Backlinks – links coming from other sites and web resources – are the backbone of any good search engine optimisation strategy. 

Whether you are focusing on paid links with guest blogging or natural link building from the content you create is shared around, you will often want a stable supply of good backlinks to help push your brand forward.

 

Importance of Backlinks According to Google

The backlinks pointing to your site make up your link profile, a general list of links that all have some kind of impact on your site. 

As sites build links, the authority of those links is passed along to that site, which can positively or negatively affect how it appears in search results.

How Does This Work?

For example, an editorial backlink from a major page of a reputable website can transfer some of that ‘value’ back to your site, boosting the overall quality of the page in Google’s search system and increasing its position in searches. 

Bad links would do the opposite, creating low-quality pages that appear lower in searches.

Understanding Other Types of Links

Nofollow links do not retain any of the “link juice” – they transfer no value. Outbound links do not really impact the site that created them, and links in the comments on blogs comments won’t transfer any value either. 

Internal Links

There’s more than one type of internal link. You have your links to your post feed, homepage, menu, etc, but you can also add links within your content. These are called contextual links and they point users to interesting and related content within your website. Additionally, they allow search engines to find the content in your site, figure out what’s related to and determine its value.

The more links one of your pages receives, the more important it will appear to search engines. So, good internal links that point to related content are crucial to your SEO strategy.

 

What is an Editorial Backlink?

An editorial backlink is one of the best backlink types you can create. This happens when another company posts something related to your company, website, product or service, then directly links to you. 

Since the posts are created with a direct reference to something on the page they link to, the value is incredibly high.

How Do I Get Editorial Backlinks?

Natural backlinks from editorials come from posting content that other sites want to refer back to. 

This could be pages of guides and instructions, an article that has some major relevance to a major website, or anything else that people may want to link to. 

Are These Links Expensive?

You can pay for these backlinks, but they’re usually earned by creating a relevant article or piece of content that other brand names and businesses see as valuable. 

Regular content marketing won’t work in the same way since you need to create content that’s both visible and worth linking to.

 

Contextual and Topical Relevance

Backlinks have to be relevant. From directories to forum posts, good link tactics involve ranking for the right terms and getting traffic from the right places. 

Sites that are selling links, like directory links, might not check for relevancy, so you need to do it yourself.

For example, directories of pages or content about the SEO industry are a great place for an SEO agency that needs a link back. 

If you’re not an SEO marketing agency, then even the best anchor text won’t make up for the irrelevant link.

Handling Relevancy

Google sees all websites as a set of keywords and anchor text, and each Google Search for a related topic could bring it up as a result. 

Quality content and links are about having anchor text from the right websites and buried in the right content, like a blog post specifically mentioning the industry your company is part of.

Types of Backlinks

Some types of links are more related to search engines than others. A blog’s guest post is usually weaker overall than an industry site, even if they’re both relevant in the same way.

Search Engines, Keywords and Relevancy

Including all the right words in the anchor text won’t always make a website ideal for links. 

If websites about pets start linking to your web marketing business, then Google will notice that something isn’t right. The subject of the site is just as important as the post that contains your link.

 

Best Way to Build High-Quality Links

Building good backlinks means finding out what’s valuable to your brand, sites, or business. However, you also need to understand what makes backlinks worth using.

The Type of Links

Different types of links work differently, even if the link building process is similar. Press releases are going to have more authority than blog comments, whereas “free tool” links towards some free feature your website offers are likely to boost your website when users look for free programs.

Defining different types of backlinks can be hard, but a good mixture of link building techniques is always good for even the smallest website. 

If you have a link portfolio with only one or two website domains in it, you can suddenly take a huge hit if a website goes down or deletes the pages that you’re relying on.

Link Building Quantity and Quality

A lot of poor-quality types of backlinks can temporarily boost your website, but once Google scans each link, they might invalidate them. 

Having half your links suddenly penalised can knock your search engine position down extremely fast and make it very hard to recover.

A smaller amount of powerful links are better for ranking in general, but your strategy should be to have a mixture of both. 

The more diverse your link portfolio is, the easier it becomes to avoid relying on a few links that could become nofollow links or get taken down at any moment.

Traffic

Remember that good links don’t need high traffic. Some of the different best types of links are the ones that sit on forgotten pages and contribute to your ranking in search engines. 

Even if some types of backlinks are barely used, they’re a vital tool for improving your SEO because every link still offers something regardless of how hidden they are.

 

How to Buy Backlinks

Like almost anything else, backlinks are fairly easy to buy as long as you find the right site. 

Many SEO agencies offer to collect links for their clients, but some people choose to do their own SEO and proposition sites with offers for links.

Sometimes you will be able to get a link from a smaller blog, and other times you will find a paid link opportunity in a major website’s blog.

Paid Opportunities

Some sites, especially blogs, will openly state their prices for links, as well as the terms of how these links can be used. This might limit the type of link you can pay for, etc.

Finding these opportunities is simple with even the most basic search engines, but it also means that you have to trust the site. If they swap links to nofollow or don’t do the right SEO work after you pay them, that is another headache to manage.

Through Digital Marketing

SEO is one of the easiest ways to improve your link portfolio, and an SEO agency like Searcharoo is ideal for most businesses. 

Having to track down every tool yourself and work out the best way to draw attention from search engines can be extremely frustrating for the average website owner.

 

Conclusion

Link building can seem very hard at first, but it is also very easy to over-complicate it for yourself. Most of the time, link building is best when it’s done by somebody who’s already managing your SEO since they get a much better understanding of where your strengths and weaknesses are.

If you’re already considering SEO help, take a look at some of the things we offer. Whether you are a new site owner who’s just started blogging or the figurehead of an established business, we aim to provide personalised and insight-driven answers that can get your links in check as soon as possible.

Transparency is always a big deal in marketing, and Searcharoo remains as transparent as possible, letting you pre-approve every change and get a full overview of which links are being targeted next. 

As long as you have a basic strategy in mind, we can take over the link building and SEO work, leaving you free to focus on the parts of your business that you find important.