What are backlinks and why you need them to reach the top of Google

[shammis606]

Find out what backlinks are and why they are crucial to getting to the top of Google
Reading time: 18 minutes
One of the most important strategies to be successful with SEO is Link Building.

Among the 170+ ranking factors used by Google , two of them have the greatest impact:

Content quality: ability to respond to the user's search intent.
Number of backlinks received: how many sites have links pointing to zalo database your domain.
That's why we'll explain to you better what backlinks are and why they have such an impact within an SEO strategy!

Maybe you have highly relevant content on your site, a very good loading speed, but you still don't rank high in the SERPs. Lack of backlinks could be the main reason !

So, there's nothing better than understanding the mystery to solve it! In this post we'll tell you:

What is a backlink?
Why create a backlink strategy?
What types of backlinks exist?
How to start a backlink strategy?
How to identify a good backlink?
Why receive nofollow links?
What are the best backlink tools?
In practice: how to get backlinks (link building strategies)?
Let's go together to understand more about this essential topic for your positioning!

What is a backlink?
It is a link made from one website to another. Search engines like Google use the quality and quantity of backlinks as a ranking criterion. Therefore, acquiring backlinks is a fundamental strategy in SEO.

Currently, it is practically impossible to rank at the top of the SERPs using keywords with a high search volume and a lot of competition.

Search engines view backlinks as an indicator, after all, if another site has linked to yours, it's because they believe your content is quality.

In this way, with each link received, the sites gain authority. The higher the authority, the higher your chances of achieving a good ranking.

But is it enough to get backlinks from any site to gain authority? Certainly not!

We will see later how to identify quality backlinks, but first, let's see in practice how links influence your positioning.

Why create a backlink strategy?
As we mentioned, backlinks serve as a reference. If a quality site that is well regarded by Google links to yours, the search engine tends to trust your site more.

But backlinks don't just influence the authority of your pages and your domain. They will also directly impact:

the acquisition of referral traffic;
brand strengthening ( Brand Awareness );
building relationships.
Imagine if you get a backlink on Rock's content page that ranks #1 on Google for SEO.

The authority it transfers to you is incredible, because if Google trusts that content to the point of keeping it in first place for such a contested keyword, it certainly also trusts the content it links to , interpreting it as a recommendation.

That's the most obvious benefit!

Now, if we take into account that this content receives more than 10,000 visits per month, how many of those people could click through and visit your site?

How many people could know your brand? What if this link leads to a partnership of more exchanges and collaboratively created materials?

This example shows that limiting backlinks to gaining authority is wasting opportunities to have a greater impact with our strategy.

What types of backlinks exist?
There are two main types of backlinks:

follow;
nofollow.
At first glance, there is no difference. Both are links on a page and when both are clicked, the user is directed to the page pointed to. So, what is the difference between them?

The difference is in the signal that these backlinks will pass to bots and search engines. When Google bots visit your site and read a link code, they follow that backlink and visit other pages. Unless they find an attribute called "nofollow."

Follow links are normal links, they pass authority ( link juice ) and direct bots to these pages.

Links with the nofollow attribute tell search engines not to “follow” that link. It’s like they’re saying, “I want to send my user to this link, but you don’t need to go there, I don’t intend to give it any authority.”

Therefore, in a link building strategy, the ideal is to prioritize follow links, even so, nofollows are also of great value.

Later we will show you in detail why it is also important to receive this type of link.

How to start a backlink strategy?
Now that you know how important backlinks are, it’s time to learn how to get them. We’ll start with the most important factor: the first step in a backlink strategy is to have a website that deserves to receive links!

That's the main factor! Everything you learn in this content will only bring results if you actually have a quality website that deserves to receive backlinks.

That said, let's get to the first strategic steps of Link Building. We can tell you in advance that it is useless to simply go out and look for partners and exchange links.

Like any good strategy, you need goals!

1. Define your goals
As we have seen, the number of backlinks received can bring several benefits. Therefore, your strategy will be guided by its final objective.

You can have any of the following approaches:

improve the ranking of specific pages;
strengthen the brand and domain;
gain traffic and visibility.
Each of these strategies will require different types of backlinks, different amounts and types of partners, and will also use different texts for the links. That's why it's essential to understand your goals, as they will organize your strategies.

For example, if your goal is to rank a page about lemon pie, you would prioritize links to that site using identical text (such as: "lemon pie") or variations of that keyword (for example: "lemon pie recipe").

If it's about traffic, you'll want to avoid using identical keywords in a text that presents benefits and convinces the click.

So you could use something like “click here for lemon pie recipes!” or “learn more about how to make lemon pie” and other variations. The goal drives the strategy!

2. Identify your differentials
One of the most important points in a backlink acquisition strategy is to understand what your biggest assets are when it comes to making a partnership.

What do you have to offer that would make a potential partner reciprocate with a backlink?

There may be several options:

Content: quality content that your partner will want to show to their buyer persona .
Data: Data that is new to the market, for example, a survey your company has conducted.
Product: Offer a free month of your tool in exchange for a link, for example.
Service: same as above, but offering your service or part of it.
Authority: Your site's authority can be attractive to your potential partner.
Team: Your team can rely on strong names in your market, who can be used as in this exchange, by participating in webinars, interviews and the like.
Here, it is important to be especially careful about your product and service. It can be a bargaining chip, but remember to give yourself the right value . Identifying your biggest assets is a powerful weapon for getting backlinks.

Many people think that all they have to offer is "a link back." Go off the beaten path and earn valuable links!

3. Find good partners
Your backlink strategy will only be as good as the quality of your partners. A car repair shop sending a link to an online poker site doesn't make much sense, for example.

Please consider the following factors:

market and similar topics;
companies and people;
similar people;
link probability.
Let's present a good example of a partnership. You have a candy company. And you want to publish the following material: The Complete Guide to Making Themed Cupcakes .

Look at examples of good potential partners:

food blogs;
recipe sites;
party websites/blogs.
All topics are directly related to the material offered and the public would therefore be interested.

How to identify a good backlink?
In order for the strategy to yield good results, it is necessary to know how to identify the characteristics of a good backlink. So let's look at the anatomy of a perfect link and analyze each of these characteristics in detail:

domain and page authority;
natural links;
anchor text/anchor text;
link type: nofollow/follow;
position of the link on the page;
text or image link;
market;
new domain.
Domain and Page Authority
As we said at the beginning of this content, the higher the authority of a site, the higher the authority transmitted by that backlink. You can find out the authority of a page using some tools.

The most popular metric is MozBar , a free tool from Moz. It features DA (domain authority) and PA (page authority).