’re adding value to their platform and readers. After all, guest posting is a way to tap into an external platform’s audience and direct traffic to your website. Overly promotional and sales-y content won’t do. You need to be smart about what platform you’re targeting and how you’ll make your content stand out.

Each platform has specific guest blogging guidelines you need to adhere to. Most platforms allow up to 2 internal links within the guest post body. Others ask for links in the author’s bio. Based on what the requirements are, add relevant internal links to your website.

Since high-authority guest blogging platforms are highly coveted, you also need to ensure your contribution creates significant value for their readers. This will allow you to build a long-term relationship with the guest blogging platforms. If your content truly benefits the readers and is exceptionally well-written, you can have your posts featured frequently. Therefore, it’s imperative you write engaging and informative content that’s catered to your specific niche.

Don’t be generic or vague about your topic; be specific and stick to the recommended content format and style for maximum efficacy. Try answering specific questions and offering solutions without coming across as sales-y.

Convert Brand Mentions into Links

Has a brand mentioned your business on any of their social media platforms or landing pages? It’s the perfect opportunity to turn brand mentions into backlinks.

Reclaiming brand mentions is one of the easiest ways to get backlinks. All you need to do is make sure you know when your brand is being mentioned, which you can do by using brand monitoring tools, page insights, and notifications. When somebody mentions your brand without linking to your page, you can reach out to them and request a proper link attribution. This way, you won’t just get a backlink, but the author will also provide a better reading experience for their audience by specifying exactly who they’re talking about.

You can also suggest other landing pages or social media posts the author could link back to, depending on the nature of their content, business, or industry. It’s a small step, but it goes a long way in effective link building.

Submit to Niche-Specific Directories

Another way to establish your brand’s credibility is by submitting your website to reliable business directories in your niche. Many business owners hop on the bandwagon of directory submissions without fully understanding how the process works. Your aim shouldn’t be to make it to every other business directory you come across. Instead, it should be to have your website listed in niche-specific directories that would actually direct traffic your way.

Always make sure you assess the SEO value of your backlinking strategy before going ahead with a submission. Having your website included in a list of generic business directories won’t do you any good. For your backlinking and SEO strategy to work, reach out to reliable and relevant directories.

Pitch Your Content to the Press

PR specialists and journalists receive dozens of emails from business owners who want to pitch them information about their brand. Most of these pitches are rejected because they’re either overly promotional or just don’t add any value to the publication they’ve been sent to. Thus, the backlinking efforts go in vain.

However, you can earn high-quality backlinks through the media. The trick is to find that sweet spot between newsworthiness and industry expertise. For instance, if you run a sports goods business, you can pitch a story to a publication regarding a current sports event and how it can impact the industry. This will allow you to pitch your brand in the relevant context and help you get backlinks through journal articles and press releases.

Hire Our Digital Marketing Experts in Canberra

Need a backlinking strategy? Make sure you develop and implement a professionally authorised link building strategy for the best results.

Getting high-quality backlinks requires patience and effective strategising. The team at TocToc can help you get your desired results. Our digital marketing experts provide comprehensive search engine optimisation marketing, content marketing services, website design and development, graphic design, social media marketing, and other online marketing services to help businesses establish a high domain authority and get credible backlinks.

Get in touch with our digital marketing company in Canberra today for more details.