Experts in digital marketing will tell you that if you create good content, Google will reward you. While this is technically correct since, after all, good content will land you somewhere in SERP, to get to the first, second, or third spot in SERP is impossible without implementing a good
What Is A Backlink?
Also referred to as incoming links, backlinks are created when a website embeds a link to an external website. For instance, your website’s focus is on how to train pets, and an e-commerce company that sells pet products links to one of your articles. It works the other way around, too—in one of your pet-focused blog posts, if you added a link to an article on how pets impact quality of life, you have just finished creating backlinks for another person’s website.
So, what’s all the hubbub about backlink profiles? Think of backlinks as a vote of confidence or vouch from other websites. Google’s all-important ranking algorithm assigns a rank to a website based on certain criteria, many of which the search engine hasn’t revealed. But one of these factors that marketers are absolutely certain will affect their rankings in Google is backlinking.
Quantity vs. Quality
So, to get your post to the first spot in SERP, all you need to do is get as many backlinks as possible, right? Just have your friends and their friends and their friends’ friends backlink to your blog, and—fingers crossed—you’ll make it to the front page! Well, as Matthew Barby has shown, it’s not that simple.
If you didn’t read Mr. Barby’s post, you should know that it takes roughly 100,000 backlinks to reach the number-one spot in a related Google search. So, what is the correct way to build backlinks? Focus primarily on quality.
To get quality backlinks, your content will have the backlinked by an authoritative website, denoted by its domain authority rating. In its simplest sense, domain authority refers to how trustworthy both search engines and humans view a website. A higher rating means valuable content for readers.
How You Can Build a Quality Backlink Profile
Understand eCommerce has a comprehensive list of how to build backlinks. In fact, most websites that offer their two cents on how to get quality backlinks don’t deviate from that list very much. However, the scope of this article goes beyond that. In this section, we’ll focus primarily on how web admins can build a quality backlink profile.
1. Brand Mentions Link Building
Using brand mentions is arguably the easiest and fastest approach to build a backlink profile. Simply put, this process involves using services like Google Alerts or Awario to find where and when your brand has been mentioned but not backlinked. All that’s left is to kindly as the original publisher to embed a link to your source article, and you’re all set. Don’t be afraid to reach out—they’ve already made mention of your brand, so it shouldn’t take much persuasion to get them to generate a backlink.
2. Skyscraper Link Building
Try to come up with a list of keywords that would put you at higher Google rankings. Odds are that the top spots currently have a next-to-infinite number of backlinks. Something that you can ethically do to take some of those backlinks and redirect them to your site. To do this, you’ll have to summon the powerful author from within and create content that’s even more valuable than the top-ranking sites. Then, contact websites that backlink to the number-one website and politely convince them to backlink to your article instead. Yes, it’s stealing, but it’s ethical and not against Google’s TOS.
3. Broken Link Building
Broken or dead links are bad for both users and a website’s rankings. However, broken links are a gem for webmasters who don’t have a significant online presence yet. If you find a broken link within your website’s scope, what you can do is to write a similar article (paying close attention to originality, mind you) with updated information, then reach out to web admins who have not yet replaced the broken link.
4. Link Building Services
One of the quickest and most reliable techniques for building a backlink profile is paying for backlinks. Even though you can find countless backlinking service providers online, it’s important to sift through them all to learn which are not publishing your personal information and flaunting with whom they’re posting their work. It goes against Google’s TOS, but buy safety for Google backlinks is a proven method of boosting traffic and ranking higher in SERP.
Final Thoughts
Building a backlink profile is, to be frank, a pretty challenging task. Each company should consider its backlinks
