Backlinks: What They Are And How To Get Quality Links

Domain authority represents 23.87% of importance for the Google algorithm and the acquisition of backlinks to specific pages 22.33%

Link Building is an SEO strategy, which consists of generating links from other domains to our website, to increase the level of authority. These links are known as backlinks and they play a fundamental role in SEO positioning. In this article we will explain in detail why they are so important and how to get quality backlinks to climb positions in Google.

First steps in Link Building : Why are backlinks important ?

In our SEO Positioning Guide for Beginners , we explain that backlinks are one of the most important factors in SEO Off Page (external optimizations that influence the positioning of a web page).

According to a study cited by Neilpatel, the domain authority represents 23.87% of importance for the Google algorithm. Likewise, the acquisition of backlinks to specific pages (22.33%) and the anchor text of the links (20.26%) are more relevant during the classification of results, than SEO On Page optimizations with keywords (15.04%) . ).

For Google , backlinks are important because they reflect the popularity of a website. The better the links, the more our authority will grow.

How do I measure the quality of a backlink ?

Not all backlinks are good.

For example, some companies incur bad SEO practices and buy links, an action that is a reason for a penalty for Google.

In fact, there is Google Penguin , an algorithm that detects artificial links and values ​​quality more than quantity of backlinks.

At Contenttu we recommend developing a scalable Link Building strategy, with 100% transparent techniques.

If you want to know the other causes of penalties that Google considers, we recommend you read our list with the 20 Black Hat SEO techniques confirmed in 2020.

The factors that we must take into account so that a link is well weighted by search engines are the following.

The link must be relevant

Considering that backlinks are votes of confidence, in the eyes of Google, we must ensure that the domain of origin is related to our area of ​​action.

For example, for us a link from other pages dedicated to digital marketing does not have the same weight as a link from a pet store. Logically, if we have a hundred links from institutions and agencies dedicated to Inbound, Google will begin to look at us as authorities on the matter.

The higher the authority of the source domain, the more link juice

In simple terms, if the page that refers us has a very high authority index, it transmits us more strength than other domains. For example, links from the media, official institutions or highly relevant sites on the Internet.

This transmission of authority is known as link juice , and it also applies to internal links. But we will explain those later.

The Link Juice of a web page is divided among its outgoing links. So we will receive more strength from those domains with fewer external links.

Traffic vs Authority

If a website has a lot of traffic, but little authority: will it help us climb positions in Google?

It is indisputable that backlinks from high traffic pages will bring us more visits. But an Ahrefs experiment showed that links from unique domains and authority are more important in terms of rankings .

Both links are favorable, but in different ways.

If we want to increase our visits, we should develop a Link Building strategy that focuses on domains with high traffic.

But if our mission is to reach the top of Google, then let's focus efforts on getting backlinks from more authoritative domains.

The more visible the link, the more authority it transfers

Backlinks located in important places are of better quality than those that are barely noticeable.

For example, a link in the body of the content, highlighted with bold and another color, transfers more authority than a link hidden in the footer.

Follow vs no follow

A backlink no follow is one that does not transfer link juice , by decision of the administrator. It is activated with an html tag and serves to indicate to Google that this link does not provide authority to the receiving domain.

You are probably wondering, what are they for? Well, no follow links are very functional for those who have a network of blogs and link to each other.

Generally, it is frowned upon by Google that the same hosting has several domains and link to each other. Remember that backlinks are votes of confidence. For Google it is not correct that we vote for ourselves.

Strategically, they are also good at SEO. A backlink no follow, but coming from a domain with high traffic, can help us increase our visits.

On our website, we should also consider the nofollow tag when we need to link to sites outside our area of ​​action.

The anchor text ( anchor text ) is also important

The anchor text or anchor text is the visible term or phrase in a link.

Many SEO professionals claim that the words used influence the quality of the backlinks . And they are correct. A good link building strategy should contain various types of anchor text. For example:

Generic: “Click here”, “this blog”, “read more on this page” and the like.

Keyword : That includes the keyword that we want to position (being careful not to abuse).

Name: Used to link to a brand or website.

How do I check the backlinks I am getting on my website?

There are many tools to check this information, but one of the most complete is Google Search Console.

With it we can analyze the number of external links that link to our website. You can find this information in the left side menu, where it says “Links”.

There you can check which are the most linked pages, which domains frequently link to us and which are the anchor texts they use.

Linkbuilding Strategy : How do I see the backlinks of the competition?

You can't do this from the Google Search Console, you need a tool like Ahrefs, Semrush, MOZ or Ubersuggest (to name a few).

We use Ahrefs , which shows us the total number of backlinks , the number of unique domains, which page they link to, link juice , the traffic it attracts and the anchor text.

How to get quality backlinks ?

There are three ways to get backlinks , without cheating.

Earn organic backlinks by creating content that people actually want to share.

Create backlinks by adding our link in forums, responding to other blogs and joining business directories.

And build backlinks through techniques such as Guest Blogging , finding broken links and proposing our content in replacement and detecting mentions to our site without a link, to request the administrator to add the link.

Another idea that works very well is to identify which domains link to our competition. We review the content, improve it and send an email recommending our update on that topic, to earn a mention. This is known as the Skyscraper technique.

Summarizing…

The internal optimizations of a web page are very important to index and rank in Google. But SEO goes beyond that: it is about achieving greater visibility to gain as many clicks as possible.

That is only possible with a solid Linkbuilding strategy .

In another article we will discuss how to get quality backlinks and what steps to take to build a solid and scalable strategy.