What are back links? Also referred to as inbound links, backlinks are links to a website that are incorporated into another website’s content. If a website blogging about seasonal allergies recommends visiting another website for information about other allergies (mold, food, etc), they will say so in their content. Here is an example of a website using a backlink:
“While seasonal allergies are the most common type of allergies, many people are highly allergic to mold and food like shellfish and peanuts. You will find excellent, in-depth information about non-seasonal allergies by visiting [insert URL here).”
Having multiple backlinks linking to your website is a proven method of directing a steady stream of traffic to your site. However, the reputation of who is backlinking to your website is just as important as the number of backlinks you accumulate. Let’s say the seasonal allergy blogger urges visitors to check out your website. Great, right? That means more traffic to your website, right? Well, it would be great except that the blogger is a scammer hawking fake supplements to allergy sufferers. Google’s search algorithms would probably ding your site for associating with a substandard website.
Benefits of High-Quality Backlinks to Your Website
Faster Indexing by Search Engines
When Google’s search crawlers detect authoritative backlinks in webpage content, they automatically place those pages higher in search returns. Examples of authoritative backlinks would be URLs ending with .gov, .org, and .edu.
Building Brand
While search engines can detect backlinks, webpage visitors can actually seebacklinks. When your brand or company name is used as the anchor text for a hyperlink on another website, people see your company name and will likely click the hyperlinked name. Using a brand name as anchor text is a good way to increase awareness of your particular company or brand.
Reduces Bounce Rates
The primary goal of backlinks is to get a steady stream of referral traffic to your website. In most cases, people will click on your backlink in a blog, article, or social media post to learn more about something they are interested in. This means the visitors you receive are more targeted to what you are offering and are less likely to quickly leave or “bounce” off your website.
Boost Domain Authority
For years, Google has kept how it ranks websites tightly under wraps (for the most part). However, intrepid digital media experts have learned by meticulously researching website ranking that Google tends to rank new sites lower than established websites. Developing domain authority (basically, how authoritative your website is according to Google’s algorithms) is essential for achieving and maintaining a decent to high rank on search returns.
Having little to no domain authority should be expected with new websites that have just a few pages of content and no backlinks. However, it’s never too early to start developing your domain authority by consistently publishing content that is relevant to your business and backlinking your site to websites with high domain authority.
It is time-consuming and complex to improve your website’s ranking and domain authority with backlinks. Let Kick Digital Media handle the link-building aspect of your website and social media accounts so you can focus solely on the success of your business. Contact us today for information about our digital marketing specialties.