Why is Building Backlinks Important?
Backlinks are the core of the Off Page SEO part of Google’s Algorithm.
Actually, links from other websites to your website has been a core part of Google’s Algorithm since they began…and is the reason their search results were so much better than every one else’s.
Still today, over 20 years later, backlinks are a critical part of their algorithm. Really, “backlinking” and “Off Page SEO” are synonymous.
Generally the more backlinks you have (and the more links those links have, etc), the more authority your website has.
What Types of Backlinks are There?
It is important to understand that Google doesn’t exactly classify links into different types. It would be more accurate to say they look at all the properties of a backlink and the website and webpage it appears on.
Certain types of backlinks tend to have common properties, so it is these properties that, ultimately, will determine the SEO value of a link pointing back to your website.
The following list is not exhaustive, but does include some of the most common types of backlinks.
Furthermore, some links can fall under multiple categories at once.
- Outreach Links — AKA Guest Posts: This is the most common type of “white hat” backlink out there. They can definitely help, but by themselves are usually not enough to rank because they are missing some important factors.
- Business Citation Links: These are usually found in business directories and are important for local SEO.
- PBN (Private Blog Network) Links: These would be classified by most SEO professionals as “Gray Hat,” but they can offer a big power boost to your links that you can’t get with other types of links
- Social Media Links: These are quick and easy to get when you build your normal social profiles like Twitter, YouTube, Facebook, etc. Simply link to your website in the proper spot. They aren’t going to help you rank, but not having them does look a bit weird to Google’s Algorithm.
- Web 2.0 Links
- Press Release Links
- Blog Comments
- Forum Links
- Profile Links
- Spammy Links
- Article Submission Links
- Broken Link Building
- Editorial Links
- Webinar Backlinks
- Document Sharing Links
- Edu Backlinks
- Gov Backlinks
- Nofollow Links
For a more detailed look at each backlink type, click here
Can Backlinks be Bad for your Website?
Yes!
Back in the day, let’s say 2012, you could build a few hundred profile links and rank for big keywords. So easy!
But, that doesn’t work anymore and can actually get you penalized.
As I said, it is not just about the types of the links, but the properties of each link and of your link building profile as a whole. For example, anchor text can be over optimized or under optimized. This is something that the Penguin Algorithm is built to detect.
So, beware of the links going back to your website.
What should I do about getting Links?
In general, Google wants you to get links “naturally” by creating great content and having people come to you.
Unfortunately, sitting around and waiting for people to link to your awesome content isn’t really practical for most businesses.
So, that’s why you hire me to do the heavy lifting for you!