Have you heard of backlinks and how they can benefit your business? Since launching my SEO services, I’ve included a backlink strategy plan to start signaling to Google that you deserve to be on page one.

I love showing entrepreneurs how a backlink strategy can elevate their business. This comprehensive guide will explain what backlinks are, if they’re important for SEO, the benefits of having backlinks, link-building strategies, and how to measure your backlink metrics. By the end, you’ll have everything you need to know about backlinks!

What Are Backlinks?

Backlinks are YOUR website links that OTHER people share on their website. You probably have some backlinks to other sites on your website, too! You might have a link to a research study in a blog, a link to a client’s website after giving you a testimonial, or a link to your freebie or low-ticket offer that’s hosted on another site… 

There are a lot of places to put backlinks on a website:

• Content (blogs and podcast episodes)
• Navigation menu
• Footer
• Resources or recommendations
• Testimonials

You might not even realize you’re linked to other people’s sites. However, you can build a backlink strategy to get more qualified traffic to your website, which we’ll get to in a minute!

Are Backlinks Important for SEO?

YES! Backlinks are an essential part of an effective SEO strategy. When someone links to your site, they’re signaling to Google and other search engines that you’re a credible source. It’s like an endorsement. Search engines use backlinks as a sign of a website’s authority. The more quality backlinks you have from reputable sources, the more likely you are to rank highly in search engine results pages.

Google has actually said that backlinks are one of the most important factors they use to determine the authority and relevance of a website. Backlinks help search engines find and index new content quickly and more efficiently. Indexing can sometimes take several weeks to happen (unless you manually request it); backlinks make the process a little faster because Google already knows you’re a credible source. 

What are the Benefits of Building Backlinks?

There are tons of benefits to creating a quality backlink strategy. I’ve seen tangible results for myself and my clients by working on improving the number of backlinks we have. 

These are some benefits you could see, too:

• Improved search engine rankings
• Increased website authority
• Increased referral traffic
• Enhanced brand visibility and awareness
• Improved credibility and trust
• Faster indexing and crawling from search engines
• Competitive advantage

It’s honestly amazing what backlinks can do for small businesses. It’s an organic strategy (I don’t recommend paying for backlinks) that can increase the traffic to your website. And increased quality traffic means more leads and more sales for you! Who doesn’t want that?

Backlink Building Strategies

Now let’s talk about how to increase the number of quality backlinks you have. A strategy will help you control where your website is being linked from. You can’t control everywhere you’re linked, but a strategy will ensure your website is being linked from other credible sources.

These are a few strategies to get direct backlinks: 

• Guest blogging: Write high-quality guest blog posts for relevant websites in your industry. It’s usually included, but make sure they allow at least one link back to your website.
• Podcast guest: Pitch podcasts in your industry with a topic and be a featured guest. Ensure they include a link to your website in their show notes!
• Lists: You know those list posts, like ‘top 15 wedding photographers with light and airy vibes’? Reach out to the owner of that post and ask to be featured with a link to your website.
• Collaborate: Collaborate with another creative on social media or a client project, and help one another by linking to each other’s websites.
• Create valuable assets: The more valuable content you create, the more people will want to link to it naturally.
• Community engagement: Sites like Quora and Answer the Public allow you the opportunity to answer questions for users. You may be able to provide a link back to your site with additional information.
• Directories: Join memberships or directories related to your industry. These typically include a short bio about yourself and a link to your website.

There are so many ways to improve how many backlinks you have! Which strategy are you going to try first?

How to Measure Backlink Metrics

Measuring your backlink performance will help determine if your efforts are paying off. You might find out you aren’t targeting the right websites to host your links! 

There are several ways to measure how well your backlink strategy is performing.

• Quantity: How many backlinks do you have pointing back to your website? The more quality backlinks you have, the higher your website will rank in search results.
• Domain Authority: Backlinks heavily influence your domain authority. Generally, a good domain authority is over 30 (the higher, the better). Domain authority gives you insights into your overall SEO performance and competitiveness.
• Page Traffic: How much traffic are you getting from pages linking to your website? Understanding the traffic sources helps you evaluate the effectiveness of your link-building efforts. The ones driving the most traffic might be an opportunity to collaborate further with that business owner.

FAQs About Backlinks

I have a lot of spammy backlinks. Should I get my links removed from them?

You can reach out to the host of the website and request your link get removed, but you probably won’t have much luck. Spammy backlinks won’t do much harm to your SEO. It would be worth reaching out to quality backlink sources to fix broken links to your website though, because that hurts them and you.

What is anchor text?

Anchor text is the clickable text that’s hyperlinked. It gives search engines context about the page those words are linking to. For example, this is my blog about the best SEO tools for small businesses. You know exactly what you’re going to get by clicking on that link. These are the kinds of links you want on the websites you have backlinks for. Otherwise, it could result in bounces because people don’t know what they’ll get by clicking the link.

Can I buy backlinks?

Yes, but I never recommend doing so. It’s against the Google Webmaster Guidelines and can result in serious SEO penalties that could take years (if ever) to bounce back from.

A quality backlink strategy is a worthwhile endeavor. You can see several benefits from this SEO strategy; it’s something I do for all my clients. If you’re ready to get started building a backlink strategy, explore my SEO services! I’d love to help you improve your search ranking.

About Âme Creatives

I’m a Showit Web Designer and SEO expert who specializes in crafting websites and branding for you: the successful female entrepreneur who is crushing business goals… but doesn’t have the branding or website to match. I’m an expert at being able to create a beautiful brand that fully represents YOU. Ready to work together? Send me a message!