Search Engine Optimization (SEO) is a hot topic amongst the website owners in the modern internet world. Attaining the highest ranking in the search results page is the desire and aim of every website master. Apart from it, another thing that grabs the attention of these owners is the strategy to drive in more traffic.
If you own or manage a website, it is probable that you need to be consistently trying to attain a better position in Search Engine Results Page (SERP) and drive in an increased amount of traffic. As a matter of a fact, one of the most effective measures, to achieve both the aims at the same time, is getting quality backlinks.
Now, if you don’t have much idea in the field of SEO and internet marketing, you must be wondering as to what is and how to get backlinks. In this article, we discuss the definition of backlinks and the strategies that provide you with an answer for your query, i.e. how to get backlinks.
What is a Backlink?
In the simplest words, Backlink is a link that a website or webpage receives from another website or web node. Popularly known as inbound links, the amount on backlinks received by a web node indicates its popularity to the major search engines such as Google, Yahoo or Bing.
Although it was initially developed for providing a helping hand in web navigation, it is now considered as a significant SEO strategy. With that being said, quantity and quality of backlinks received by a website affects its SERP ranking. Therefore, it is considered as an effective strategy for SEO of a website. Apart from its significance in SEO, backlinks are well used by experts to check the category of individuals who are considering and visiting those pages.
Impressed by the definition, if you are thinking as to how to get backlinks on your website, the answer is simple – all you need to do is to follow the tips to get quality backlinks.
Tips to Get Good Backlinks
There are many methods of getting good backlinks that are practiced by thousands of developers. Here are some of the most effective ways to get quality backlinks.
Guest Blogging
With guest blogging being one of the most popular practices worldwide, the fact is inevitable that it is an effective technique of SEO. As it is a process wherein you can build quality one-way backlinks through your efforts, you can practice it to build backlinks.
Under this technique, you need to write quality articles and post it on another blog. In return, the blogger that receives the post puts it on the site with your site’s reference. As a result, you receive more traffic on your site as well as getting recognized by search engines.
Now, the key to success lies in the selection of blog where you can practice guest blogging and the quality of your content. You should choose a popular blog whose posts are somewhat related to your website’s niche.
However, you should keep in mind that these blogs publish quality content only. So your content might get disapproved if the quality is not up to their standard. Overall, it is an effective measure if executed properly.
Article Marketing
Although it is not as effectual as guest blogging, article marketing is a good technique of getting backlinks. To practice this method, you should write articles relating to your website and post it on relevant article directories only.
For instance, if you have a fashion apparel company, you should post articles relating to it on a fashion article directory. Also, you must choose a reputable article directory that is recognized and considered by search engines.
Lastly, you should keep in mind that your articles must include an anchor text without which your effort might be valueless.
Social Media Profile
It is one of the most under-utilized methods for getting backlinks. While millions of people spend hours to chill out on social networking sites, you can generate backlinks by registering your presence.
There are several social networking platforms as well as social bookmarking sites that have high Page Rank. Linking your account with them can assist in getting backlinks. A major turn on for using this method is that you don’t need to play a trick for getting backlinks. Many social media sites don’t restrict you from linking your website in your bio, creating a scope for getting backlinks on your site.
Press Release
Press release is an imperative part of the majority of companies in modern days. There are several press release websites that supply content to a huge number of small sites and news sites. This means that your press release can get proper exposure and can generate backlinks.
In order to maximize the possibility of getting quality backlinks, you must give an attractive title followed by a newsworthy content. Also, you shouldn’t forget to include a link to your website because not many readers spend time on finding your website manually. Therefore, you should put in your best effort in the press releases for getting quality backlinks.
Link Exchange
Although it is one of the oldest ways of SEO, a technique still works in a tactical form. If you are in this industry for some years now, you probably have come across link exchange technique.
The strategy is not recognized as a good SEO strategy nowadays; however it can fetch fruitful results for your site. You should play safely while practicing this strategy in order to avoid the risk of getting your site penalized. This can be done by creating and using a separate website for putting the exchanged links.
Bad Strategies That Should Be Avoided
After knowing the effective strategies for getting backlinks, let’s take a look at some strategies that should be avoided by you.
Purchasing Links
Major search engines believe in the natural process of getting backlinks. This involves genuine sharing of links or connecting to websites naturally. If you pay a website to share your link, it is considered as a bad back linking strategy. Hence, if search engines detects that you are paying a website for sharing your link, you might get penalized.
You should not pay a website for getting backlinks. Instead, you can hire some freelancers and publish guest posts on relevant websites so that you can get backlinks to your site. Thus, the amount that you would have spent for buying backlinks can be paid to freelancers to get some relevant content for guest posting.
Irrelevant Link Building
Search engines appreciate when your site shares link with other sites sharing the same category. When you try to link to websites that do not relate to your company’s niche, it is considered as irrelevant link building. Irrelevant link building is not effective and hence, you may not be rewarded for your efforts.
For example, if your company is related to fashion apparel and you share a link with a website related to electronics, Google does not recognize your strategy. Therefore, you should not practice irrelevant link building strategies as it is nothing more than waste of time.
Linking to Sites with Poor Reputation
There are many sites that have a bad reputation in the eyes of search engines. These sites are mainly sites that follow black hat SEO or unauthorized methods in its due course. Just like getting into a bad group of people creates a negative impact on our image, linking to sites with a poor reputation may affect your site negatively.
Therefore, you should always make sure that the sites you are linking to are genuine and have a good reputation. The sites that you should completely cut off from your linking list are porn, gambling and illegal sites.