Backlinks are one of the most important ranking factors for SEO. But how do you get backlinks? In this guide, we’ll show you how to get backlinks from high-quality websites. So let’s get started!
What Are Backlinks? Why Do You Need Them?
Before we dive into how to get backlinks, let’s first answer the question “what are backlinks?” Backlinks are simply links from other websites to your website. They’re also sometimes called “inbound links” or “incoming links.”
Backlinks are important because they’re a signal to search engines that other websites vouch for your content. If you have a lot of backlinks from high-quality websites, then this tells Google that your content must be pretty good. As a result, your website will rank higher in search engine results pages (SERPs).
To put it simply: high-quality backlinks = higher rankings in SERPs.
Types of Backlinks
There are two types of backlinks: dofollow and nofollow.
Dofollow links are the kind of links that everyone wants. These links tell search engines to follow them and pass on link equity (ranking power).
Nofollow links, on the other hand, don’t allow search engine crawlers to follow them. This means that they don’t pass on any link equity. However, they’re still valuable because they can send traffic your way.
Why Do Backlinks Have to Be High Quality?
Now that we know what backlinks are and why they’re important, let’s answer the question: why do backlinks have to be high quality?
The answer is simple: because low-quality backlinks can actually hurt your rankings.
If you have a lot of low-quality backlinks, Google will assume that your website isn’t worth ranking high in SERPs. As a result, your website’s organic traffic will decrease, and you may even get penalized by Google.
On the other hand, if you have mostly high-quality backlinks, Google will conclude that your website is trustworthy and authoritative. As a result, your website will rank higher in SERPs, and you’ll get more organic traffic.
In other words, high-quality backlinks = higher rankings and more organic traffic. Low-quality backlinks = lower rankings and less organic traffic.
High-Quality Backlinks: Characteristics
Now that you know why high-quality backlinks are important, let’s take a look at the characteristics of high-quality backlinks:
- they come from websites that are relevant to your niche;
- they’re placed naturally in the content (i.e., not forced or unnatural);
- they’re surrounded by other high-quality links;
- they’re from websites with a good reputation;
- they have good anchor text (i.e., the text that’s used to link to your website);
- they’re not from spammy websites;
- they’re not from PBNs (private blog networks);
- they’re not from link farms;
- they don’t have the “nofollow” attribute;
- they’re not from websites that are banned by Google.
If you want to get high-quality backlinks, make sure that your backlinks have all of these characteristics.
How to Get Backlinks? The Ultimate Guide
Now that you know what backlinks are and why they’re important, let’s take a look at how to get backlinks from high-quality websites.
Publish High-Quality Content
If you want other websites to link to your website, you need to have high-quality content. After all, why would anyone want to link to low-quality content?
To write high-quality content, make sure that your content is well-researched, well-written, and informative. Also, try to publish long-form content (i.e., articles that are at least 1,000 words long). Longer articles tend to perform better in SERPs and get more backlinks.
Optimize Your Content for SEO
In addition to publishing high-quality content, you also need to optimize your content for SEO. This will help your content rank higher in SERPs, which will result in more organic traffic and backlinks.
To optimize your content for SEO, make sure to include keywords throughout your article (in the title, in the headings, etc.). You should also try to get links from other websites (i.e., backlinks). How to get backlinks? Keep reading for more tips!
Write Guest Posts
Another great way to get backlinks is by doing guest posts on other websites. When you do a guest post, you write an article for another website in your niche. In return, you usually get to include a link back to your website in your author bio.
Doing guest posts is a great way to get backlinks because you’re writing content for a relevant website in your niche. This helps to build your authority and improve your chances of ranking higher in SERPs.
In addition, most guest posts will include a link back to your website in the author bio. This is valuable because it’s a high-quality backlink from a relevant website.
Reach Out to Other Websites
Another great way to get backlinks is by reaching out to other websites in your niche. For example, if you have a website about SEO, you can reach out to other SEO websites and ask them to link to your website.
When you reach out to other websites, make sure to give them a reason to link to your website. For example, you could offer to write a guest post for their website or you could share some valuable resources that they don’t have on their website.
Participate in Forums and Communities
Another great way to get backlinks is by participating in forums and communities related to your niche. For example, if you have a website about SEO, you can participate in SEO forums and answer questions related to SEO.
When you participate in forums and communities, make sure to include a link back to your website in your signature. This is a great way to get high-quality backlinks from relevant websites.
Do Interviews and Podcasts
If you’re willing to put yourself out there, you can also get backlinks by doing interviews and podcasts. For example, you could do an interview with a popular blog in your niche or you could start your own podcast and invite guests on your show.
When you do interviews and podcasts, make sure to include a link back to your website in the show notes. This is a great way to get high-quality backlinks from popular websites in your niche.
Create Skyscraper Content
Skyscraper content is content that is significantly better than the competition. It’s the best of the best.
Creating skyscraper content is a great way to get backlinks because it gives other websites a reason to link to your website. After all, if you have the best content on a topic, why wouldn’t they want to link to it?
To create skyscraper content, start by finding popular articles in your niche. Then, create something that is significantly better than those articles. Make it longer, better researched, and more informative. If you can create true skyscraper content, you’ll be rewarded with plenty of high-quality backlinks.
Use Broken Links to Your Advantage
How to get backlinks? Whenever a website links to a broken page, it’s a wasted opportunity. After all, that website is sending its visitors to a page that doesn’t even exist!
You can use this to your advantage by finding websites that link to broken pages and then offering to create a replacement for that page. For example, if you find a website that links to a broken article about SEO, you could offer to write a new article about SEO for that website to link to.
This is a great way to get backlinks because you’re providing the website with something valuable (a working link) in exchange for a backlink.
How NOT to Get Backlinks?
Now that you know how to get backlinks, it’s important to know what NOT to do. Here are a few things to avoid if you want to stay safe and avoid getting penalized by Google.
Don’t Buy Backlinks
One of the quickest and easiest ways to get backlinks is to buy them. There are plenty of services out there that will sell you backlinks for a small fee.
While buying backlinks might seem like an easy way to get backlinks, it’s actually one of the worst things you can do. That’s because Google considers bought backlinks to be unnatural, and they will likely penalize your website if they find out you’re buying links.
So, if you’re serious about building backlinks, don’t buy them. It’s not worth the risk.
Don’t Participate in Link Farms
Link farms are groups of websites that all link to each other. The idea is that by linking to each other, they can all improve their search engine rankings.
However, link farms are considered to be unnatural by Google and participating in one can actually hurt your website’s ranking. So, it’s best to avoid them altogether. If you’re approached by a website asking you to participate in a link farm, just say no.
Don’t Use Automated Tools to Build Backlinks
There are plenty of automated tools out there that claim to build backlinks for you. However, most of these tools are either spammy or they don’t work.
Plus, even if these tools did work, using them would be against Google’s guidelines. So, it’s best to avoid them altogether.
If you want to build backlinks the right way, you’ll need to put in the hard work and do it manually. But trust us, it’s worth it.
These are just a few things to avoid if you want to stay safe and avoid getting penalized by Google. So, make sure to keep these in mind as you build backlinks to your website.