Posts in category: SEO

If you are just starting out with SEO, backlinks are nothing new. You need it to rank well on search engines, you have to build connections with other site owners and focus on creating the right inbound links that will bring valuable traffic to your site.

When SEO became very popular, all you had to do it create a bunch of links pointing back to your domain and viola! you are ranking on the first page of search engines, but not anymore.

Today, you still need backlinks but you need to be strategic on how you create them.

What is link building and why does your website need it?

There are many ranking factors that come to play when trying to rank your website higher on search engines like; Google. With that said, backlinks play a very significant role in helping Google figure out what your site is about and how others view your site.

More links from a certain domain linking back to your site, tells google that you are loved by others. So, Google ranks your site higher based on your keywords and inbound links.

Creating different strategies to increase sites in your niche linking back to you is what you call link building.

You will need to create only links that have high quality and authority. Backlinks today are valuable based on Age, domain authority, content and niche relation.

The link on another site, usually appears as a hyperlink with your domain in it.

<a href=”http://www.websquaresolutions.com/”>digital marketing</a>

The href tag signals your domain and the closing is your “Anchor Text”. This is what users see on the page. Its usually underlined and sometimes in blue, that signals you can click on it for more information.

How do links affect your site?

• Build new traffic flow to your site constantly, which translates to conversions, sales and revenue.
• Elevate your website in search engines with better search ranking, more organic traffic from Google and Bing.
• Since your inbound links are related to your content, you will be getting the right type of traffic to scale your business in search engines.
• Build a strong online reputation.
• Rank on the first page of search for your selected keywords.

For example; If you sell T-shirts and have a backlink from a blog that writes about shoes only, then you might want to eliminate that link. Mind you, some links are valuable even if not inter-related but you just have to be careful when testing them out to see what search engines might use to up vote your site in search.

As you build inbound links to your website, make sure to focus on earning links that directly benefits your website within a niche market.

NEVER BUY LINKS or USE AUTOMATED SOFTWARE SOLUTIONS TO GAIN BACKLINKS.

You will gain your best inbound links through creating content that interacts with readers and builds trust. With trust, people are going to start linking back to your site in troughs.

Lets take a look at some high quality backlinks and the latest link building strategies for 2017.

Make sure to understand this ranking factors, as you will need the to successfully build the right type off links to your site. Your strategy has to be solid to achieve the best results.

Here are 20 ranking factors that directly relate to your backlinks. 

1. Domain Age

If you know how websites work. Domain age has a lot to do with how people view your company. Older websites turn to have more authority and value. Backlinks from older domains carry more power when it comes to authority and will have more link juice to spread.

2. Links From C-class IPs

Links being gained from different ips shows strength and a more natural link profile. Backlinks that happen to come from the same c-class IP can act as spamming.

3. Referring Domains

Domains linking to your site remains one of the fastest ways to build traffic. In fact, the more authoritative sites linking to the more authority your domain will gain. Just make sure they are high quality and related to your niche.

4. Alt Text Your Images

When uploading your images, use Alt text that directly relates to the topic of that page. This will act as an Anchor text for anyone linking to your site through that image.

5. Backlinks from .EDU, .ORG and .GOV Domains

In most cases, domains with a .edu, .org or .gov will be private institutions of higher education or government organizations. This domain ext carry lots of authority and should of value to any website.

6. Linking Page Authority

The authority of the page linking to your domain must have weight too, as to get your page ranking on search engines.

7. Links from Domain Homepages

Links from a domains homepage will carry more value that a regular page within the website. Internal pages generally have less value that the root page.

8. Links Within Content

Gaining links that are place within a content carry more value that links in signatures, black spaces and unnatural locations. These links are also called contextual links and you can see them when reading articles or webpages.

9. The Value of NO-Follow Links 

The best part about no-follow things is balancing out your inbound link profile and making it look more natural and less spammy in the eyes of search engines.

Example of no-follow tag –

rel=”nofollow”

tp://</span><spa

10. Diversify links

Your backlinks should come from a diverse range of sources like; organic mentions, resources, guest postings, e-books, editorial pieces. Too many links from a single source can be alarming and raises a red flag.

11. Anchor Text for Your inbound link

Your anchor text provides a description of your inbound link. Use a relevant and keyword focused phrase or term to make the link more important and valuable.

12. Reciprocal links

This is a link exchange between your site and another, where they link to you and verse versa. DO NOT use link exchanges, search engines understand them and will penalize your site.

13. Link Location

Where your backlink comes from within a certain domain also matters when it comes to referring. To understand why – links at the top close to the header are more valuable than links closer to the end of a site.

14. Entire Page Relevance

Inbound link page should be related to the page it’s linking to within your site for more value and authority.

15. Relationship between Links

You link building strategy should focus on a relationship between your sites page and the backlink linking to that page. The relationship between this links, helps search engines and visitors who click through to your site. When they are not related, the value proposition drops.

16. Page Title Keywords

You page tiltle keywords can be a determining factor in the eyes of search engines like; Google. These is simplified by Google as “Experts linking to Experts”.

17. “Hub” pages

Aaron hall wrote about this in an article explaining that pages structured as a resource are more valuable than other. This is because, people searching online want a quick fix than reading paragraphs that sound like your telling a story rather that a directive or instructions.

18. Link Age

As your links get older, the more valuable they become and contribute to your online ranking and growth.

19. Trustrank Of the Domain

A referring sites TrustRank will directly affect the quality of your backlinks. This indicates the reliability of your website. A low rank will indicate spam.

20. Co-Occurrance

This is fairly new on how Google analyses your backlinks. The words that surround your Anchor Text helps Google understand the link better.

Conclusion

As you can see from this resource, building links is not easy but possible with the right strategy. At the end of the day, the main value here is getting your website ranked higher on search engines, not your link count. Your strategy should focus on value not quantity or else, you will be wasting time.