Trying to stay up-to-date on the current best practices for search engine optimization could be a full-time job in itself. Search engines such as Google are continually updating their algorithms and changing their formulas at a dizzying pace. Take backlinking, for example. The word backlink is one of the commonly most terms in the world of SEO, but a backlink is just a link to another site using some kind of anchor text.
According to Forbes, these links are crucial for staying relevant and adapting. For years, the rule was that websites with the most backlinks could be found at the top of the search results for their targeted keywords. Thus, a website’s backlinks could improve its search engine results.
Website owners and search engine marketers devoted money and time to submitting sites to web directories, article directories, and trying several other tricks to get links from other sites. The more links the better! Today, however, backlinks can actually hurt a site if they’re not done correctly. Let’s take a look at how backlinks can impact your search engine optimization.
Backlinks lead to higher rankings
Some research was recently conducted on the top 50 Google search results for about 15,000 keywords. The evidence firmly established the relationship between the number of links a site has and the rank of the site. This same study also found that 99 percent of all websites found in the top results had at least one backlink back to their site.
This provides definitive proof that the more external links from unique websites a site has, the greater impact it will have on their SEO. What the study doesn’t point out, however, is the quality of the backlinks. The type and quality of the site linking is an important piece of backlinking that will impact a site’s authority and raking.
The quality of backlinks matters
Not all backlinks are created equal and watching out for your external links is very important. Toxic website owners might have links from your site and that could cause your site to be penalized if they are not removed. This could result in your page rank taking a hit in search results and the web traffic you see diminish.
When a search engine finds a link pointing to your site it will either count the link and improve your site’s rank, ignore the link as neutral, or penalize your site because of the quality of the link. Google has created guidelines on manipulative link building, to help webmasters with backlink analysis and learn what kinds of links to avoid.
To monitor your page, there are various ways to check your website including backlink checker tools. Keeping up with your backlink profile will help you know the value of your site and help guide your site’s strategy.
Earning high quality links is crucial
Gaining high-quality links is the new SEO strategy that is guiding the work of webmasters. Sites need the kinds of external links that Google and other search engines will count to improve rank. As discussed, link building strategies that attract links from bad pages will only hurt a website’s search ranking.
The old days of “the more links the better” are a thing of the past. According to millenio.co.uk, search engines are now looking closely for any link building practice that is intended to manipulate a site’s search engine ranking. This will cause a decrease in ranking.
Ultimately, a strategy for earning high-quality backlinks needs to focus on producing high-quality content on the website. With high-quality content, other websites and businesses will be more inclined to link to this content when they borrow it. Some ways to encourage linking to content is by using original images that can be included in other blog posts and sites that will earn a backlink.
Another thing that could gain backlinks is expert quotes. An interview with experts that can generate some original quotes about a certain topic will generate interest in a page and encourage linking when the material is borrowed for another site. borrowing the material. These are just a few strategies that can be utilized for linking. The main goal is to generate high-quality backlinks that will boost ranking.
As far as SEO is concerned, backlinks do impact how well a site will perform — that bit of information has not changed. What is different today is that not all backlinks are equal and low-quality links will have a negative impact on SEO. All backlinks impact SEO, but the type and quality will determine what that impact will be.
Interesting related article: “What is a Hyperlink?“