Building Better Backlinks: A Guide for Businesses

A backlink, also known as an inbound link or external link, is a link that leads from one site to another. It’s created when one website links to another and is considered one of the most important ranking factors in search engine optimization or SEO.  

Backlinks prompt search engines to view your website as a reputable and authoritative source. This, in turn, can positively affect its ranking or search visibility.  

In this guide, we’ll share with you how you can build better backlinks that can positively impact your SEO. 

The Importance of Backlinks for Websites 

Not all backlinks are valuable and relevant. Depending on their type, they can have a varied influence on the outcome of search engine results pages or SERPs. 

A good backlink is a powerful tool for your website. Google places importance on links from sites with high domain authority and industry relevance.  

Factors that affect a link’s value are the following: 

• Linking Site Authority 

Where a backlink comes from is one important determiner of its quality. The best ones come from high-quality authoritative sites. Having more links from these sites will prompt search engines to view your site positively compared to having links from low-quality or obscure sites. 

Generally, sites with authorities of  60 to 100 are phenomenal, 40 to 50 are okay, and below 40 isn’t great. You can check a websites domain authority with a tool such as Small SEO Tools.

• Linking Industry Relevance 

Besides coming from a high-quality authoritative site. It is also important that site relates to your industry and the products or services you offer. This can increase the links value as it attracts the right traffic back to your site, increases brand credibility, and helps you build relationships with those in your industry. 

• Linking bare URL or Keywords 

You can have your bare website URL link back to your site or you can have a specific keyword with your website url attached to it link back to your site. Linking a keyword can help improve your website’s ranking for that specific keyword you added the link to. 

Example: 

Linking Bare URL: https://hellomyseo.com/ 

Linking Keyword: SEO services for businesses

How to Build Better Backlinks 

Businesses can get more backlinks by observing the following practices: 

• List your business on online directories 

Listing your business on relevant and trustworthy directories helps customers find you. Having your site on local listings can also help improve your local SEO, as these act as local citations that, in turn, can be a source of backlinks.  

Examples: Google My Business, Yelp, BBB, and search for online directories related to your niche through a simple Google search. 

• Guest posting on other relevant sites 

Guest posting may be hard work, but it gives you a lot in return. More than just giving you a backlink, it can also increase traffic for your website.  

You should also try to get guest posts on industry-relevant sites. As important as the post itself is the link that goes back to your website is also important. 

• Ask for a backlink 

You can ask another website that already has a relevant blog post to link back to your site. You can also reciprocate this action to nurture a good relationship with other bloggers or website owners. 

• Create quality content 

As a website owner, you should create content that’s shareable. To get people to share your content and to get noticed by search engines like Google, it needs to meet Google’s EAT guidelines. It should be indicative of your expertise, authority, and trustworthiness.  

After coming up with unique and relevant content, you need to make it look interesting by adding elements like an image or a video. No one wants to look at, let alone share, a huge block of plain text. 

Moreover, one of the easiest ways to build backlinks is to conduct a search for business mentions of your site. Find unlinked mentions on other websites and ask their owners to add the appropriate links to your site.  

Running a business while trying to build a better website isn’t exactly the easiest thing to do. 

To make it easier for you, you can use effective SEO services that audit your website, implement SEO best practices, and track your progress and rankings. With Hello SEO, you’ll have a more convenient way to optimize your site for better ranking and visibility. Find out what we can do for you today.