Want to get Google’s vote of confidence for your website? You need to leverage powerful backlinks.

The right kind of SEO backlinks can save your website in two ways:

1. By improving ranking – The greater the number of backlinks for your web pages, the greater the chances of your website ranking higher for relevant search queries.
2. By improving discoverability – Search engines tend to go back to popular pages more frequently. Backlinking your website to these pages means your content may get discovered faster (than normal).

What Is a Backlink? 

Quite simply, a backlink refers to a link on a page from another site that links back to your website (hence, the name ‘backlink’). A backlink has many names, with inbound link or incoming link being the most popular alternatives.

The primary job of a quality backlink is to get your website to rank higher on search engines.

Why Are Backlinks Important in SEO?

Let’s understand why a high authority backlink is important for improving your SEO backlinks efforts:

1. Improved Search Engine Rankings

Backlinks are a major contributing ranking factor as per Google’s PageRank algorithm and link authority guidelines.

According to Backlinko’s study on link-based ranking factors, they’ve found one correlation: The number of backlinks from unique websites (referring domains) correlates strongly with organic search traffic and increased visibility.

Let’s look at an example to understand this better. Let’s assume the example:

• Focus Keyword = “time tracking software”
• SaaS Company = “Clockify”

First, you’ll need to add this to Ahrefs to understand how many backlinks to use for Clockify to come up each time someone inputs the keyword – ‘time tracking software.’

In the following image, a Keyword Difficulty of 79 means that it’s very difficult to rank for this keyword. More importantly, a SaaS player will need backlinks from 329 websites to rank within the top 10 results for this keyword:

In the next image, you can study the connection between Clockify backlinks and the rankings data:

The SaaS industry’s competitive landscape is vividly demonstrated by the rankings of Clockify, Zapier, and Paymoapp for the keyword “time tracking software.” 

Clockify’s second-place ranking with over 15,000 backlinks, compared to Zapier and Paymoapp’s 5th and 7th positions with considerably fewer backlinks (2,571 and 2,616, respectively), underscores the principle that the more authoritative backlinks a SaaS website secures for highly competitive keywords, the higher it ascends in search engine rankings.

2. Increased Website Authority and Trust

Considering that backlinks can give your website the stamp of approval it needs, you must include authoritative and relevant backlinks within your site, as Userpilot demonstrates below:

Remember that there’s a direct correlation between Backlink Profile, Domain Rating (DR), and a higher number of backlinks.

The higher the number of backlinks (18.9K in this case), the higher will be your website authority.

The metrics, authority, and credibility can be directly connected with your Domain Rating (DR).

Authoritative backlinks may come from partnered institutions, NGOs, publishers, and other high authority backlink websites. This will help you to establish credibility and trustworthiness in the search engine’s eyes.

Bonus: Here’s a free backlink checker you can try to assess the status of quality backlinks for your website.

3. Enhanced Indexing and Crawling

Think of backlinks as pathways for search engine bots. They can accelerate the discovery and indexing of web pages. This, in turn, can lead to higher chances of appearing in search engine results.

Here’s how you can get your website indexed faster:

• Action-Oriented Content: Create content that prompts immediate action and engages your readers.
• Direct Address: Use direct language, addressing the reader with “you” to establish a personal connection and encourage engagement.
• Logical Flow: Organize your content logically and guide readers smoothly from one point to the next.
• Quality Backlinks: Prioritize getting links from reputable sources. Use metrics like citation flow to gauge the volume of backlinks—high scores can boost crawl frequency by signaling link popularity.
• Regular Updates: Publish fresh, high-quality content consistently to demonstrate the site’s relevance and encourage faster indexing.

4. Referral Traffic and Audience Reach

Backlinks act as bridges between your website and external links. You must leverage backlinks to drive targeted referral traffic to your website. This supercharges your website’s potential to attract new audiences and customers.

Here’s an example of how to see your referral links from Google Analytics:

Source

Six Types of Backlinks 

There are six types of SEO backlinks that you can use to build your overall link building strategy:

1. Do Follow Links

<a href=”https://www.clickass.io/”>this is a follow link</a>

Do-follow links are clickable links that pass authority from one webpage to another and help boost your SEO backlinks efforts.

How It Works: When you include a do-follow link on your site, search engines will recognize it as a recommendation. This can boost your chances of ranking higher in search results.

Example: Let’s assume you’re writing about digital marketing. You can include a do-follow link to a reputable marketing guide to supercharge your content’s credibility.

2. No Follow Links

<a href=”https://www.clickass.io/” rel=”nofollow”>this is a nofollow link</a>

No-follow links are links that don’t directly impact SEO. That said, they are essential for directing traffic and ensuring a natural link profile.

How It Works: When you add a no-follow link, you’re telling search engines not to pass authority through that link. However, this link will still guide visitors to valuable resources.

Example: If you mention an informative industry blog in your post, using a no-follow link ensures that you’re referencing it without endorsing it for SEO.

3. Sponsored Links

<a href=”https://www.clickass.io/” rel=”sponsored”>this is a sponsored link</a>

Sponsored links are paid connections that uphold transparency. They allow you to show your audience that a link is a paid advertisement.

How It Works: When you collaborate with partners and use sponsored links, you can generate additional income and provide useful content– without misleading your audience.

Example: If you’re reviewing a product and have an agreement with the manufacturer, using a sponsored link to their site clarifies your relationship and helps you earn from referrals.

4. UGC Links

<a href=”https://www.clickass.io/” rel=”ugc”>this is a UGC link</a>

UGC links come from user contributions (think: comments, forum posts, or guest articles). With this, you can enhance your site’s authenticity and interaction.

How It Works: By encouraging users to share their insights with UGC links, you can foster a sense of community and diversify your content.

Example: Allowing readers to comment on your blog post and share relevant links adds depth to your topic and keeps readers engaged.

5. Editorially Placed Links

Editorially placed links are contextually relevant connections that your content naturally references.

How It Works: As you create valuable content, include links that fit seamlessly, enhance user experience, and demonstrate your expertise.

Example: If you’re discussing website design, adding a link to a detailed guide on typography can improve your content’s quality and usefulness.

6. Link Schemes

Link schemes involve manipulative practices that aim to artificially boost rankings. By extension, they can violate the search engine guidelines.

How It Works: Engaging in link schemes might seem tempting, but they can lead to penalties. This can affect your website’s visibility and reputation negatively.

Example: Purchasing links or participating in link exchange networks can quickly lead you down the path of link farming, which can harm your site’s credibility and long-term SEO prospects.

6 Traits of a “Good Quality Backlink”

Trait #1: The Link Comes from Trusted + Authoritative Websites

A valuable backlink is one with a trustworthy and authoritative source. If a high authority is backlinking to your website, it signals to search engines about your website’s high quality.

This can improve your website’s credibility, boost organic rankings, and increase visibility, of course.

Let’s look at an example to understand this better.

Step 1: Search for the keyword: “HR Software” in Google. You will see People Managing People within the top 10 search results:

Source

We will now go into Ahrefs to see how People Managing People possesses great quality backlinks.

Step 2: When you search the backlinks in Ahrefs backlinks checker for domain – peoplemanagingpeople.com/, – you will be able to see a comprehensive Ahrefs Referring Domain report (as shown below):

Trait #2: The Link Includes Your Target Keyword in the Anchor Text

Is your target keyword placed within the link’s anchor text? This is another true mark of an authoritative backlink. 

For this to work, remember that the anchor text should:

• Be clearly visible
• Have clickable text within a hyperlink
• Contain your target keyword

If you want search engines to have greater context of your website content, you need to capitalize on this strategy. This will also boost your website’s ranking for that specific keyword and boost content discoverability for related topics.

Let’s take the example of newoldstamp.com/.

Step 1: Go to Ahrefs Site Explorer.

Step 2: Search for backlinks for newoldstamp.com. 

Step 3: Add relevant filters (email signature software in this case) for anchors, and you should see a detailed backlink report as shown below:

The learning: If the link includes your specific target keyword in the anchor text, your website will get more organic traffic.

Trait #3: The Site + Page Backlinking to Your Site is Related to Your Site

Another cornerstone of a good backlinking trait is relevancy. Ask yourself the following questions:

• Are the backlinks from other websites related to your site?
• Are the websites linking to your site within your particular industry/niche?

This allows your website to demonstrate itself as an authoritative resource. Consequently, search engines will place more weightage on your website and increase credibility (and rankings).

Let’s look at a good example versus a bad example for better learning:

#Good example where the site and page that are linking to your website are relevant:

• Backlink: https://www.opencart.com/blog/5-strategies-for-better-email-marketing-campaigns
• Anchor: “Email signature”
• Target link: https://newoldstamp.com/email-signature/

Here’s the backlink report for this:

As you can see, the article in question is about an email marketing campaign. The link is going to the New Old Stamp website with the anchor text, “Email signature,” establishing great context.

In contrast, here’s a bad example of irrelevant site and pages that are linking to your website with the following metrics:

• Backlink: https://www.referralcandy.com/blog/enterprise-ecommerce-referral-program-examples
• Anchor: “Move along the sales funnel”
• Target link: https://newoldstamp.com/blog/best-tips-and-ways-to-build-the-right-sales-funnel-for-your-business/

The learning: Getting a backlink from an article relating to an ecommerce referral program does not make sense for a website like New Old Stamp which into the business of email signature software.

Trait #4: The Link Refers to a “DoFollow” Link

If the link is a DoFollow link, search engines such as Google will recognize your link and will index it. This is a great trait for a backlink, as it can positively impact your website’s organic ranking, authority, and visibility.

Trait #5: The Link Belongs to a Domain That Hasn’t Linked to Your Website Before

Source

Variety is critical for backlinking. Consequently, scout for links from domains that have never been linked to your website before. These relatively new linking domains double up as extra validation for your website.

Consider this good example:

• Target domain: cloudtalk.io
• New backlink opportunity: https://www.pendo.io/

Now, the best strategy for Cloudtalk would be to approach Pendo.io to get a unique and quality single link (as a guest posting opportunity), as Cloudtalk that has never been linked to Pendo.io before:

Let’s now look at a bad example. Follow these steps:

Consider the target domain: https://newoldstamp.com/.

Step 1: Take the domain and paste it to “Site Explorer.”

Step 2: Check the Backlinks report.

Step 3: Add the filter for “repeating referring pages.” 

The learning: You can notice that the referring pages are coming in from the same domain and are linking to 3 different pages of your target domain–a bad practice:

Trait #6: Your Backlinks are from High-Traffic Pages

Backlinks from high-traffic pages are considered valuable because they come from webpages that already attract a significant number of visitors. 

When your website receives backlinks from these high-traffic sources, it not only improves your search engine rankings but also exposes your content to a broader and more engaged audience. 

This increased visibility and potential for referral traffic can lead to more organic visitors and higher authority in your niche, making it a desirable trait of a “Good Backlink.”

Let’s take an example of “how to identify high-traffic pages for link placement.”

Consider https://www.cloudtalk.io/ in SaaS Customer Support Category.

Step 1: Let’s assume we need backlinks for: Their “Customer Service Goals” Blog Post.

Step 2: Let the target keyword be: “customer support.”

Step 3: Let the target domain for the link placement be “acquire.io.”

Step 4: Check Ahrefs and get the below mentioned high traffic pages related to the “customer support” keyword:

From the above-mentioned pages, you can select the most contextual and high-traffic page as a target for link placement. Then, you can approach acquire.io with your “link insertion” or “link exchange” request.

Here’s our final example of how to place links on high-traffic pages successfully:

Let’s consider https://www.cloudtalk.io/ as an example here.

Step 1: Let the target domain be https://www.cloudtalk.io/.

Step 2: Go to Ahrefs “Site Explorer” and check the Backlinks report.

Step 3: Add the filter of “referring page traffic>10K.” 

Step 4: The final results state that both the Cloudtalk backlinks are coming from pages with high traffic, as highlighted below:

How Many Backlinks Do I Have?

With a basic understanding of inbound links underway, let’s now analyze the backlinks you already have.

You can do it in two ways: 

1. By checking backlinks in Google Search Console:

This strategy tells you who’s linking to your site. Google Search Console allows you to see how many backlinks your website has for free. Try these steps:

Source

Step 1: Head to the Google Search Console dashboard, and on the top left-hand side, you should see a menu. Ensure you have selected the right domain name for which you wish to see the backlinks.

Step 2: Scroll down to a section called Links and click on it–it will show Internal Links and External Links (this shows the backlinks your website has).

Step 3: You can also see the Top Linking Sites section, which demonstrates the number of backlinks your website is getting from a specific domain/website.

2. By checking backlinks using a third-party tool:

Luckily, there are multiple free backlink checker tools (think: Ahrefs, SEMrush, Open Site Explorer, etc.) that you can leverage to:

• Get an in-depth report on your website’s backlinks
• Understand key backlink metrics such as the number of backlinks, source of backlink, quality of a backlink, anchor text, and so on
• Learn about the competitor’s inbound links

How to Get More Authoritative Backlinks?

You can get more authoritative backlinks by:

1. Earning backlinks

One of the best ways to get high authority backlinks is by earning it, quite literally. This happens when readers chance upon your content on social media, search engines, etc.

Here, since the person chooses to link to your page, you can consider your backlink to be organic and of great value.

If you want to get your share of earned links, focus on churning out high-quality and trustworthy content that makes people want to link back to your page.

2. Creating backlinks

You can also create backlinks by:

• Manually submitting your link to reputable, high-authority websites
• Requesting high-authority websites to add your link to their site

Either way, while you may get a link, its value may not be the best in the eyes of a search engine like Google. Plus, if you overdo it, you run the risk of looking spammy.

Pro tip: A legit link building tactic that works wonders is adding your website to relevant local directories. This will allow your website to rank higher for queries with local intent and boost local presence (and bottom line).

3. Building backlinks

This strategy is all about manually reaching out to the industry bigwigs–editors, site owners, publications, and more to see if they can link their content to your page.

Here are some tried-and-tested link building tactics you can employ to add value to your links:

• Try broken link building: Look out for dead links on other sites. The idea is to connect with the said site and suggest your link as a better alternative. There are many broken link checker tools that will help you to analyze dead links.
• Try your hand at guest posting: Write a post for another website and capitalize on the website’s target audience.
• Try the Skyscraper technique: Do your homework and conduct thorough research on:
  • Which websites have similar relevant content (with plenty of links)
  • Create high-value content that’s better than the website, and make the content unique, fresh, and original
  • Reach out to websites that are linking to the original post and ask them if they will link to your high-value content instead
• Try the unlinked mentions strategy: Scout for unlinked mentions of your company. Then, connect with the author to see if they can convert the unlinked mention to a clickable link (aka your link).

The Future of Backlinks and SEO

There’s no denying that search engine algorithms are constantly evolving (and so is their impact on authoritative backlinks).

In fact, as mentioned above,  according to a Backlinko study, there’s a direct correlation between a website’s overall link authority to its search rankings.

Plus, gaining backlinks from multiple sites is paramount for SEO. In addition, long-form content outperforms shorter blog posts when it comes to acquiring backlinks. You see, there are many tricks of the trade that website owners must familiarize themselves with.

For your website to stand out in a sea of sameness, you need to consider the critical role of user experience and other ranking factors that can affect your SEO backlinks.

This is where getting the help of an expert can return your backlink investment in huge dividends.

Connect with me and take the first step towards discovering the secrets of effective link building tactics. 

Frequently Asked Questions (FAQ)

What’s the difference between a hyperlink and a backlink?

Quite simply, a hyperlink refers to any link within your website’s navigation, whereas a backlink can be thought of as a one-way link from another website to your website. Note that backlinks can be hyperlinks, inbound links, incoming links, and so on–these all mean the same thing.

How to get backlinks from high-authority sites?

If you want to get high authority backlinks and inbound links, focus on writing extremely high-quality content and play with different content formats such as infographics, videos, and blogs.

High-authority websites (think: Forbes, Huffington Post, Reddit, etc.)  more often than not cite their sources.

So if you want these publications to link the content back to you and if you, too, wish to link to these sources, you can win from two-way content visibility and better reach.