Backlinks and beyond - how to develop a link-building strategy for your website

The relevance of backlinks to SEO

The significance of gaining backlinks comes in their impact on your search engine rankings. Each time another website links back to yours it’s telling search engines like Google that your website has merit. This could be because your content is of interest to people, because you answer a commonly asked question or because industry peers are recommending (and linking to) you. As a result, Google and others consider your website more authoritative and this can have a positive impact on how highly you rank in search queries.

How important are backlinks in calculating search engine ranking positions?

Where your website appears in search engine rankings is the product of many different factors. As an example, Google’s algorithm for determining search engine rankings is a much debated and frequently changing calculation. But we do know that backlinks play a significant role in that algorithm. And a team from Backlinko suggested that backlinks could even be the most important factor in Google’s calculation. They analysed over 1 million Google search results before reaching their conclusion that backlinks were the most significant for  determining which websites ranked at the top of Google's search listings.

Backlinks and website traffic

When discussing backlinks, it is this direct relationship to SEO and search engine rankings that is most commonly the focus. However, it’s important not to overlook the importance of website traffic. If a user is browsing a third party website and then clicks on a backlink to your site, that’s a new potential customer that you’ve reached. If this process is repeated hundreds or even thousands of times then that’s going to add up to a good volume of website traffic that will also be helping your SEO.

Backlink quality and its impact on search rankings

Given our comments on the relationship between backlinks and search results you might think that gathering as many links as possible was the goal of all link-building strategies. But before embarking on a link-building strategy that pursues all available backlinks, its worth considering link quality. In short, not all backlinks are of equal merit and some will have a strong positive effect, whilst some may even negatively impact your website. Think of a backlink like a relationship, you want to pursue the positive links, the ones that will benefit you, and avoid the negative ones.

What is a quality backlink?

A quality backlink is one that comes from a high-profile website that search engines know to be well-trusted and well-received. You probably visit these types of website daily. Examples would include bbc.com, disney.co.uk, theguardian.com and sainsburys.co.uk etc. They are websites that have high traffic volumes and are linked to by many other websites. Of course, getting the BBC to link to your website is probably unlikely to happen. But there will be many examples within your own industry of well-respected websites where you may be able to establish a linking relationship. But how do you know which relationships to pursue?

Domain authority – a measure of quality

In the pursuit of quality backlinks, domain authority is a valuable measure to direct your link-building efforts. Domain authority is an assessment of the relative credibility of a website and considers aspects such as the age of the domain and the number of third party links to the website. More established websites with large numbers of inbound links, will have a higher domain authority. The higher the domain authority, the more a link from that website will be considered a quality backlink. 

You can check the domain authority of a website with a tool like SEO review tools’ website authority checker.

This will tell you how your own website scores, but also which websites in your industry have a high domain authority. These are the websites where you should focus more of your efforts in establishing links.

Negative backlinks

We mentioned earlier the idea that some backlinks could be interpreted negatively by search engines. Back in 2012 Google started to penalise websites that it interpreted as manipulating the backlink element of their algorithm. The most common example being website owners that bought backlinks in bulk and suddenly started appearing on hundreds of link-based websites. In short, a low-quality link on an obviously ‘spammy’ or automated website, particularly one that is only gained by paying for it, is unlikely to serve you well. It may even have a negative impact on search rankings.

How to develop a link-building strategy

So, we know that backlinks are important and also that our goal should be to pursue quality links, from websites with a high domain authority. But how do we go about this? The answer is to develop a link-building strategy: a sustained and concerted effort over time to build backlinks. Here are seven components that are commonly found in a link-building strategy. Used in combination, they should lead to you successfully gaining more links to your website.

1. Directory listings

Website directories have been around for a long time and replaced traditional paper based directories like the Yellow Pages or Thomson’s Local guides. They are listings of websites, often structured around a geography (all businesses in Exeter) or a theme (all suppliers of car parts for classic minis) or, most likely, a combination of the two i.e. all painter/decorators in Exeter. By adding a listing and including a backlink you are both taking an action that should benefit your SEO, but also placing your business in a forum where it can be discovered by people searching for the product or service you supply.

Check out our post on maximising your local SEO to discover local and national directories to add your business to.

2. Create content that people want to link to

One of the best strategies for organically building links is to create quality content that people find useful or interesting. The principle here is that great content will naturally attract links. Some of the more successful examples include providing free downloads/resources, insider guides, ‘how-to’s’, quizzes, infographics or definitive lists (e.g. top 10s). These types of content have all been shown to be popular. It may take some time to ensure your content is discoverable and found by others, but if you become known for great content, links will surely follow.

3. Link exchanges

A link exchange occurs where two websites link to one another reciprocally. Again it’s worth keeping quality in mind and only pursuing positive exchanges. However, this form of exchange can be of great benefit to both parties. Link exchanges work best in complementary industries, such as wedding suppliers. A wedding cake supplier can reciprocally list details of florists, wedding venues, photographers and stationers without worrying about competition. This is also beneficial to the searching couples, who are probably looking for multiple services from the same industry.

4. Guest blogging

Getting other websites and blogs in your industry to feature a guest post by you is a great way to reach new audiences and build backlinks. Not only do you appear as an authoritative voice in your industry but it also encourages users to visit your website.

5. Comments, testimonials and answers

If you want to gain backlinks quickly, then comments, questions and testimonials are great options. You can answer questions on websites like Quora, post reviews and testimonials or comment in web forums and on blog posts – all whilst including a link back to your website. Just ensure that your comments or answers are meaningful so that it doesn’t appear that you’re posting just to gain a backlink!

6. Find broken-links and suggest your website as the solution

This approach involves identifying websites in your industry that link to other sites and then searching for broken links (404 error pages) on those websites. These are links that no longer work and can be found using tools such as Google Chrome’s Check My Links plugin. 

Once you’ve identified a relevant broken link that your website could resolve, then you can contact the webmaster, suggesting your website as an alternative link. Broken links aren’t good for anyone and so if you can suggest your website as a way or resolving the problem then there’s a chance that they will substitute your link for the broken one.

7. Take part in interviews, videos and podcasts

Much like writing a guest blog post, this approach works by being featured as a contributor to third party websites. In the summary of the interview or video you can request that a link to your website is included as part of your biography.

What part does social media play in gaining backlinks?

You may have been wondering why social media doesn’t feature in our list of link-building strategies. After all, when we post on social media we often include a web link. Well, the reason we haven’t mentioned social media is that backlinks from Facebook, Twitter, Instagram and so on, don’t count in the same way as other web links. Gaining a backlink from social media won’t directly improve your SEO or Domain Authority. However, that doesn’t mean social media should be discounted…

Another of Google’s ranking factors is website traffic and whilst backlinks from social media may not count towards SEO they can help drive traffic to your site. Social media is great for increasing referral and direct traffic. The increased volume of traffic from social media can contribute towards your overall search ranking position.

Support to develop and deliver a link-building strategy

There is no one-size-fits-all approach to link-building and every industry is different. If you’re unsure where to start, we can help. Digital marketing is at the heart of everything we do and we can work with you to develop a comprehensive link-building strategy. Content marketing also plays an important part in the process. Creating content that people want to link to in the form of blog posts, downloadable resources or ‘how-to’s’ can be a challenge. However, our experienced copywriters are here to help and can create effective content whatever your industry.

To find out more on how we could help, contact us.