Backlinks are links from other websites to your website. They are also referred to as “incoming links” or “inbound links”. Backlinks are important as they drive more traffic to your site and improve your search ranking. These inbound links work like a recommendation or vote for your website. The more votes you have from reputable sources in your industry the better your site will perform in search results.
Backlink Quality
Not all backlinks will have the same impact on your site ranking. Links for reputable, high-ranking sites in your industry will boost your SEO far more than smaller less reputable sites. Think about how a recommendation from a trusted friend or co-worker caries far more weight that that of a stranger or someone you do not trust.
- Ideally backlinks should come from high search ranking, trusted sites that are an authority on the topics discussed. The more creditable the source of the backlink the better.
- Ideally the backlink should use keywords in the anchor text that are powerful keywords for your industry that you want associated with your site.
A few high quality backlinks can have a far greater positive impact on your site than many poor quality inbound links. And in some cases very poor quality backlinks may actually have a negative impact on your site’s search ranking.
How to get your first backlinks
The first step to getting backlinks is to ensure your site has valuable content. If your website has information and insights that other are looking for then it won’t take long for sites to link to your pages.
If you have great content but want to cultivate more backlinks you can try:
- Finding forums and communities of people who would benefit from your content and make connections there. If your site can benefit them you can share links to your content.
- Find sites with outdated or broken links to content that is similar to your site. You can contact the site manager and kindly let them know about the outdated and broken links and suggest a link to your content.
- Promote your site on social media sites such as Facebook, LinkedIn, Instagram, YouTube, Tumblr, Twitter, Reddit and Pinterest.
- Depending on your site’s purpose you can promote your site on a product discovery platform like ProductHunt.com or a blog discovery platform like FlipBoard.
How to check your backlinks
The Google Search Console is a great free tool with information on the backlinks currently pointing to your website. You can view the top linked pages on your site and the top sites linking to your site. This information can be viewed in the Google Search Console or exported to a CSV document. View our article on how to setup Google Search Console.