How to make backlinks work for your webpage SEO?

Backlinks (also known as "inbound links" or "one-way links") are links from one web page to another web page. Google and other major search engines consider backlinks to be "votes" for a particular page. Pages with a large number of backlinks usually rank higher in the organic search engine rankings and therefore have significantly better SEO.

Why are backlinks important for SEO?

The more quality backlinks a page has, the higher it ranks in search engines. The presence of backlinks is one of the most important ranking factors for Google, and the use of backlinks also shows credibility in the eyes of other major search engines. Each "vote" indicates that the content is valuable and useful to others. So, if you want your website to rank high in Google's search results, you must focus on building backlinks.

The main ways to get backlinks for SEO:

1. Asking for backlinks

Asking for links means that you actively contact another website and ask them to link to your website. You can ask them to link to blog posts, e-books, visual assets (like infographics) or images, case studies, original research and data, etc.

2. Adding backlinks yourself

Adding links means going to another website and adding the link manually. For example, it is possible to manually add links to social media profiles, business directories, various forums and Q&A sites (such as Quora), blog comments, user profile pages, etc.

NB! Adding SEO links manually is one of the easiest, but also the least effective, ways to build links.

These types of links often come from low-quality sources, or ones that Google doesn't want to pay too much attention to. This is because these backlings are self generated, there is no recommendation or credibility behind it. Since self-generated links are not editorially given (links you don't ask for), they carry less weight than other types of links. The best option is to earn your links.

3. Earning backlinks

Link earning means that other websites link to your website without you asking. The best way to earn links is to create quality content that people want to link to. Links are created naturally when someone wants to link to something as a resource or useful further reading.

• Content people tend to link to:
• Visual assets (infographics, tables, charts, etc.)
• Original research and data (industry research, surveys, proprietary research, etc.)
• Online tools and calculators
• Comprehensive guides and tutorials

How to identify a good SEO backlink?

It's important to understand what makes a link a good link or a bad link, then you can focus on building links that improve your visibility in Google.

1. Website authority

"Authority" is an SEO term that refers to the overall quality of a web page. The higher a page's score, the more weight its backlinks can have. So a link from a high authority website is often more valuable. Which means it can help a website rank higher.

For example, a link from Postman is likely to have much more impact than a link from an unknown blog.

2. Relevance of the website

In the case of linking, the suitability and relevance of the website is also important. There is evidence on how the search works on the Google page. "In addition to looking at keywords, our systems also analyze whether the content is otherwise relevant to the query. One of the many factors we use to determine this is understanding whether other prominent web pages are linking to that content."

It is important to get links from websites that are relevant to you. For example, if you have an SEO service company and a website, it is not necessary to get a link from an authoritative website about strength training. It may not affect the ranking because it is not consistent with the content of the web page. It is much better to get a link from an authoritative site about SEO or digital marketing. The more relevant the link, the better it is for SEO.

3. Backlink placement

When it comes to linking, the location on the website is important. A good backlink appears in the main part of the web page. In fact, Google has a patent that specifically talks about link placement. It looks at the different probabilities that the reader will notice and click on the link, regardless of the location of the link. The higher the probability (usually at the top of the page), the higher the authority of the link. This means that links in the sidebar, footer, or at the bottom of the page may not be worth as much as links in the main part of the page.

4. Anchor text on the backlink

Anchor text is clickable text that appears on top of a link. Anchor text is important because both search engines and readers use it to determine the content of the linked page. So, the more relevant and descriptive the anchor text is, the better. For example, the anchor text "how to store coffee" tells Google that the following page is about coffee storage. While generic anchor text like “this webpage” provides little context and is not useful. Good backling has descriptive and relevant anchor text.

5. Nofollow vs follow link

"Nofollow" is a link attribute that tells search engines not to follow an outgoing link. They are typically used when site owners want to link to another website but don't want to imply any type of endorsement. The nofollow tag is used in the source code of the web page and looks like this: rel="nofollow". It is not wise to use nofollow links as they do not guarantee correct linking, authorization or approval by Google. On the other hand, follow links are regular links without attributes and can help you increase the visibility of your website.

Where to get backlinks? Some examples of high-quality Estonian websites:

Postimees.ee

The authority score of the Postimees.ee website is 65, which means that this website is reliable in the eyes of Google. On the Postimees.ee website, it is possible to use backlinking in the form of content marketing. Which means that if you buy a content marketing article from Postimeh, you can get a very good backlink. To do this, you need to write a finished article according to the criteria and submit an offer to Postimees' content marketing.

Delfi.ee

The authority score of the Delfi.ee website is 67, and the same thing is said about it - you can get backlinks from Delfi through content marketing articles. Various publications can be used for this purpose, such as Eesti Päevaleht, Kroonika, Maaleht, etc. Select the one that is currently related to the selected topic or ask Delfi Media for advice on which publication the article would fit best.

WebTailor is here to help you with getting quality backlinks and improving your SEO

If you want to take your backlinks game to the next level, WebTailor performs a backlinks audit and strategy that gives you the opportunity to show your website better on Google. If you are interested, fill out our inquiry form and get acquainted with the SEO services we offer.