You want to get more visitors to your website with organic traffic? Then start with good backlinks. How to do that, which tools help you and how to distinguish good from bad backlinks, you will learn in this article. Sounds exciting? Then let’s get started!
The Backlink – What Kind of Link Is It?
If a foreign website links to yours, you have a backlink. It works the other way around, too: If you link to a site whose content you consider to be of added value for your readers, you set a backlink for this website owner.
Why Is Gaining Backlinks So Important?
Good backlinks are an essential tool within organic search engine optimization. Through them, your website gains relevance for search engines like Google. The search engine “thinks” like a human at this point: If several high-ranking websites link to yours, you must have relevant and high-quality content for the same target group.
Because of this, the search engine ranks you higher, which in turn is your anchor to get found on Google. With a lot of backlinks, it is also easier for Google to recognize which category your page belongs to and there are fewer problems with indexing.
The History of Good and Bad Backlinks
Once upon a time, the rule was: The more backlinks you build, the better. However, don’t do the wild linking. Because this procedure is now taboo, and anyone who wants to make you know otherwise is telling you a fairy tale.
There is no doubt that search engines are extremely intelligent nowadays. They recognize dubious links and punish them with a bad ranking. The same applies to pure “bogus links”, behind which the linked page has no real added value and was only chosen for a specific purpose. At the same time, check the links that link to your site from others on a regular basis. Backlinks coming from a dubious spam site can, in the worst case, cause you lasting damage.
So What Makes Good Backlinks?
Here are the key criteria you should look for when forming an opinion about a backlink:
They Are Authentic
You can recognize good backlinks by the fact that they come from a reputable website. You can recognize the quality of this site at first glance. You may even already be familiar with it and enjoy visiting it yourself. If not, it is immediately visible who is behind it and what the website owner offers?
They Have a Clear Relevance
A good backlink comes from a website that has a clear focus. It corresponds not only to your industry, but also to your specific subject area. Of course, it rarely comes directly from the competition because that would be counterproductive. Overall, it also provides your users with relevant and up-to-date content.
They Are of High Quality
The external link pointing to your content comes from a website that delivers excellent content. These have an undeniable added value for your target audience. In the best case, the reader approach is also similar to yours. Also, read the texts of outgoing websites at least superficially. If they are written with an SEO text generator, they should have been corrected by a good editor afterwards.
They Generate Traffic
Good websites are characterized by the fact that they are popular. Thus, the page originating from the link should have as high a number of visitors as possible. You can also often recognize a loyal readership by the activity status of the comments. But don’t take this as the main criterion because many interested readers don’t necessarily interact actively at the same time. The organic reach in Google says more here.
You Have a Clean Anchor Text as a Basis
A good backlink is equally characterized by a good anchor text. This should clearly represent what the link is about. In the best case, it describes a topic in more detail than you only tease in your piece and then recommend someone else’s description as helpful. It’s important for Google that the anchor text neatly indicates what is hidden on the other side of the link.
You Have the Ideal Placement
According to studies, it is believed that Google considers the first link in a text to be the most relevant. Most people do not include a link in the first paragraph of an article. Therefore, the “good backlink” is thus usually in the second paragraph.
They Have the Same Origin
In terms of origin, backlinks from the same country and in the same language often work best. There are exceptions with international companies. Even in the B2B sector, links are often made to English-language pages, which often does not significantly reduce link acceptance.
How Does Gaining Backlinks Work? 5 Sustainable Strategies
Especially if you just put a brand-new landing page online, the following strategies can help you to generate good backlinks!
1. Offer Your Visitors High-Quality Content
The best backlinks are worth nothing if the content of your website doesn’t engage people, entertain and add value. Your goal should be to be the page that exactly matches the Google user’s search intention and answers all his questions.
For this, besides writing talent, a lot of know-how within SEO tactics is required. Professional keyword research is the key of all things, followed by a content plan. These tactics ensure that you get to know the continuously changing needs of your customers. This is how you can gain their trust permanently – and Google’s as well.
2. Write Guest Posts
Why not simply start blogging for other people’s websites! Guest posts are a great way to promote your own content for free. Usually, your name will appear on the guest post, and many will also let you include a link or two. You can find sites that are looking for guest writers through regular Google searches. In addition, B2B sites like LinkedIn or social media sites can also be a good research source.
Want to write your own texts? Check out our article “Writing SEO texts in 10 steps: SEO content guide” for tips from the editorial team.
3. Take a Close Look at Your Competitors
Sounds simple, it is: Look at the backlinks of your competitors and copy them if they are good. This makes sense, especially if you have just launched a new website. Get an overview and the most popular competitors and be strategic in choosing your backlinks.
4. Reuse Dead Links
Surely, you yourself have been annoyed by the links that are long out of date and useless. Yes, regularly removing old content is the be-all and end-all of a good SEO strategy. However, don’t get annoyed with them because they could benefit you tremendously. Contact the originator and talk to them about linking to your content. With this, you create free backlinks, what more do you want?
5. Use Free Tools
On the internet, you can find some free tools that can help you with link building. One of them is the backlink checker from Ahrefs. The company claims to have the second-best crawler after Google. Whether this is true, we cannot prove. In any case, the results of our test were convincing enough for us.
Get expert advice on how we can help you improve your website’s search engine rankings, increase traffic, and generate more leads.
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Conclusion
In this article, we have now shown you that good backlinks are one of the most influential factors in building organic traffic. This is because they ensure that both Google and other website owners see you as a valued expert who likes to be recommended through corresponding backlinks. Good backlinks are links from websites that are, above all, authentic and on-topic. To get good backlinks, you need above all else: Really good content.
Do You Want to Take Off With Your Website in 2023?
If you feel like it, we’ll be happy to support you. When it comes to SEO link building, we offer you, among other things, the writing of regular guest posts. We find partner sites for you that fit your niche and will publish your guest posts. The perfect way to gain the backlinks that you are missing. If you’re not sure yet, let’s just start a consultation first. This is completely free of charge. We are looking forward to meeting you!
