What are backlinks and why are they important? This is a question that many website owners ask themselves, especially when they’re trying to improve their website’s ranking in the search engine results pages (SERPs). Backlinks are links from other websites that point back to your website. They are an indicator to Google and other search engines of how popular your website is on the Internet. The more high-quality backlinks you have, the higher your website will rank in the SERPs.4
A backlink is a link from a third-party, external site to another website. Search engines like Google use the backlink profile as an indicator to rank the website. The more high-quality backlinks, the more popular a page seems to be on the Internet.
Links are essential for navigating the Internet. In fact, before the spread of search engines, backlinks were the number one way to get from one page to the next. Ultimately, the WWW consists of pages that link to each other from one page to another.
What are backlinks and why are they important for SEO?
The number of backlinks is a factor for search engines to rank a website. The thought behind it is simple: The more often external sites refer to a website via a backlink, the better, more helpful, or more interesting this site must be. After all, a backlink is nothing more than a recommendation. Search engine optimizers (SEOs) therefore use this mechanism in link building to get a website ranked better in Google by building backlinks. Some of this can be done artificially and in some cases even result in spam if as many links as possible are created. Article directories, link farms, or link buying are some attempts to influence the search engine.
Natural link building, on the other hand, creates high-quality backlinks, for example by pointing out website operators to their own content that contains relevant information. Backlinks are also created automatically by creating and offering content that is recommended by others.
In addition, your own backlink profile should be checked regularly, for example, to devalue harmful links.
How do I determine the value of a backlink?
The same applies to backlinks: quality over quantity. Google is also working on being able to better assess backlinks and, for example, better recognize link spam. At the latest since the Penguin update, bad links should be invalidated, otherwise, the entire website will be negatively affected. In the worst case, an artificial link will result in a Google penalty and the website will be deleted from the search results.
The more trustworthy a website appears to Google, the more positive a backlink from such a site will have on your own website. Quality links from such trusted domains not only bring a positive effect on the Google ranking but also often valuable traffic through the link.
If the best essay on a specific topic on the entire Internet is found on a website, the probability that other websites will link to it and create backlinks increases. Such backlinks are natural, in the interest of Google and both sides benefit from it.
The division into nofollow or dofollow is also important for the backlink profile.
The anchor text
Each link is identified by an anchor text or anchor text or link text. Anchor text is the text that is clickable on a website. This is usually highlighted in color or underlined so that the user recognizes this as a link. The Google search engine also reads the anchor text and uses it to evaluate how relevant a backlink is. It is therefore advisable to choose the most suitable designations for the anchor text that clearly show where you are linking to.
Backlinks and the Google Algorithm
When Google started in 1999, backlinks were still the most important factor in ranking a website in Google. The more links came into a page, the more important it seemed to be. This led to SEO tactics such as link spamming and in response to various updates and Google penalties. In the course of this, the importance of backlinks for Google has decreased, but they are still an important indicator for the Google ranking and an elementary part of the Google algorithm. A good example is Wikipedia: a large amount of detailed content means that an extremely large number of websites link to Wikipedia. For Google, this is a sign that Wikipedia is the number one source of information. Conversely, a backlink from Wikipedia is positive because the trust and relevance of Wikipedia are correspondingly high.
How to build backlinks?
You can build backlinks in a few different ways. Creating great content that others want to link to is the best way to get backlinks. You can also contact other website operators and ask them for a backlink. However, this should be done sparingly and only if the website has high relevance. In addition, backlinks can be placed in guest articles or comments on other websites. These are backlinks that are not editorially placed by the website operator, but come from users. In general, backlinks that are editorially placed have a much higher value than user-generated backlinks.
A small warning in advance: link buying is still widespread and there are providers who offer to buy backlinks. This is usually done through so-called link farms, which are blacklisted by Google. Link buying can result in a manual action from Google and lead to the website being removed from the search results. Therefore: stay away from backlinks that you have to buy!
When building backlinks, it is important that these links come from high-quality websites with good content. In addition, backlinks should be placed contextually and on relevant websites. The anchor text should always describe what the target page is about. If you want to learn more about backlinks and how to build them, we recommend our guide “Linkbuilding – The most important ranking factor explained”.
Can a website with many backlinks rank faster in organic search results?
Yes, the more (natural) backlinks a website has the more important is that specific website in the eyes of Google and the various other search engines. It’s important that you acquire backlinks from high authoritative websites. This will result in a more valuable backlink for your website. How to Check the Quality of a Backlink?
The quality of a backlink is determined by various factors. The most important are:
- Relevance: Is the linking website relevant to your website/niche?
- Authority: Does the linking website have a high domain authority?
- Anchor text: Is the anchor text optimized for your target keyword?
- Placement: Is the backlink placed in the content or in the footer/sidebar?
- Follow/nofollow: Is the backlink follow or nofollow? (Nofollow links are not counted as backlinks by Google.)
- Traffic: Does the linking website have a lot of traffic? (The more traffic a website has, the more valuable is a backlink from this website.)
What are No-Follow backlinks?
No-follow backlinks are backlinks with the attribute “rel = nofollow”. This means that Google does not count them as backlinks. No-follow backlinks can still be useful because they can generate traffic to your website. In addition, they are often used to increase the reach of social media posts.
When building backlinks, you should focus on getting follow backlinks from high-quality websites. However, no-follow backlinks can also have a positive effect on your website, so don’t ignore them completely.
What are Do-Follow backlinks?
Do-follow backlinks are backlinks without the attribute “rel = nofollow”. This means that Google counts them as backlinks. Do-follow backlinks are the most valuable backlinks because they have a direct effect on your website’s ranking.
When building backlinks, you should focus on getting follow backlinks from high-quality websites.
How many backlinks do you need?
There is no magic number of backlinks that you need to rank higher in Google. It depends on various factors such as the competition in your niche, the age of your website, and the quality of your backlinks.
A good backlink profile usually consists of a mix of different backlink types such as:
- Blog comments
- Guest articles
- Social media posts
- Forum posts
The most important thing is that your backlinks look natural. If you have too many backlinks from the same website or from low-quality websites, this can look suspicious to Google and have a negative effect on your ranking.
Are there also harmful backlinks?
Yes, there are many sources out there you should avoid getting backlinks from, like link farms, adult content sites, and low-quality websites. These backlinks can actually do more harm than good to your website’s ranking. You should always check the quality of a backlink before you acquire it.
You should also avoid buying backlinks! There are many different platforms on the internet, such as Fiverr.com, where backlink packages are offered for sale very cheaply. Most of the time these backlinks are of very poor quality or come from sources like link-farm or adult content sites. These backlinks will most likely do more harm to your site than they will help your site.
Therefore you should definitely avoid these (cheap) backlink offers!
Do backlinks still matter in 2022?
Yes, backlinks are still one of the most important ranking factors for Google. Although Google has made some changes to its algorithm in recent years, backlinks are still a key ranking factor.
If you want to improve your website’s ranking in the search results, you should focus on building high-quality backlinks from relevant websites.
How can I find out how many backlinks my website has?
There are many tools out there that can show you the backlink profile of your website. Some of these tools are free, like Moz’s Open Site Explorer, and some are paid, like Ahrefs.
If you want to check the backlink profile of your website, you can use one of these tools. Simply enter your website’s URL into the tool and it will show you all the backlinks that point to your website.
How can I build backlinks?
There are many ways to build backlinks. The most important are:
- Guest blogging: Write guest articles on relevant websites in your industry and include a backlink to your website.
- Broken link building: Find broken links on relevant websites and offer the website owner to replace the broken link with a link to your website.
- Directory listings: Add your website to relevant directories and include a backlink back to your site.
- Infographic backlinks: Create interesting infographics and include a backlink back to your website.
If you want to learn more about backlinks and how to build them, we recommend our guide “Linkbuilding – The most important ranking factor explained“.
Backlinks are still an important ranking signal for Google. In fact, backlinks are the best source of domain authority. If someone links to your site, then you have a backlink from them. Backlinks are important because they are like votes or referrals from other websites.
The more backlinks you have, the more popular your site is with Google, and the higher your site will rank in the search engine result pages (SERPs). backlinks are important for SEO because they show Google that your site is popular and relevant to a particular topic or keyword.
If you want to rank higher in the SERPs, then you need to focus on building backlinks from high-quality websites. However, not all backlinks are created equal. The quality of a backlink is determined by various factors such as the relevance of the linking site, the authority of the linking site, and the anchor text used.
Conclusion
Backlinks are still an important ranking factor for Google and other search engines. If you want to improve your website’s ranking in the SERPs, then you need to focus on building high-quality backlinks from relevant websites. There are many different ways to build backlinks, but guest blogging, broken link building, directory listings, and infographic backlinks are some of the most effective. A backlink is a link from one website to another. If someone links to your site, then you have a backlink from them. Backlinks are important because they are like votes or referrals from other websites.
The more backlinks you have, the more popular your site is with Google, and the higher your site will rank in the search engine result pages (SERPs). backlinks are important for SEO because they show Google that your site is popular and relevant to a particular topic or keyword.
If you want to rank higher in the SERPs, then you need to focus on building backlinks from high-quality websites. However, not all backlinks are created equal. The quality of a backlink is determined by various factors such as the relevance of the linking site, the authority of the linking site, and the anchor text used.
If you want to build more backlinks, the legit way, to your website, here are a few good tips for you. Click Here
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