‘Backlinks’ are sometimes known as ‘Incoming Links’ or ‘Inbound Links’.
A backlink is a link from one website to your website.
Google puts a lot of value on backlinks as links from one website to yours are strong indicators of authority and trust from the other website to your own.
Several industry reports have found clear positive links between the number of quality backlinks, the ranking position of the website, and in turn the traffic levels of that website.
Backlinks are well worth the effort.
Frequently Asked Questions
How do I see my website’s backlinks?
The best place to see your website’s backlinks is via Google’s Search Console (used to be called Google's Webmaster Tools).
Once you have accessed your website’s Google Search Console head to ‘Links’ and then ‘External Links’.
This will give you the total number of external links, but also a breakdown of pages that link to your website.
Checking this list is a great way of seeing what is linking to your website and can give you a better understanding of your traffic.
How do I get backlinks?
You can gain backlinks for your website in many different ways, they include…
- Earn backlinks by being awesome – good service/products will naturally encourage other websites to link to your website
- Asking relevant website owners to link to your relevant pages
- Write blogs to post on other websites – known as ‘Guest Blogging’
- Check for broken links to your website on other websites, reach out to them, and ask for the link to be replaced with a working link to your website
- Check for mentions of your business on other websites that don’t currently come with a link to your website and ask the owners of that mention to include a link
- Building up listings on relevant business directories
- The ‘Skyscraper Technique’ – find a piece of relevant content that has lots of backlinks, do it better, and then ask the original linkers to link to your piece of content instead. A risky technique that is not always seen or received positively.
These techniques are known as ‘White Hat’ link-building tactics.
What backlinks should I aim for?
Backlinks should come from authority websites that are relevant to your business.
Avoid black hat link-building techniques, they include…
- Multiple sites linking together in an attempt to manipulate search engines - known as PBNs
- Paid for backlinks
- Linking to a website in exchange for them linking to your website – known as link exchanges
- Spammy links – an example of this would be posting links to your website on random forum sites and comment fields on articles
If you are unsure as to whether to add a backlink, for your website, or another website. Just think to yourself – does this link offer value to my website visitor?
If 'Yes' then add the link. If 'No' then don’t add the link.
Should I Buy Backlinks for my website?
NO!
Google is strongly against it, purchased backlinks offer no value to your business, and ultimately purchased backlinks can get your site penalised by Google.
Google penalties are hard and time-consuming to remove – so don’t waste your money.
If you are looking to improve the backlinks to your website using the white hat link-building tactics mentioned above then get in touch with the team here at Digital Nachos today.
Published: 7th Feb 2024