Even the best digital marketing companies rely on backlinks to ramp up their SEO game and drive d2c growth. In fact, in a survey conducted by Moz of over 1,200 SEO professionals, 91% said that backlinks were a key ranking factor for search engines.
A backlink, also known as an "inbound link" or "incoming link", is a hyperlink that links from one website to another. In other words, a backlink is a link on one website that leads to another website.
One of the significant off-page SEO tactics, backlinks is something search engines like Google use to determine the quality and relevance of a website.
Let's say you run a food blog and you write a post about a new restaurant that just opened up in your city. In your post, you link to the restaurant's website so your readers can learn more about it. That link is a backlink because it's a link from your website (the food blog) to the restaurant's website.
But, since the practice of making backlinks has now been penetrated widely, has it gone cliched? The notion gives rise to the recently most asked question – do backlinks still work?
Staying around expert SEO professionals, we thought to pen down their thoughts on this hot question. So, let’s see if they work or not and how it gets more of them if they do.
Do backlinks still work?
They help search engines understand the relevance and quality of a website
When a website links to another website, it is essentially vouching for the quality and relevance of the linked website. Search engines like Google use this as a signal to determine how trustworthy and authoritative a website is. The more high-quality backlinks a website has, the more likely it is to be seen as a reputable and valuable resource by search engines.
They drive referral traffic
Backlinks from other websites can also drive traffic to a website. When someone clicks on a backlink, they are taken to the linked website, which can result in new visitors and potential customers.
For example, you involve backlinking in your social media marketing and drop link to your website on your social media profiles and you get visitors navigating from that link.
They can help establish a website's authority and credibility
If a website has a lot of high-quality backlinks, it can be seen as an authority in its niche or industry. This can help establish trust and credibility with visitors, as well as with search engines.
Think about it - if you were looking for a service or product online, let’s say a d2c product, wouldn't you be more likely to trust a website that has lots of other websites linking to it from plenty of d2c websites? That's why backlinks are important - they help establish trust and credibility, not just with search engines, but with actual human visitors to the website.
They can improve search engine rankings
As we mentioned earlier, search engines use backlinks as a signal to determine the quality and relevance of a website. The more high-quality backlinks a website has, the more likely it is to rank well in search engine results pages (SERPs).
In simpler language, to answer do backlinks still work, the short and sweet answer is - Backlinks are kind of like referrals in the online world. Just like how you might ask a friend for a recommendation for a good restaurant, search engines like Google use backlinks to help them determine the quality and relevance of a website. When one website links to another, it's like a virtual pat on the back, saying "Hey, this website is really great, you should check it out!". So, yes, THEY DO WORK.
How can you get more backlinks?
Now that we know that the backlinks do work, you should know that there are three sure-shot ways you can do to get more backlinks – create, earn, and build.
Organic backlinks – You earn them
Organic backlinks are links from other websites that point to your website, without any manipulation or incentive from you. They are also known as natural or earned backlinks.
Organic backlinks are a result of high-quality content that naturally attracts links from other websites. When your website provides useful and valuable information, other websites are more likely to link to it as a reference, citation, or endorsement. These backlinks indicate that your website is a credible source of information and can improve your search engine rankings. And remember, when someone says do backlinks still work, these types of backlinks are not part because they are sheer cream whose value is irreplaceable.
Creating backlinks
Apart from just creating useful content, you create backlinks too. Basically, this is when you decide to submit the link to your website on different virtual potential areas, commonly, business directories, forum threads, and blog comments.
Building backlinks
Unlike creating backlinks, this is when you build the backlink with your hard work (putting forward your value proposition).
Guest blogging - Guest blogging is the process of writing and publishing a blog post on another website that links back to your website. This is an effective way to build backlinks and reach a wider audience. For example, if you are a d2c solution provider, you may reach out to businesses that provide third-party delivery services.
Broken link building - Broken link building is the process of finding broken links on other websites and reaching out to the website owner to suggest replacing the broken link with a link to your website. This is a win-win situation because you help the website owner fix a broken link, and in return, you get a high-quality backlink.
The Skyscraper Technique - The Skyscraper Technique is a content-focused strategy that involves creating high-quality content that is better than the existing content on a particular topic and reaching out to the websites that have linked to the inferior content, asking them to link to your superior content instead. Continuing with the same example, being a d2c solution provider, you can reach out to similar websites.
Unlinked mentions - Unlinked mentions are instances where your brand or website is mentioned on other websites, but the mention doesn't include a link back to your website. You can reach out to the website owner and request them to add a link to your website. This is an effective way to build backlinks because the website owner has already mentioned your brand or website, so they are likely to be receptive to your request.
Final note
While you will now plan to jump in to gain some quick backlinks, remember that driving results from these backlinks will not be that quick and you have to be quite patient during the process with your SEO efforts before expecting them to drive higher traffic for you.
Also, remember the thumb rule – the easier it is to gain a link, the lesser value it will provide.
And, also remember that you have a team of SEO experts at our d2c growth studio ready to help you wherever you get stuck.
Happy link-building!
There is no question about this, while on-page is everything on site, what's in backend drives more results.