Importance of Backlinks in SEO and How to Build Quality Backlinks in 2022?

Did you know the importance of Backlinks in SEO and how to build them in 2022?

If not, then this article is a perfect match for you.

So, let’s start with a simple example.

According to a recent disclose by ‘Andrey Lippatsev’ of Google – “ Backlinks, Content and RankBrain are among the top 3 ranking signals in the search algorithms of Google. These three must be essentially focused area in order to enhance your ranking on Google SERP’s.

What is a Backlink?

A backlink is a link which points to your website on other website and vice versa. Importance of backlinks in SEO is widely known among the digital individuals due to their benefits and advantages in Google rankings and web traffic growth.

A backlink is considered as the backbone of SEO activities.  It allows the web crawlers to go to next website after visiting a webpage. In addition, backlink transfers the link juice of a website to another website which enhances the ranking in search engines. Importance of backlinks in SEO is well known and even major digital marketers suggest focusing on building quality-based backlinks.

Backlinks are also known as incoming links, inbound links, or one way links. Better amount and quality of backlinks ensures high ranking in search engines such as Google, Bing. 

Here is a screenshot of a Backlink that we got from Medium – a popular content marketing platform. 

Why Backlinks are important?

Backlinks plays a vital role in enhancing the online visibility of a website. These backlinks can be considered as the votes from other websites. A good number of these votes means good rankings in the search results.

In addition, these votes convey the search engines about the value, credibility and benefits of the content available on the website for which the backlinks are developed. 

Moreover, these backlinks tells the Google to rank the webpage higher as it contain meaningful information due to which users are linking their webpage to this content.

Over the time, Google introduced many new ranking signals in their algorithms but backlinks and content are still considered as the major or key ranking factors.

In fact, Backlinks are the part of foundation of PageRank i.e. a Google algorithm for rating web pages.

There are possibilities that “A webpage can still rank higher in the search results if they have good quality backlinks along with content. Paying attention to these two can easily enhance your rankings if you are not aware of various factors of Google algorithms.

Furthermore, these backlinks also transfers the link juice to the websites. This link juice is important in telling the Google that the content is reliable and useful for the audience. 

What types of backlinks are useful in Google rankings? 

Not all backlinks are equally important. 

The quality of a backlink depend upon the several factors of a website such as spam score, domain authority, page authority, etc. 

In simple words, if you want to rank your web page higher in the search results then consider building quality based backlinks.

It can be said that “A quality backlink brings much better results than 1000’s of poor backlink combined. 

Key factors to consider for determining the quality of backlinks are as follows:

1. Authoritative and trust ability of the website

When it comes to trust and authoritativeness, domain authority and page authority are the best parameters to count on. 

Same as People, Google too believe that trust is the key to interaction.

If you are taking a backlink from a website with high domain authority, then there are high chances of boost in the rankings.

For example: The backlink we got from the Medium (screenshot posted above) has a domain authority of 95 which boosted our web traffic. We noticed the changes in our analytics ourselves within few days of the link building.

2. Must have targeted keywords

A backlink can provide more link juice if targeted with a relevant keyword.

This is generally done with the help of anchor text. Anchor text refers to the keywords which are used for displaying a hyperlink in content. The anchor text is generally a set of underlined keywords which are displayed in colours such as Anchor text. 

Backlinks through these anchor texts enhances your ranks very much as they transfers high amount of link juice as compared to a direct link. 

Avoid using too much keyword rich anchor text so as to avoid Google Penguin penalty.

3. Website from which you are taking backlink must be relevant to your page

This is another major factor for determining the quality of a backlink.

The site to which you are linking must be relevant to you. If your site is not relevant with the other then Google won’t acknowledge and rank your page in the search results.

Google highly focus on the relevancy of the websites in order to pass the link juice. Irrelevant backlinks does not pass sufficient link juice.

For example: If your website belongs to the tech domain, then you cannot directly take backlink from a website of health sector. In order to take backlink from the health domain, you have to inter-relate the technology and health together and then place your backlink accordingly.

4. Must be a Do-follow link

Till now, you may have got an idea that backlinks transfers link juice. However this “Link Juice” is only transferred, if the links are do-follow links. 

Both do-follow and no-follow links are under the control of link builder. It depends upon you whether to make your link do-follow or no-follow. 

While do-follow links transfers the link juice, a no-follow link can enhance your brand reach and presence without the need of link juice. Both of these types of links are essential to rank in the results of Google search.

5. Use new or unlinked domains

Backlinks when taken from a new website give better results as compared to the repetition of backlinks from same website.

The more backlinks you take from a same website, the more less returns it will provide. We have demonstrated a graph for the same.

If you keep taking backlinks from same domain then upon a time, the returns will be comparatively very low than of a low domain authority website.

It’s better to take 10 backlinks from 10 websites instead of taking 100 backlinks from 10 websites.

Types of Backlinks

Generally, there are 3 types of backlinks which are widely used by the website owners and businesses to rank a website on the first page of Google. These three types of backlinks are as follows:

Natural links

Such types of backlinks are developed without the consent of website owners. People who are reading and sharing your content can give you this type of backlink if they are using your content for references. Website owners whose content is being shared will be given a backlink without the consent in order to be called a natural link. 

Let’s take an example from the above illustration

If website A i.e. the Blogging website gives a content backlink to our website i.e. Digiroads without our consent then it will be called as a natural backlink. Quality based genuine content is the key to obtain natural backlinks.

Manual links

These types of backlinks are generally achieved through guest posting, article and blog postings etc. Such backlinks can be achieved through link earning activities.

For example: In the above illustration, if Digiroads try to request a link to be placed on the website A, then it would fall under manual links. Such links ensures to boost your ranking in the search results. So, always ensure to place your link with your targeted keywords in order to get maximum results.

Self-created links

These types of links are manually added by the website owners in type of forum posting, blog commenting, or creating online directories. These links also comes with a “no follow” tag. This no follow tag is used to prevent users from using Black hat SEO strategies. 

So, if you are working on self-created links, then avoid using black hat SEO techniques. Black hat SEO can lead to ban of your site. In addition, Google can penalise your website if found guilty of Black Hat SEO Techniques.

How to Build Quality Backlinks in 2022?

Till now, you may have got the idea on the importance of backlinks in SEO. 

But how to build backlinks which lasts long for better results?

Well, we are here for you to answer this question.

Our experts are active in digital marketing and advertising from last 10 years. Throughout their experience, they gained valuable information of the link building process. Through their experience and information, you can also build quality backlinks for ranking your web pages higher in the search engines results.

Steps to consider while building backlinks for your website:

1. Use Moz Plugin for Chrome

This is the first step to consider before you are ready to build backlinks for your website.

Moz  is a SEO tool and software company aimed to enhance the digital marketing experience among the people. The company has a Chrome plugin for SEO activities.

Through this Moz plugin, you can determine the various factors of a website on which you are building backlink. These factors include spam score, domain authority, Page authority, number of backlinks etc. for your convenience.

By considering these factors, you can determine the quality of backlink which you will receive after building.

2. Choose Your Activities and Link Types

Link building comes with different activities and different types. 

You may be aware that link building is the part of Off-page SEO. The off page SEO activities such as content marketing, comment/blog/article posting, web 2.0/pdf/image submissions highly impacts the ranking of your website.

Determine your activities which should be done on regular basis. In addition, develop your plan and content according to the type of backlinks for which you are going like natural, manual or self-created.

3. Brainstorm Keywords to be targeted

This is another major task to focus on while building your links. 

Links with anchor text transfer more link juice so research and choose your keywords wisely.

According to the Google, link with hypertext keywords gives a clear idea to the users and crawlers regarding the relevancy and type of the webpage.

So brainstorm for creative keywords to be included in your backlinks content. Ensure that you are using unique and long tail keywords. Do not go for general and short tail keywords.

4. Use Informative Content

Content is referred as the King of the digital marketing and advertising. With great content, you can attract a large number of web visitors towards your site.

Also, great content helps in getting natural backlink from other websites without any additional efforts.

So, keep useful, long and informative content in your web pages for keeping the interest of readers to stay on the web page for more time. This is also beneficial in improving the bounce rate of the website which is also a core algorithm factor.

5. Engage with Other Users

It’s a common thing that you have to make a profile on digital platforms and websites for getting the backlinks. 

However, don’t just create a profile, post and exit. Instead perform other interactive activities like sharing, liking, commenting etc. on the platform too apart from the backlink. Moreover, this is beneficial for branding purpose so as to enhance the digital reach.

After considering these factors, you are ready to build your backlinks. Research and find best websites with the help of Moz toolbar and then start to boost your rank.