After all these years, one would assume that backlinks would be a thing of the past! Well, even in 2022, they still play a vital role in Google’s ranking factors. So what are backlinks today, how do you get a higher ranking with them, and are buying backlinks worth it? Let’s discuss these, starting with what they are.
What Are Backlinks?
Backlinks are a highly essential component of any webpage. Whenever one website/webpage links to another website, a backlink is generated for the website being linked. These are crucial to websites as they behave like a safety valve or sign of authentication for the Google search algorithm. The more popular or higher-ranked the website your backlink links to, the higher your rank gets.
Backlinks are important in the world of SEO even today, and that’s why companies try to get backlinks from as many sources as possible. However, buying backlinks from unreputable sources will only taint your own. On the other hand, strong backlinks will help Google consider you as a verified partner and enable a better position in the Google search results, enabling more web traffic for your site.
The Types of Backlinks
There are three main types of backlinks that can help you grow your SERP ranking:
Natural Backlinks:
A website gives out backlinks without any action or purchase from your site, and these backlinks are natural. The owner of the website considers your content/products as something worth associating with and hence provides you with a backlink. Producing the best content and website consistently can help you gain these links.
Manual Backlinks:
These are the links for which you have to put in some effort apart from maintaining your online presence. Guest blogs from you on another website can be a great medium to promote your web page with a backlink, as long as you receive the owner’s permission.
Self-Made Backlinks:
These links, as the name may suggest, are created by web owners themselves. Creating them is a very simple method, but note that overusing or abusing these links will worsen your online reputation. Self-made backlinks can be used in a few situations like linking a product page on a blog page and so on.
How are Backlinks Important Today?
Search engines like Google consider backlinks to be a measure of page authority, even today. They serve as a signal or endorsement that your website is indeed fruitful and productive, and not spam. When highly ranked websites give you backlinks to their site, they’re vouching for your authenticity.
This is why, the more websites that link to your site, the more credibility you have in the eyes of both search engines and online users. This in turn will improve your website’s overall SEO ranking, page authority and put you higher up on SERPs, giving you a higher amount of organic traffic. It is, however, paramount that you only add high-quality backlinks from highly reputed sites because a bad quality backlink can lower your score and that of the other pages associated with yours.
If you’re considering buying backlinks, many websites allow you to do a quality check, tell you where you stand in terms of the backlinks you own, which ones are bringing your rankings down, and more. Research before you buy and ensure high search engine rankings for your site.
