The 5 facts about backlinks you should know

SEO appears to be the minefield of marketing which everyone is trying to avoid. SEO is very straight forward, however there are things you need to be aware of when looking to improve your rating. Backlinks are one of them. This blog will focus on 5 facts about backlinks you should know in order to help your overall SEO.

What are backlinks?

A backlink is a link which connects one website to another. You may also see a backlink also referred to as an ‘inbound link’. Referencing a link is very important to SEO as it shows relevant and trusted content in your industry. It also shows the search engine i.e. Google that others rate and follow your content.

Alongside putting backlinks into your content, you can also earn them from others as well. Being referenced in a piece of content only further enhances your credibility, and also search ranking on the internet.

 

Total number of links is NOT a ranking factor 

You can have 1 or you can have 10, it does not matter how many backlinks you currently have you will not increase your ranking. Firstly you need at least 1, 1 is going to be the qualifying criteria in order to help your ranking. Secondly it is quality. Are the backlinks you use relevant, are they targeted and will it help your reader. If the answer to all of these is yes, then it will help to increase your ranking.

If you want help finding your backlinks, take a look at this Backlink checker by Neil patel. Backlinks: Your Free Backlink Checker Tool.

Backlinks are devalued not penalized 

Thanks to an update from Google, a poor backlink now no longer does impact your search ranking. Previous to this update, you would find yourself slipping down the Google rankings if you did have poor, or irrelevant backlinks.

The current algorithm means that instead of penalising your ranking, it will just devalue your links, and also slightly devalue your article. This would not have a massive effect on the ranking of your article unless you had 10-15 backlinks of the same poor quality.

Negative SEO is not a problem anymore 

Previously content that was aimed at lowering competitors ranking by using blacklisted or completely irrelevant/spam backlinks was the thing to do (well for some anyway). Now google in particular addressed this issue meaning that negative backlinks will not decrease yours or a competitors ranking.

However, poor backlinks can lower, or detract your readers. This is mainly due to them following links away from your site, and usually if they are irrelevant you will lose your credibility.

Content should be the number 1 priority 

Sometimes you can focus so heavily on SEO and its structure that you forget what the real priority is. Yes you need SEO and within that backlinks, however make sure your content is going to be engaging and get people reading. You can have the best SEO piece of work ever, but if it is not a good read then it’s already at a disadvantage.

When using backlinks make sure it is relevant, but it is also not going to detract away from your content. Fit backlinks in where applicable and it will all come together nicely.

Backlinks can help to improve your traffic 

A backlink be that given, or someone referencing yourself will only aid in making you seem credible in your market. Backlinks that you place in your content will help to improve someone else’s ranking as it will also show people read their content. Equally earning a reference in someone else’s content will help drive new custom to your website and or social locations.

To Conclude 

Backlinks are a very important element of SEO, and one which you need to follow. Poor backlinks can sometimes divert traffic away from your content, so making sure they are relevant, and also trusted sites only enhance your credibility. Earn good backlinks, and reference good content and you will see your ranking increase dramatically.

We hope the 5 facts about backlinks you should know have helped. If you are looking to take your SEO to the next level, and accompany your backlinks, take a look at our other posts about SEO and Lead Generation.

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