What is a Backlink? How to Get Backlinks?

Backlinks are links from one website to another and can be acquired in various ways. These links can be in the form of text or images, and when obtained from the right sources, they provide significant benefits for search engine optimization (SEO).

For websites aiming to drive more traffic from Google, backlinks are one of the key SEO ranking factors to pay attention to. Indeed, in 2016, Google stated that after content, backlinks are among the most critical ranking factors.

If you are new to SEO and looking to increase your website traffic, you might be wondering what backlinks are and why they are so important. In this article, you will find everything you need to know about the concept of backlinks.

What is a Backlink? Why Is It Preferred?

Backlinks, often referred to in the SEO world as “incoming links” or “external links,” are redirects from one page on a website to another page. Unlike internal links between pages within your own site, these links come from external sources directing traffic to your site.

Trustworthiness

If your goal is to improve your site’s ranking on search engines, you should focus on the links that Google and similar platforms use to measure a site’s authority. These links can be considered as indicators of a site’s trustworthiness. When one site links to another, it is seen as a form of endorsement indicating that the source is reliable.

For example, if five different strangers recommend a restaurant in your city as the best place to eat, you are likely to trust that restaurant because it is recommended by multiple people. The same logic applies to your website.

Popularity

Google views backlinks pointing to a web page as a sign of that page’s popularity. Sites with more backlinks generally achieve higher rankings.

Every link from someone else’s website to your site or to another site counts as a backlink. However, not all backlinks carry the same value. It’s like receiving a recommendation from someone you don’t know versus a trusted person. Google places more value on links from reliable sources.

This trustworthiness is represented by PageRank, one of Google’s algorithms that analyzes the quality and quantity of backlinks pointing to a page to determine its importance and authority. While PageRank was once openly discussed and debatable, today it is a metric that is not clearly measurable.

Types of Backlinks

Backlinks are connections established between web pages, but not all backlinks hold the same value. It is important to understand the different types of backlinks and how they play a role in your strategy. Here are some common backlink types and their characteristics:

Nofollow Links

These links indicate a website’s lack of endorsement or trust towards another site. If you want to link to a site but do not want to directly recommend it, you can use the “nofollow” tag. Nofollow links include the rel=”nofollow” attribute, signaling search engines like Google not to follow or pass authority through these links. They do not pass PageRank value and therefore do not directly improve search rankings. However, since 2019, Google has adjusted its approach to nofollow links and may consider them as potential signals.

Dofollow Links

These links are considered indicators of trust between sites and do pass PageRank value. Dofollow links, which do not contain the nofollow attribute, have a direct impact on search rankings.

UGC (User Generated Content) Links

Introduced in 2019, this attribute is used for links coming from user-generated content, such as forums and blog comments. The UGC tag signals to Google that the link was placed by a user rather than a site administrator.

High Authority Links

To improve your site’s ranking, you should aim to obtain backlinks from high-authority sources. Google gives more weight to links from trusted and reputable websites. High authority links typically come from well-known, reliable sites.

Harmful Links

These are low-quality or guideline-violating links that can damage your site’s ranking. Harmful links can negatively impact your SEO, and you can use Google’s Disavow Tool to remove or ignore such links.

Google rewards organically earned links that reflect the quality and value of your content with the highest authority. Editorial links, given by editors or content creators who recognize the quality and value of a page and wish to share it with their audience, are genuine and focus on providing real value rather than manipulating search rankings.

Why Are Backlinks Important?

The importance of backlinks is often emphasized in digital marketing and SEO strategies. It is undeniable that they play a critical role in optimizing your efforts. Here are the reasons why:

Improves Your Rankings

You’ve probably already heard how backlinks help you achieve higher rankings in search engines, especially Google. Without strong backlinks pointing to your site, it becomes difficult to be recognized as a trustworthy authority in your industry. This means missing out on one of the most important ranking factors, which prevents you from ranking higher for your target keywords.

This is where the importance of acquiring quality backlinks comes into play. You should aim to create a positive impact on search results by avoiding link schemes that violate Google’s webmaster guidelines.

Makes Discovery of New Pages Easier

Google’s crawlers (Googlebot) follow links to discover new web pages. This is one of the main ways your content gets found and indexed. A backlink from a trusted source can help Google find and index your content faster, which can lead to quicker ranking improvements.

Increases Your Credibility

If you want to gain authority and trustworthiness, quality links from reputable sources can assist you. These links not only boost your ranking but also reinforce your business’s credibility.

Drives Traffic

In the early days of the internet, links were primarily used for navigation. Today, while Google still uses links as a ranking factor, the traffic that valuable backlinks can send to your site remains important.

The best way to measure the value of a backlink is to see if it drives traffic from your target audience to your site. This helps you understand the true worth of the link.

How to Check Your Website’s Backlinks?

When shaping your link-building strategies and aiming to attract quality backlinks to your site, the first step is to analyze both your own and your competitors’ backlink profiles. This analysis will help you evaluate your performance and guide your strategy.

There are various tools available to assess your backlink status. For example, you can use Google Search Console to check your own backlink profile for free. If you want to see your competitors’ backlink profiles, third-party tools like SEMrush are useful. Such tools allow you to conduct competitive analysis and plan your link-building strategies more effectively.

Using Google Search Console to Review Your Link Profile

Google Search Console is a completely free tool that allows you to examine your site’s backlink profile. However, it does not provide information about competitors. Through this platform, you can understand how your site looks from Google’s perspective.

Once you access Google Search Console, click on the “Links” section in the left menu. Under “External links,” you can observe the links pointing to your site. Key information you will find here includes:

External links: Total number of external links pointing to your site.
Top linked pages: Your pages with the most backlinks.
Top linking sites: Websites that send the most links to your site.
Top linking texts: Most frequently used anchor texts in external links.

Additionally, you can export your external links as a CSV file by using the relevant button at the top right of the page.

Analyzing Competitor Link Profiles with SEMrush

After examining your own link profile via Google Search Console, you may want to analyze your competitors’ backlink structures and strategies in more detail. This is where tools like SEMrush come into play. SEMrush provides detailed link data that can help you improve your link-building campaigns and discover your competitors’ tactics.

Backlink Analysis Features

SEMrush’s Backlink Analytics feature offers comprehensive information about your own and your competitors’ backlink profiles. This tool provides valuable data points and metrics to help shape your strategy. By entering a domain name, you can access detailed backlink profile information for that site.

Some important information you can access during this analysis includes:

If you want, I can also help translate or summarize the specific SEMrush analysis features you have next. Just let me know!

Referring Domain Categories:
Provides information about the thematic distribution of the linking sites, allowing you to evaluate the thematic relevance of your link profile.
Most Common Anchor Texts:
Shows the most frequently used anchor texts in your backlink profile, helping you minimize the risks of unnatural link building.
Referring Domains by Authority Score:
Allows you to assess the quality of your link profile and compare your position against competitors.
Number of Referring Domains:
The count of unique referring domains is strongly correlated with higher rankings and can be used in competitive analysis.
Link Attributes:
By analyzing the distribution of link types such as dofollow, nofollow, sponsored, and UGC, you can create an effective link profile strategy.
Backlinks:
Examining your competitor’s backlinks helps you discover potential link opportunities and tailor your strategy accordingly.
TLD Distribution:
Shows from which countries you are receiving links, enabling you to evaluate global link opportunities.
Similar Profiles:
By deeply analyzing competitors’ link profiles, you can discover new opportunities. The “Similar Profiles” analysis provides useful data on top-performing sites, which you can integrate into your strategy.
Top Pages:
Identifies the pages on your site with the most backlinks, which you can use to improve your internal linking structure.
SEMrush’s Backlink Analytics feature offers in-depth information about both your own and your competitors’ backlink profiles, helping you steer your strategy more consciously. Competitor analysis should never be overlooked as part of your SEO strategy; by using the right tools, you can improve your rankings and increase your organic growth.

How to Get Backlinks for Your Website

The process of earning backlinks is critical for increasing your site’s visibility in search engines. There are many ways to build backlinks on your own; some methods are more effective and help you obtain higher-quality links. Before investing in an agency, you can start earning backlinks by trying the following strategies:

Get Links from Your Suppliers

Suppliers whose products you sell usually have pages like “where to buy” on their sites. Being listed on these pages allows you to easily gain backlinks.
Contact your suppliers and express your interest in being included on such pages. Often, these lists are not frequently updated, so a direct request can be effective.

Niche-Specific Directories

Every industry or niche has directories that list relevant businesses. These directories can be global or local. To find niche-specific directories on Google, you can search like this: “industry name + directory.” By adding your site to these directories, you can earn backlinks in return.

Turn Brand Mentions into Links

Sometimes your site may be mentioned in the media without a link. If you encounter this, reach out to the publisher and kindly ask them to add a link to your site where your brand is mentioned.

Be Listed as a Resource

If you create quality content or products, some platforms may use you as a resource and link to your site. For example, listing your job opportunities on university career resource pages can help students while also earning you backlinks.

Conduct and Publish Research

You can earn backlinks by conducting original research and sharing it with the media. Journalists and editors love unique data-driven research and often share it. Although this method requires time and effort, the backlinks you gain are valuable.

Analyze Competitor Link Profiles

To understand which links help your competitors rank well, perform competitor analysis. Various SEO tools allow you to examine your competitors’ backlink profiles. Identify links your competitors have that you don’t, and strive to earn similar links.

By using these methods, you can gain quality backlinks for your site without paying large amounts to agencies.