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What are backlinks?

For those who don’t know, backlinks are literal links to a website. Backlinks are seen as important in the marketing world as they give search engines an indication of a website’s importance.
In the past, a website with many links would be seen as more important than those with fewer, therefore increasing a websites ability to rank well in the search engines.
Since then, however, search engines such as Google have focused attention on the quality of backlinks, which leads us back to the question.. Are fewer high quality backlinks more effective than a lot of low quality backlinks?

What defines a high quality backlink?

A high quality backlink is a link that comes from a high authority domain. This would be a website that is seen as trustworthy in both the eyes of people and search crawlers. Websites such as Facebook have high authority, as they are well established and popular.
A domain authority can be checked using this website authority tool.

Is it valuable having loads of backlinks

In the past, a lot of backlinks were seen as a good thing, and they still can be, however this depends on the quality of the actual backlinks. Having hundreds of easily obtainable backlinks, such as those that can be bought, will be seen as a negative thing in the eyes of the search engines. Low quality or untrustworthy backlink sources can actually harm your website and reduce its chances of being ranked well.
High quality backlinks may be harder to obtain, however they give Google a good indication of your website’s importance. If a high authority website mentions your website, it will boost its importance in the eyes of Google.
That being said, it is important that the backlinks are relevant or they could appear deceptive. For example, a website that sells exotic meats would not much benefit from a backlink from a make up company, even if it is high quality. Deceptive methods will only harm a website in the long run.

How to get high quality backlinks?

There are many ways to gain high quality backlinks, however you should expect to be knocked back often. This is normal.
Content and infographic creation is an easy way to get your foot in the door with high authority websites.
Infographics are visual representations of data, which are easy to read and highly valued on the internet. An easy way to get backlinks is by creating valuable infographics and persuading other websites in your industry to share the infographic and reference back to your website. The same goes with content. If the content is good and relevant, then many people will have no problem with crediting you.
This method can be repeated until you have built a list of high quality backlinks.
TOP TIP– By creating engaging content on your own website, you promote sharability. Include share buttons to increase exposure. This will increase its reach and the chances that someone references your website.
If you require any SEO work, or even would need us to design your very own infographic, feel free to get in touch with us.