In SEO, backlinks are one of the most important aspects of building an effective website. They can greatly help increase your search engine rankings and drive targeted traffic to your content. When I started learning SEO the most difficult thing for me was to learn about backlinks.

I’m sure you have heard the term “Quality Backlinks” but do you know what a backlink is and how it works? If you don’t then in this guide, I’m going to share everything there is to know about backlinks: how they work and why they matter. So if you want to learn more about them read on.

What Are Backlinks?

Backlinks, also known as “Outbound links” are links from one website to another. When another website links to yours, it signals that your content is relevant and valuable. They’re important because search engines use them as an indication of the popularity and relevance of a site or page, which in turn affects the position it appears in search results.

Difference Between a Link and a Backlink

Before I explain how backlinks work, it’s important to distinguish between a link and a backlink. They are not the same.

• A link is a connection from one website to another and does not necessarily impact search engine rankings.
• By contrast, backlinks are links that do count as part of the search engine’s ranking algorithm.

Why Are Backlinks Important to SEO?

Backlinks are an essential element for off page SEO. They act like a vote of confidence, telling search engines like Google that the content on your site is trustworthy and reliable. Having more quality backlinks can help you move higher on the search engine results pages (SERPS) which, in turn, will drive more organic traffic to your website.

When a page with many backlinks gets indexed by Google, it’s viewed as more authoritative and trustworthy than a page with fewer links. It gives the content an SEO boost, helping it to appear higher in the SERPs. Because backlinks are such an important part of website performance, it’s critical that you build a strong backlink profile.

In today’s world, having robust and high-quality backlinks is essential for increasing visibility and driving traffic to your website. Using tactics such as guest blogging, crafting effective content and actively engaging with social media are just some methods by which you can acquire important backlinks to improve your SEO efforts.

How Do Backlinks Work?

Backlinks work like trust signals for search engines. They show the search engines that your content is valuable and trustworthy, which helps you rank higher in their results pages. When other high-quality sites link to your site, it tells the search engine that you are a reputable source of information.

High-quality backlinks also send more targeted traffic to your website, increasing your number of visitors and potential customers. It’s important to note that not all backlinks work in the same way; rather, some work better than others.

A good rule of thumb is to focus on getting high quality backlinks from authoritative websites with relevant content surrounding yours. Doing so will help you increase your rankings in major search engines and create more opportunities for leads.

However, you must remember that while creating backlinks you have to focus on Quality instead of Quantity. Because if you create a large number of backlinks from low-quality sources, it can harm your website’s performance in the SERPs. It’s also called black hat SEO which is against Google guidelines.

How Backlinks Help Your Website’s SEO?

Now it’s not like you will create backlinks and Google will rank you. Google is more sophisticated than that and looks at various factors to rank the websites. Backlinks are just one of those factors, like website speed, site structure, content quality, etc. Backlinks help your SEO in four ways:

• Improved search engine rankings: As mentioned above, backlinks can improve your website’s rankings by showing search engines that your website is credible and relevant to a particular topic.
• Increased traffic: Higher search engine rankings can lead to more traffic to your website, which can help to increase your brand awareness and reach a wider audience.
• Greater credibility: Backlinks from high-quality websites can improve the credibility of your website in the eyes of both search engines and users.
• Enhanced networking opportunities: Building backlinks can also help you to connect with other websites and bloggers in your industry, which can lead to valuable networking opportunities.

In essence, backlinks are like a snowball effect – the more you have, the higher your rankings will be in the SERPs and the more traffic you drive to your site.

It’s important to note that while backlinks are an important factor in SEO, they should not be relied upon as the only metric. You should also focus on creating high-quality content, optimizing your website for speed and usability, and engaging with social media to get more visibility.

By taking a holistic approach to SEO and focusing on quality backlinks, you can ensure that your website is properly optimized for search engines and, as a result, will help you get more organic traffic and better rankings.

Related: Why You Should Invest in SEO

Different Ways To Get Backlinks

There are different types of backlinks, each with its attributes and benefits. Some of the most common types of backlinks include:

• Natural backlinks: Backlinks that you gain without actively or passively creating them. They randomly come in from external websites that find your content worthy of attribution. These backlinks are the most valuable because they show that other websites find your content valuable and worth linking to.
• Self-created backlinks: These are backlinks you create yourself, such as through guest blogging or creating profiles on social media or other websites. Self-created backlinks can be useful for building your website’s backlink profile. Still, they are not as valuable as natural backlinks.
• Paid Backlinks: You can get or obtain them through payment or exchange. Paid backlinks can effectively boost your website’s search engine rankings. Still, they can also be risky because search engines may penalize websites that use them.

Now every backlink has its own importance, but if you have to choose one over the other, it is Natural Backlinks. To earn natural backlinks, you have to create quality content. Content that is worth linking to.

What is the difference Between Dofollow and Nofollow Links?

There is a misconception among bloggers and SEOs. They consider dofollow and nofollow links as two different types of backlinks. However, they are not two types of backlinks.

Dofollow and Nofollow are two tags (HTML attributes) that you can use when creating hyperlinks on your website or blog post. Both play an important role while creating backlinks.

• Dofollow links are the default type of link and most of the links on the web are Dofollow links. When a website uses a Dofollow link, it passes along its own “link juice” to the other side, which can benefit both websites in terms of search engine rankings.

Dofollow Backlink Example: <a href=”echofish.io/”>EchoFish</a>

• On the other hand, Nofollow links tell search engines not to follow a particular link. They do not pass on any “link juice” and do not influence your website’s rankings in any way. However, they can still be beneficial for generating traffic from other websites.

Nofollow Backlink Example: <a href=”echofish.io” rel=”nofollow”>EchoFish</a>

The only difference between Dofollow and Nofollow is an attribute. But, one should remember that search engines may penalize websites if they find too many dofollow links.

So it is good to have a mixture of both links. I would say create 80% dofollow links and 20% Nofollow links. This way google won’t penalize your website and at the same time, it will get some link juice.

Which Backlinks Are Best For Your Website?

Now you know the types of backlinks and attributes the next step is to figure out which type would be the best for you. Because you cannot create backlinks on any website that has some authority. There are a few factors that you should consider before creating backlinks. The best type of backlink is one that fulfills the following attributes:

• Is the site (overall) relevant to your website?
• Is the site getting a decent amount of organic traffic? 5 figures or more.
• More importantly, is that site on an upward growth trend, static, or is it declining, and by how much?”
• Do the individual posts on the site rank for anything decent?
• Does the domain have a decent, varied link profile from real sites, or do SPAM and low quality links prop it up?
• Is the site linking internally from the primary domain to its posts where links are placed?
• Is the site well-monetised, or do they look as if they are monetizing primarily through selling links?
• Is the external link anchors heavily exact match anchors to money terms or exact match overall? If so, it could be a red flag to Google.

Before creating a backlink, it’s important to consider the above factors. Because if you create a backlink on an irrelevant or spammy website, your website will get penalized by Google. So it’s better to create high-quality backlinks relevant to your niche.

Related: Complete On-page SEO Checklist

Do Backlinks Still Matter For SEO?

Yes, they are the foundation of Google’s original PageRank algorithm. The Google patent on PageRank described links as “important” because they are “one of the most important factors in determining the rank of a web page.”

Links still matter because they are one of the most important factors that Google uses to determine the rank of a web page. Links, along with content, are still among the top two ranking factors.

So if you want your website to rank higher in Google, you need to focus on getting quality backlinks from high-quality websites.

Final Thoughts

Backlinks are an important part of any successful blogging strategy because they help increase visibility and trustworthiness with readers and customers alike. 

By using quality content creation techniques and outreach strategies like guest posting or social media sharing, bloggers can build up a strong network of quality backlinks that will help their site rank higher in the search engine results pages (SERPs) and attract more visitors over time. 

Don’t forget—building up quality backlinks takes time so don’t expect overnight success.