What is Backlink? Is it a Ranking Factor?

 If you are a Blogger or Internet Marketer then you must hear the term Backlink. But, what exactly Backlink is and how it is important for SEO? What are the types of Backlinks and Is it an important ranking factor or not?

Let’s discuss this in this article. 

What is Backlink?

A backlink is a link pointing from one website to others. Backlinks are also called “inbound links” or “incoming links.” 

So, when someone mentioned one of your Blog links in their blog post then you will get a backlink from that website. It can be of different types like Do follow, Nofollow, etc. 

Why are backlinks important?

Backlinks play an important role in determining the authority of a website and it is also an important ranking signal for Google. If many websites are linking to a particular page then Google thinks that webpage is worth linking in SERPs. In SEO they represent a “vote of confidence” from one site to another.

So, let’s understand different types of backlinks and which one is important for SEO. 

Types of backlinks

Backlinks are mainly of two types. One is Dofollow and the other one is Nofollow. 

A Dofollow link is which passes the authority of a website to the linking site whereas nofollow doesn’t pass any ranking signal or you can say link juice to the other website. 

So, You can clearly say that Dofollow links are super important for SEO. 

But, there are some other types of backlinks like Sponsored which is basically the nofollow backlink but hints Google and other search engines that is a sponsored link or paid links like Affiliate links. 

Several other types of Backlinks are 

1. Editorial backlinks
2. Backlinks from guest blogs
3. Acknowledgment backlinks
4. Backlinks from niche or local directories
5. Links in social media posts
6. Links in business profiles
7. Links in bio
8. Links in press releases
9. Links in comments (UGC)
10. Image backlink

The most important backlink is the Do followEditorial Backlinks which are generally earned organically and placed in the actual content of the blog post. The higher the link is placed the better-ranking signal is passed to the linked site. 

So, whenever you are building backlinks, try to get backlinks at the top of the webpage and within the content itself. 

Links in the sidebar, footer, and author bio are less effective compared to editorial backlinks. 

You can also build backlinks through guest posting. Where you have to write the content and approach the other site owner to publish your content and in return ask them to link one of your existing pages. In this way, you can get high-quality dofollow editorial links to your website. 

Links in the comment section are generally nofollow UGC links that don’t pass any authority to the website. so, don’t waste time on such types of link-building practices.

Always include high-quality images which are custom-made (not stock images) and include infographics, charts, etc. It helps you get an image backlink naturally. Whenever someone uses one of your images on their blog you will get an image backlink. It is in the form of a source image link or if they directly use your image URL on their website. 

And don’t waste more time on building directory links as it is not relevant in 2024. This type of link doesn’t work anymore.

Internal links also called internal backlinks where you are linking the pages within the same website. Internal backlinks help in the On-page SEO of your website whereas external backlink helps in Off-page SEO.  

Links that you should Avoid

Some types of backlinks hurt the website’s authority and ranking instead of boosting it. so, you should always try to stay away from such link-building practices. 

• Paid links
• Sponsored guest posts
• Links in low-quality directories or forums
• Links on irrelevant sites
• spam comments with links

What is Link Building & why is it important?

Link Building is the process of acquiring backlinks or you can say hyperlinks from other websites to your website. Some links are built naturally and some needs manual effort. 

Suppose you are ranking for a keyword in the top 10 in Google and someone wants to give a reference link to their content. In that case, they might use any one of the top 10 links and use it as a reference. Here, you don’t have to do anything and the link will be earned automatically. 

But, for new websites, we need to manually build links to our blog. There are various ways like Email outreach, guest posting, etc. 

You can also earn natural backlinks if you are posting statistics content, infographics, charts, etc which generally gets most of the links. 

So, you need to find the websites in the same niche and build relationships with the site owners, Bloggers. In this way, you can easily get backlinks from those websites. 

With Link building, you get to know other similar websites in your niche and it helps you analyze the content of your competitors. Earning backlinks will help you boost the search ranking and eventually you will get more traffic and ad revenue. 

Conclusion

I hope this article helps you clear your doubts about what is backlinks, how it helps in SEO, and how you can build links for your website. 

Always remember that building backlink is a consistent process and it takes a lot of time to earn a decent number of backlinks. But, never try to buy links or spam links on other sites. 

You need to build relationships with other bloggers in your industry and guest blogging is the most powerful weapon in Link Building.