Backlinks

· A backlink is a link that directs visitors from another website to yours.

· Obtaining backlinks is fundamental to improving your sites search engine ranking, the best ranking sites have thousands of backlinks.

· While backlinks are important, they are not easy to get and the outreach process can be timely and expensive.

· There are a common set of guidelines to follow when looking to obtain backlinks. However, these guidelines are often breached, impacting a site's ability to get more backlinks.

Anyone who knows anything about boosting a website’s SEO and earning the praise of the Google God knows the importance of backlinks. Not only do backlinks send more traffic to your site, but they help you gain notoriety as an authority in your industry.

Some backlinks are gained organically, which means one website stumbles upon the amazing content on your web page and links to it without you asking. Others are gained by paying, providing content, or begging and pleading.

Backlinks are not an easy job

Let’s be honest, earning backlinks as a newbie or start-up isn’t easy. It sometimes takes years to gain the type of authority and notoriety that makes other websites willingly backlink to you as a resource. So, while you’re gaining traction, building SEO, and working your way to the top, you may need to take a different approach.

This is where soliciting other websites for backlinks comes into play. With millions of websites crowding the internet, there are plenty in desperate need of quality content. So, what does that mean for you?

You offer to write a quality, content-driven article (more on this later) free of charge for a website to use on their blog. You might be thinking, “What? Why would I write an article for free?” Well, when you slip a backlink to your website into the article, you’re increasing the chances that you’ll see a boost in traffic and SEO.

But, as the old saying goes, nothing worth having in life is truly free.

This is why in addition to the time it takes you to write the article, you may need to pay a publishing fee. Websites know how valuable backlinks are and they’re not afraid to charge you for them.

Not sure that jumping through all of these hoops is worth it? Well, it is and we’re about to tell you why.

What are backlinks?

Simply put, a backlink is a link that directs visitors from another website to yours. Think of it as a reference. Backlinks are mostly found in informative blog posts. If you’ve ever clicked on blue, highlighted words in an article, and found yourself redirected to another website, you just clicked on a backlink. And chances are, that website owner paid for that link.

You can get backlinks in a few different ways. The easiest way is to pay the publishing site to place a backlink in an existing article. This method is generally cheaper and requires less work on your part. But, you have less control over the anchor text or the article’s content. If you don’t care, great! But if you want more control over your backlinks, you’ll need to provide the content yourself.

That means writing a blog post with a link to your website embedded naturally and contextually. Some websites post the content with your backlink on their page free of charge. These are usually websites with low domain authority in need of content to fill their pages.

While these backlinks aren’t as valuable to your site, a backlink is a backlink, and even ones from low ranking sites can help boost your SEO.

If you’re shooting for more high-profile websites with high domain authority, you’ll need to provide both the content and pay a publishing fee.

The fees are usually outlined in the publishing site’s guest post criteria and can range anywhere from $30 to hundreds, so be prepared to shell out some cold hard cash.

Why backlinks are important?

So, why do website owners pay money (or provide free content) to receive a backlink? Backlinks are actually a much more cost-effective way to advertise your business or website. By making a single investment, you could gain thousands of visitors that convert to sales.

Increased traffic on your website also helps boost your SEO and your ranking on the SERPs (search engine results page). But that’s not all. Backlinks are like a glowing recommendation from a well-known professional in your field. When a high-ranking website backlinks to yours it gives you more credibility. In time, this will increase your domain authority.

The number of referring domains is one of the first things Google considers when ranking your site. The more you have, the higher your site will rank on the SERPs.

Proof that backlinks work

Still not convinced that backlinks are worth your time or investment?

Websites with more than 300 referring domains are much more likely to rank in the number one spot then, let’s say, a website with only 50 backlinks.

The quality of your backlinks are just as important as the quantity. The higher domain the authority of the referring website, the better it is for your SEO and ranking. For example, if you’re someone designing a new sports beverage, you’re much more likely to gain traction with an endorsement from a professional athlete like Shaq then you would be from a high school basketball coach.