Backlinks are considered a crucial factor in the search engine optimization (SEO) process, as they indicate to search engines that other websites consider your site valuable and relevant. 

However, building backlinks takes a lot of work. Around 65% of marketers believe link building is one of the most challenging search engine optimization tactics.

In this article, we will explore various ways to get backlinks to your website and the benefits it brings to your SEO. 

If you’re looking to boost your website’s search engine rankings and drive more traffic, read on to learn about the various techniques for getting backlinks.

Let’s begin!

What Are Backlinks?

Backlinks, also known as external or inbound links, are links pointing from one website to another. 

For example, if website A has a link that points to website B, then website B has a backlink from website A. 

The code for creating a backlink is called an HTML anchor tag. It looks like this: 

<a href=”http://www.example.com”>This is a link</a> 

In this example, the “a” tag is the HTML code for creating a link. The “href” attribute is used to specify the URL that the link should point to, in this case, “http://www.example.com.” 

The text between the opening and closing “a” tags, “This is a link,” is the text that will be displayed as the link. 

To get a backlink, you would need to get another website owner to include a link to your website on their site. 

So it’s not a code you can insert on your website to create a backlink, but it is a way to show how a link looks in code. Search engines consider the number and quality of backlinks to your website to be an essential indicator of the authority and relevance of your site and a way to measure the popularity and value of your content.

Now that you know what backlinks are let us understand why backlinks are so essential.

Importance Of Backlinks

Here are the top reasons why link building is essential for your website:

• Improved Search Engine Rankings: There is a strong relationship between quality backlinks and higher rankings. More backlinks lead to higher organic rankings. 
• Increased Traffic: Backlinks can drive more traffic to your website by making it more visible in search results. When other websites link to your content, it can increase the chances of users finding your site through organic search. 
• Improved Trust and Authority: Backlinks from reputable and authoritative websites can help establish trust and authority for your website. This can improve the perceived credibility of your brand and increase the likelihood of users engaging with your content. 
• Increased Brand Visibility and Exposure: Backlinks can increase the visibility and exposure of your brand. When other websites link to your content, it can increase the chances of users discovering your brand and learning more about your products or services. 
• Increased Referral Traffic: Backlinks can also drive referral traffic to your website. When users click on a link to your site from another website, they are directed to your site and can explore your content, leading to increased traffic, sales, and conversions.

Types of Backlinks

Here are the major types of backlinks and how they affect your search engine rankings:

1- Do Follow Links

Dofollow links are links that do not include a “nofollow” attribute in the HTML code. This means that search engines will follow the link and consider it when ranking the linked page. 

Dofollow links pass “link juice” or “link equity,” which can help to improve the search engine rankings of the linked page. Dofollow links are the default link type on most websites and are considered a natural and organic way of linking to other pages. They are often placed on high-quality, relevant, and valuable content, which is considered an essential factor in search engine optimization. 

When a website links to another website using a dofollow link, it is essentially “vouching” for the content on the linked page and telling search engines that it is relevant, valuable, and useful. This can increase the visibility and credibility of the linked page in search engine results and drive referral traffic to the linked page.

An example of a dofollow link would be a link on a blog post that points to another webpage. For example:

<a href=”https://www.example.com”>Example Website</a>

2- No Follow Links

Nofollow links are links that include a “nofollow” attribute in the HTML code, which tells search engines not to follow the link or to give it any weight in their ranking algorithms. 

They are added to external websites or pages that the website owner does not want to vouch for or endorse. 

The primary use case for nofollow links is to link to untrusted or low-quality content, such as user-generated comments or paid links, so that the website owner is not passing any link juice or link equity to that page. 

It’s worth noting that nofollow links do not pass any PageRank, which means they do not affect the ranking of the linked page. However, they can still drive referral traffic to the linked page. This can help to prevent search engines from penalising the website for linking to low-quality or spammy content.

An example of a nofollow link would be a link on a website that points to another webpage but with the “nofollow” attribute added. For example:

<a href=”https://www.example.com” rel=”nofollow”>Example Website</a>

3- Sponsored or Paid Links

Sponsored or paid links are links that are acquired through payment or other forms of compensation. These links can be placed on websites, blogs, or other online platforms, and are intended to increase the visibility of a website in search engine results. 

Paid links are considered a black hat SEO practice, as they can be used to manipulate search engine rankings and deceive users. Search engines like Google have strict guidelines against buying or selling links that pass PageRank. 

Search engines can detect and penalise these links, which can harm a website’s rankings and reputation. 

Websites are advised to avoid using paid links and instead focus on creating high-quality content that naturally attracts links from other websites. 

It’s worth mentioning that sponsored content, advertorials, or affiliate links labelled as such don’t pass PageRank, are not considered paid links, and are not violating any guidelines.

Here is an example of a sponsored link:

<a href=”https://www.example.com” rel=”sponsored”>Example Website</a>

4- UGC Links 

UGC stands for user-generated content, and UGC links refer to links created by users of a website rather than the website’s owner or an administrator. 

These links can be found in comments, forums, social media posts, or other forms of user-generated content.

You can use UGC links to build links to your site in moderate proportions. Make sure the comments you leave or the articles you publish are valuable for the readers. 

5- Editorially Placed Links

Editorial links are links placed on a website or piece of content because they are deemed relevant, valuable, and beneficial to the audience. 

They are earned through creating high-quality content naturally linked by other websites, blogs, and social media platforms. 

Editorial links are considered a more natural and authentic way of acquiring links, as opposed to buying links or using other forms of manipulation. They are also considered a white hat SEO practice. 

These links are essential for a website because they help increase the website’s visibility and credibility in search engines, and can also drive referral traffic to the website.

6- Spam Links

Spam links are links that are created with the intent of manipulating search engine rankings. 

They can be created in a number of ways, including buying links, creating links from low-quality or irrelevant websites, or using automated programs to generate large numbers of links. 

Spam links can harm a website’s search engine rankings and reputation and can also be considered a black hat SEO practice. 

Search engines like Google have sophisticated algorithms to detect and penalise websites that use spam links to manipulate search engine rankings.

Best Ways To Get Backlinks

Here is a list of the top ways to build quality backlinks to your website:

1- Create Linkable Content

Creating “linkable” content refers to creating content that is highly shareable and likely to generate backlinks, which can help improve your website’s search engine rankings. 

Here are some tips for creating linkable content: 

• Create content that is informative and valuable: Create content that is informative, well-researched, and provides a unique perspective or solution to a problem. People are more likely to link to content that is informative and valuable. 
• Use visuals: Use images, infographics, and videos to supplement your content and make it more engaging and shareable. 
• Write in-depth content: Create long-form content that goes into detail on a topic instead of short, superficial pieces. Long-form content is more likely to be linked to and shared. 
• Use data and statistics: Use data and statistics to support your claims and make your content more credible. 
• Create evergreen content: Create content that will be relevant and useful for a long time, not just for a short period. This type of content is more likely to be linked over time. 
• Create a list post: List posts are easy to read and can be very informative, they are often shared and linked to. 
• Use social media: Share your content to increase its visibility and reach more people. 
• Reach out to influencers in your industry: Reach out to influencers in your industry and ask them to share your content.

2- Do Link Roundups

Link roundups are a type of blog post or article that compiles a list of links to other articles or resources on a specific topic. 

Bloggers or journalists typically create these roundups, and they serve as a way to curate and share valuable content on a particular subject with their audience. 

Link roundups are often published regularly, such as weekly or monthly. They can be an excellent link-building opportunity because they often include a diverse set of links, and the author is actively looking for new and relevant content to include in their post. 

By providing valuable information or insights on a topic, you increase the chances of getting featured in a link roundup, which can drive traffic to your website and improve your search engine rankings. 

To take advantage of link roundups, you can: 

• Find link roundups relevant to your niche: Use Google search operators like “keyword” + “link roundup” or “keyword” + inurl:roundupor tools to find link roundups on topics related to your website. 
• Reach out to the author: Contact the author of the link roundup and inform them of your website’s content and how it can provide value to their audience. 
• Offer value: Provide value to the author by showing them how your website’s content can provide value to their audience. 
• Follow up: Follow up with the author to ensure they received your message and to answer any questions they may have. 

3- Perform Broken Link Building

Broken link building is a process of identifying and reaching out to website owners to inform them of broken links on their websites and suggesting replacement links that point to your website. Broken links or page 404 errors significantly decrease customer experience on your website. 

Here are the steps you can take to perform broken link building: 

• Identify broken links: Use a tool such as Ahrefs, SEMrush, or Check My Links to scan a website for broken links. These tools will identify links that no longer lead to a valid webpage. 
• Find relevant pages: Look for pages on the website that are relevant to your own website’s content. These are the pages where you would like to suggest a replacement link to your own website. 
• Reach out to the website owner: Contact the website owner or editor and inform them of the broken link on their website. Suggest that they replace the broken link with a link to a relevant page on your own website. 
• Provide value: Provide value to the website owner by showing them how your website’s content can provide value to their audience. 
• Follow up: Follow up with the website owner to ensure they received your message and to answer any questions they may have.

4- Use HARO 

HARO or help a reporter out is a website that helps connect journalists with sources and earn links from the press. It is an excellent (mutually beneficial way) to start link building. 

It can help you gain authoritative backlinks, site credibility, and a higher ranking in a search engine’s results.

Here are some steps you can take to use HARO for link building: 

• Sign up as a source: Register for a free account on the HARO website as a source. This will allow you to receive daily emails with journalist requests for information. 
• Respond to relevant requests: Review the daily emails and respond to requests that you feel you can provide valuable information or insights on. Be sure to include a brief bio and a link to your website in your response. 
• Follow up: Follow up with the journalist after you’ve sent your response to ensure they received it and to answer any additional questions they may have. 
• Get featured: If your response is used, be sure to thank the journalist and promote the article on your social media channels and website to increase visibility and drive traffic to the article.

5- Perform Competitor Link Analysis

Competitor link analysis is a process that involves identifying and analysing the backlinks of your competitors’ websites. By understanding where your competitors are getting their backlinks, you can identify opportunities to acquire similar links for your own website. 

Here are the steps you can take to perform a competitor link analysis: 

• Identify your competitors: Identify the SEO competitor websites in your niche that have similar products or services to your own. 
• Use a backlink analysis tool: Use a tool such as Ahrefs, SEMrush, or Majestic to analyse the backlinks of your competitors’ websites. These tools will provide you with information such as the number of backlinks, the quality of the linking websites, and the anchor text used in the links. 
• Review the results: Review the results of your analysis and look for patterns in the types of websites linking to your competitors. Identify opportunities for your own website to acquire similar links. 
• Reach out: Contact the website owners or editors of the websites linking to your competitors and inquire about the possibility of acquiring a similar link for your own website. 
• Monitor: Continuously monitor the backlinks of your competitors to stay updated on new opportunities.

6- Do Guest Posting

Guest posting is one of the most popular ways to build links to your site. It is popular because it allows website owners to acquire high-quality, relevant backlinks from authoritative websites. 

A backlink from a website with a high domain authority can significantly increase the visibility and credibility of a website in search engine results, which can lead to more traffic and potential customers. 

Guest posting also helps to establish a website as an authority in its niche, which can further boost its visibility and credibility in search engine results.

Here is how you can acquire links via guest posting: 

• Research: Identify high-authority websites in your niche that accept guest posts. Look for websites with a high domain authority, a large and engaged audience, and a history of publishing high-quality content. 
• Reach out: Contact the website’s editor or owner and express your interest in writing a guest post. Provide examples of your past work and explain how your article will add value to their website and audience. 
• Write and publish: Once you have secured an opportunity, write a high-quality, informative, and unique article that is tailored to the website’s audience and guidelines. Be sure to include at least one relevant and high-quality link to your website within the article. 
• Promote: After your article is published, promote it through your own channels such as social media, email newsletter, and other platforms where you have a presence. This will help drive traffic to the article, which can increase visibility for both the website and your own website.

It’s also important to follow the website’s guidelines for guest posting and to promote your published articles through your own channels to drive traffic and increase visibility. 

Networking with other bloggers and website owners in your niche can also help you secure relevant guest post opportunities.

7- Do Customer Testimonial Link Building

Testimonial link building is another excellent technique to build links to your website.

Under testimonial link building you approach business owners and offer them a testimonial for their website.

Businesses always welcome new testimonials. The idea here is to write a nice testimonial and get a link in return because testimonials contain the name of the business owner along with a backlink to their website.

Testimonial link building is a smart link acquisition strategy that not many are aware of.

8- Publish PR

Securing media coverage for your brand can help to increase visibility and credibility, which can lead to more backlinks. When a media outlet writes about your brand, they may include a link to your website, which can be a valuable backlink.

Publish press releases to get your brand in front of a wide audience and to generate backlinks. When they are picked up by media outlets, they may include a link to your website.

You can publish press releases about your awards and accolades. When media outlets write about your awards, they may include a link to your website, which can be a valuable backlink.

Here are the top sites for publishing press releases:

• PR Newswire – One of the most widely-used press release distribution services, with a network of over 100,000 subscribers. 
• Business Wire – Another popular press release distribution service, with a global reach and a focus on financial and business-related news. 
• PRWeb – A press release distribution service that allows you to target specific audiences and industries. 
• PR Underground – A press release distribution service that offers a free option as well as paid plans. 
• PR Leap – A press release distribution service that offers a free option as well as paid plans.

9- Collaborate With Bloggers To Publish Reviews

Collaborating with bloggers to publish reviews of your products or services can be a great way to acquire a good number of backlinks to your site.

Here are a few steps to follow when working with bloggers to publish reviews: 

• Research bloggers in your niche: Look for bloggers who are well-established and have a large following in your industry. You can use Google, social media, or blogger outreach tools to find bloggers who are a good fit for your brand. 
• Reach out to bloggers: Once you’ve identified potential bloggers to work with, reach out to them and introduce yourself and your brand. Explain what you’re looking for and how working together would benefit both of you. 
• Provide product or service: Send them the product or service you would like them to review, so that they can test and evaluate it. Be sure to include any information or guidelines that will help them create an accurate and detailed review. 
• Ask for a review: Ask the blogger to publish a review of your product or service. Most often, bloggers will publish reviews along with a backlink to your website.
• Promote the review: Once the review is published, make sure to share it on your own social media channels and website. This will improve the indexability of your backlink.

10- Find Unlinked Mentions

There are several tools available that can help you track mentions of your brand across the web, such as Mention, Talkwalker, and Brand24. These tools can notify you when your brand is mentioned on a website.

You can also use Google Alerts which is a free tool that allows you to set up alerts for specific keywords, including your brand name. Whenever Google finds a new mention of your brand on the web, it will send you an email notification.

Once you prepare a list of unlinked mentions, contact the website owner and ask them to add a link to your website.

11- Build A Free Tool

The key to getting backlinks with a free tool is to create something that is genuinely useful and valuable to your target audience. This could be a tool that helps people perform a specific task, such as a keyword research tool for SEO, or a tool that provides useful information, such as a weather forecast tool.

Make it easy for people to share your tool with others by including social sharing buttons and making it easy to embed the tool on other websites.

Ask users for feedback on your tool, and make any necessary improvements. Encourage satisfied users to share their experience with your tool, this way you can get more backlinks.

12- Create a Scholarship Program

A scholarship program that is relevant to your industry and target audience is likely to attract interest from websites that are also relevant to your industry. This can increase the chances of getting links from relevant websites. 

Besides, many universities and colleges have a large online presence and a large number of students. If they share your scholarship program on their website, it can be seen by a large audience, which can further increase the chances of acquiring links.

Here are the steps to create a scholarship program to earn links from colleges and universities: 

• Create a scholarship program: Create a scholarship program that is relevant to your industry and target audience. Make sure the amount and requirements of the scholarship are clearly stated. 
• Reach out to universities and colleges: Research universities and colleges that are related to your industry and reach out to them to get your scholarship listed on their website. 
• Share the scholarship on social media: Share the scholarship on your social media channels and encourage your followers to share it as well. 
• Use scholarship listing websites: List your scholarship on websites that aggregate scholarships, such as scholarships.com or Fastweb. 
• Create a landing page: Create a landing page on your website that provides information about the scholarship and how to apply. 
• Reach out to relevant organisations: Reach out to organisations that are related to your industry and ask them to share the scholarship information with their members or on their website. 
• Follow up with winners: Follow up with the winners of the scholarship and ask them to share their experience on their blog or website and link to your scholarship page. 
• Create a press release: Create a press release about the scholarship and reach out to media outlets that are related to your industry and ask them to publish the press release. 
• Offer a bonus for linking: Offer a bonus to any website that links to your scholarship page, such as a discount or a free product or service. 
• Evaluate and adjust: Evaluate the results of your scholarship link building efforts and adjust your strategy as needed.

Conclusion

In conclusion, getting backlinks to your website can be a powerful way to improve your organic rankings and drive qualified traffic to your website. There are several tactics you can leverage to acquire backlinks, including creating high-quality content, guest blogging, social media marketing, and more. 

One of the crucial things to consider when trying to get backlinks is the quality of the links. Search engines tend to place more value on backlinks from reputable and authoritative websites, so it’s important to focus on building relationships with other websites in your niche and creating valuable, shareable content that others will want to link to.