What Are Backlinks?
Backlinks are also commonly known as “inbound links”, “incoming links” or “one-way links”. They are links from one website to a page on another website. Large search engines such as Google see backlinks as “votes”. Website pages with a high number of backlinks tend to have high organic search engine rankings which are overall great for your business!
So, Why Exactly Are Backlinks Important?
Well to put it simply, backlinks are votes from other websites which make your website seem more credible. These votes tell viewers that your content is valuable and of good quality. So, the more of these “votes” you have, the higher your site will rank in Google and other search engines which intern creates more traffic and more exposure to your product or service. Backlinks form the base of Google’s algorithm and therefore are vital for your page to be highly ranked. Google that backlinks remain one of their three most important search engine ranking factors.
The importance of Quality Backlinks
if you want your website to rank higher in the SERPs, focus on quality backlinks. A single quality backlink can be more valuable than 1,000 low-quality backlinks.
High-quality Backlinks Share the Same Key Traits Such As:
1. They Come From Trusted, Authoritative Websites
This concept is known as “Domain Authority”. Essentially, the more authority a site has, the more authority it can pass on to your site (via a link).
2. They Include Your Target Keyword In The Link’s Anchor Text
Anchor text is the visible text part of a link. You don’t want to go overboard with keyword-rich anchor text but you should have a good balance. In fact, Google has a filter in their algorithm called “Google Penguin”. Google Penguin filters out websites that use black hat link building strategies and it specifically focuses on sites that build backlinks with exact match anchor text.
3. The Site (and Page) Linking to You Is Topically Related To Your Site.
When a website links to another website, Google wants to see that the two sites are related
4. The Link Is a “Dofollow” Link
Google and other search engines ignore links with the “nofollow” tag attached to it.
We hope that you found this article on backlinks insightful and that you now understand the importance of using backlinks on your website. For more information on backlinks and how you can start incorporating them, contact the Shrike Marketing and Design Team today!