Are you wondering if backlinks still matter in your SEO strategies in 2022 or the next years to come? Today, digital marketers constantly have to keep up as the Internet evolves and digital technology becomes an inevitable part of our daily lives.
From simple web browsing to product searches and reviews, everyone uses the internet to search for what they need (mostly done through search engines, of course). Surely, we all want to ensure that we are getting the most reliable information when we seek reviews and results online. But, as a business owner or digital marketer, how do we tell potential customers that our website content is a reliable source? Here’s where backlinks come in!
Even in 2022, 95% of websites don’t actually have any backlinks going to them. Even so, know that backlinks remain one of the most important ranking factors for a website in today’s SEO.
Because of this, it is extremely important to talk about backlinks and why link-building is still an excellent strategy for digital marketing in 2022.
Are you ready? Let’s dive into it!
Backlink: What Is It and How It Works in SEO?
A backlink is an external link from another website linking to yours. But why are backlinks necessary for websites? The reason is clear and straightforward. If readers find your website relevant, backlinks will drive traffic there from other websites. They imply that your website is reliable and worth linking to, which is why it is extremely important for SEO.
With an increase in websites, SEO is in a constant upswing as well. Ranking websites in the search results page is now more challenging than ever before. This is why Google also values the quantity and quality of a site’s backlinks when determining its ranking.
There are two types of backlinks:
- Do-Follow backlinks – This link strengthens your website by directly adding value to the domain.
- No-follow backlinks – Although they do not strengthen a website, no-follow backlinks help divert traffic from other websites.
That’s why it is essential to create quality backlinks and place them in the right places.
What Makes an Effective Backlink?
It’s crucial to remember that you shouldn’t ask any website for a link. There are other factors you should consider in addition to the site and its authority to build a good, effective backlink because not all backlinks are created equally.
In relation to this, these signals are used to determine the quality of backlinks:
Relevance
You always want a backlink to come from a website that is as closely related or appropriate to your website or page.
Authority
Your domain rating will most likely improve if you receive a backlink from a high authority website, like a news or government website. This will also help your site rank well in the Google search engines. Google assesses the authority of external websites based on attributes like their size, age, and quality.
Traffic
A backlink from a page with a lot of traffic is also very beneficial for SEO. This unlocks the door for targeted referral traffic, improved conversion rates, and more traffic for continued rise in SERP rankings.
How to Create High-Quality Backlinks?
Links from reputable, authoritative websites in your industry are considered high-quality backlinks. These links give your website credibility and trustworthiness and enhance your search engine ranks.
In addition to the factors that affect the backlinks’ quality, there are some on-page and off-page factors that help these signals:
Quality Content
It’s important to have high-quality content if you want other websites to link to yours. The content needs to be on trend and captivating to prevent readers from mindlessly scrolling through the page.
Placement
A backlink’s effectiveness may also depend on where it appears on the page. A link is more likely to be clicked if it is prominently displayed near the top or main section of the content and is in bold text or a different colour.
Anchor Text
Writing a few words as a hyperlink that is relevant to the website’s backlink constitutes using an anchor text. For instance, if you link to a website that discusses “The Best SEO Agency in Melbourne,” the anchor text should be something like “Excellent SEO Agency” or “Best SEO Agency” to help visitors in finding the information they need and to improve your website’s ranking on Google. Relevance is one way to make sure you send stronger signals to Google.
Additionally, it helps improve the user experience for searchers. And while you’re at it, always include a keyword you want to rank for in the anchor text.
Internal Link
Utilising a page from your website as a backlink is also effective for developing high-quality links. If the content on your website is interesting, it will help keep the reader’s interest.
Dofollow Links
Instead of rel=”nofollow”, which instructs the search engine not to follow or pass on any authority from the page to the link, all backlinks listed on an external site must have rel=”dofollow”.
What Are Citations?
Citations function somewhat similarly to backlinks, but they only mention your company’s name, location, and contact information rather than linking directly to it. Citations are especially beneficial for local SEO, along with backlinks, for companies that rely on customer communication for lead generation.
There can also be partial backlinks, such as when a listing only includes the business’s name and address.
What Do Backlinks Have to Do with Google Search Ranking?
Google’s main goal is to give website visitors useful, in-depth information. If you have high-quality backlinks, your chances of appearing high in search results increase.
In addition to the quantity and quality of links pointing to your page, Google takes several other ranking factors into account. Factors include the connecting site’s relevance, page authority, and search ranking.
More importantly, Google examines the editorial tone of your backlinks. Google considers incoming links to be a “vote of confidence” from one website to another. Backlinks from other reputable websites can significantly impact your website’s search visibility and ranking position.
The following are the most crucial factors that Google takes into account when assessing the quality of your backlinks:
Website Diversity
Google’s search algorithm aims to provide users with the most reliable and pertinent search results. As a website owner, you must ensure that links to your website come from reliable sources. This tells Google that readers will find value in your content.
Domain Authority
Search engines tend to favour backlink profiles that have developed naturally over time. These are blogs, sites, magazines, directories, news articles, conferences, and press releases that have received incoming links from reliable blogs, sites, magazines, directories, and conferences.
Value
Google considers your content’s value when deciding which search terms to return. Check the connected site’s audience to ensure you’re addressing user issues. It’s a red flag if a website owner links to yours even though your audience is unrelated to their target audience.
Uniqueness
Backlinks from reputable websites that only discuss your website and not your competitors are superb. Examples of distinctive websites include forums and conference platforms. At those events, not all of your competitors’ works will be able to be displayed. This is an excellent opportunity to build reputable backlinks.
Link Location
Google prioritises search intent when determining the location of links. This suggests that links with smooth integration into the text have more value. On the other hand, ineffective links in the footer or sidebar are taken as a warning sign.
Relevance
Inbound links with little or no relevance to your website are a waste of time. For instance, it makes little sense for an SEO agency website to receive backlinks from automotive websites. This backlinking strategy will probably be viewed as fraudulent by Google.
Does the Relevance of Backlinks Still Matter in 2022?
Although they are not the only ranking factor, backlinks are a significant factor that can make a difference. It goes without saying that the answer to the question is definitely a yes. The main distinction is how to approach obtaining links to your content on other websites.
Prioritise what you can control first and ensure your products are of the highest possible standard. It might sound like a broken tune to some already, but connecting with content that teaches and impresses the readers will make the work much simpler.
Building backlinks in 2022 shouldn’t be a one-time pursuit, however. Think about responding to questions from others and working with other businesses to produce blogs, videos, podcasts, and other content. Linking to each other’s websites in this way will be beneficial for both of you. Today, brand partnerships and influencer engagement are on the rise, so applying the same logic to backlink creation will make sense.
Bottom Line
Backlinks are still among the most effective SEO strategies you can implement in 2022. Combined with quality content, it’s a surefire way to improve your search rankings and conversion rates.
Focusing on high-quality links is critical rather than simply developing a strategy to acquire links from anywhere, as doing the latter could potentially harm your targeted outcomes. This is where a data-driven SEO agency can help and make a difference.
With Melbourne SEO TopRankings, we can help you come up with the most suitable SEO strategy to drive excellent ranks and results for your business. Contact us for enquiries.
