Tag: seo

What are backlinks?

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  • Find sites with outdated or broken links to content that is similar to your site. You can contact the site manager and kindly let them know about the outdated and broken links and suggest a link to your content.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.

How to choose a winning domain name

Connected earth

Choosing a domain name is one of the most important decisions when building a website. Your domain name is the core of your company and product brand. It should memorable, easy to say, and chosen with SEO in mind. But with so many domains already taken, choosing a domain can be a daunting task. This article will tell you what to look out for when choosing a domain name and how to ensure your domain is SEO friendly.

checklist

Domain name checklist

  1. Choose a memorable domain

    Choose a domain that is catchy like your brand. Your domain should be easy to remember.

  2. Keep it short

    Keep it short. Less than 15 characters is ideal.

  3. Include keywords

    Effective use of keywords, or partial keywords, can make a domain more memorable and SEO friendly.

  4. Choose a popular top-level domain

    Choosing a popular top-level domain such as .com or .net will not only make your domain easier to remember it will show authority in your industry.

  5. Easy to say, easy to type

    Avoid special characters, odd spelling, hyphens and numbers. Say your domain out loud. If you have to explain how to spell your domain it is probably not a good choice.

Which domain registrar to use?

There are many domain registrars to chose from. Some offer additional features like privacy protection, SSL certificates or email. The domain registrar you choose will come done to the features that are important to your business.

Privacy protection

Most domain registrars offer basic levels of privacy protection. The most common feature is a WHOIS personal details protection service. These services allow you to use proxy details on WHOIS instead of entering your personal details. Any notifications regarding your domain will be passed through the proxy service to you. This service can help prevent spam.

Registrars also offer more sophisticated privacy protection in premium plans. These include:

  • Malicious domain transfer protection
  • Domain hijacking protection
  • Domain security monitoring

SSL certificates

Several domain registrars offer free SSL certificates with domain registration. Ensure you pay close attention to the certificate authority, the level of encryption and the domain restrictions of the certificate as it may be of limited value.

Domain email address

Some registrars will include web based email in the domain purchase. This can be useful to get up and running quickly and allow you to use your business domain email rather than a personal email address.

Popular domain registrars in 2020

Below is a list of some of the most popular domain registrars in 2020. These registrars offer combinations of the features listed above and often have limited offers where some features are included in the domain purchase price:

Choosing a top-level domain

using the internet

The top-level domain (TLD) is the part of the domain that comes after the dot. There are over 1,000 TLDs. Choosing the right top-level domain has an impact on your SEO. You can view a list of all valid top-level domains at icann.org. Some of the most popular top level domains are:

.com

Derived from the word commercial. Currently the most popular TLD used in 48% of the worlds websites. Introduced in 1985.

.org

Intended for non-profit organisations. Used by over 10 Million web sites globally. Also introduced in 1985.

.net

Derived from the word network and originally intended for network technology organisations. This intended use was never enforced and the domain is a very popular for general purpose commercial use.

There are many other common top-level domains including .info, .biz, .gov (government), .edu (education) and .mil (military).

Country code top-level domains (ccTLD)

world map

There are also country specific top-level domains such as .us (United States), .uk (United Kingdom), .au (Australia) and .il (Israel). These country code TLD can be combine with other TLD to form popular combinations such as:

  • .co.uk, .gov.uk, .org.uk, .net.uk
  • .com.au, .gov.au, .org.au, .net.au

Top-level domains for SEO

In order to maximise your SEO it is usually best practice to choose one of the common top-level domains such as .com and .net. These domains are what people are most familiar with and therefore more memorable. These domains also have an inherent authority. For example .com will usually trump .pizza (yes .pizza is a existing top-level domain). That said, the top-level domain you choose is less important that other SEO factors such as content, keyword, inbound links and site performance.