So, you’ve heard something about backlinks and their dying relevancy to your SEO and ability to be found online. Is it true that their importance is fading?  

Let us be the first to squash those doubts; backlinks are very much alive and kicking. According to recent link building survey results, more than 70% of Search Engine Optimizers consider backlinks to be a significant ranking factor. Not only that, the biggest testimony to the power of backlinks comes from Google representatives who declare their algorithms rely on backlinks.  

Although link building has always been an important part of SEO, its status has peaked and plummeted over time as Google rolled out new algorithm updates. But one thing is for certain — backlinks continue to play a major role in search engine ranking and can help your brand in more ways than one. In this post, we’ll look at some of the ways in which backlinks benefit your business. Let’s brush up on some basics, first. 

What are backlinks and how do you build them? 

Backlinks are links that trace back to your website from an external website. You may think that getting backlinks from just any website will help improve your SEO, but this strategy will not give you the results you want.  

What makes a good backlink? For starters, when your site gets backlinks from an authoritative and high-ranking website from a similar industry, it helps build your brand’s reputation. Domains such as news sites, government websites, educational websites, community websites, and charities are considered good sources for backlinks.   

You can think of backlinks as votes that determine where your website stands in search engine rankings, so getting new links is almost like earning votes in an ever-increasing visibility contest online.   

While creating engaging content is the number one tactic to win quality backlinks, it’s equally important to make sure people see your content, so make sure its up-to-date and shareable. 

How do backlinks benefit your brand?  

Generating backlinks for your business has many advantages, outside from the obvious task of aiding in your SEO. We’ve summed them up into four main benefits.  

Backlinks establish your brand authority. 

As we mentioned before, Google sees backlinks as a sign that your website provides information your audience finds interesting and helpful. While getting high quality links from popular websites helps in your SEO efforts, it also gives people more confidence in visiting your website and, gradually, they’ll start seeing you as a credible source of information within your industry or community. With this credibility on your side, you’ll find it easier to get natural or organic backlinks — more websites linking to your content with less effort on your part.   

Backlinks create brand awareness and recognition. 

Building brand awareness is a staple in nearly every successful marketing initiative. With a backlinking strategy, this almost comes naturally. When reputable websites in your industry incorporate links to your content and a reader follows them to your site, they begin to associate your brand with the topic(s) related to your products/solutions. If that happens, you know you’re doing something right. 

Backlinks help to drive more traffic to your site. 

It’s not only an Internet search that lands someone on your website… Referral traffic, or people clicking on links from other sources of content and being taken to your website, also constitutes a big chunk of website traffic.  

Backlinks can be a traffic goldmine. A link on a popular website can continue to drive traffic to your website for many years. This tactic works so well because the traffic you get is highly targeted; the ones being directed know what to expect on your site and choose to be there. And all this without having to spend a fortune on paid search! 

Backlinks help to build new connections. 

A reader who follows a link to your site from content they have found useful is likely to be interested to learn more about your brand. This can sometimes lead them to take a measurable action on your website. For instance, they may subscribe to your newsletter, bookmark your blog, or connect with your brand on social media.  

Organic search rankings will always remain the focus of your link building efforts, but these other benefits clearly demonstrate that you have more reasons to factor backlinks into your SEO initiatives. 

Do you consider backlinks as an integral part of your SEO strategy? 

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