10 SEO Tips for Backlinks
95Have you tried increasing your website traffic to no avail? Have you tried every search engine optimization technique you know without results? Take the next step and use these SEO tips to build backlinks that work!
Backlinks are an important part of search rank
Search Engine Optimization & Backlinks Go Hand-in-Hand
When it comes to search engine optimization (SEO), many website owners are aware of the importance of on-page SEO. Afterall, creating search engine optimized websites is often where the majority of resources and effort is directed.
But what about off-page SEO and building backlinks?
Off-page SEO considers how search engine crawlers value links, as well as the inter-connectedness of links from one website to another. Backlinks, the text links that are often underlined and in blue, are the backbone of the web, leading users from one web page to another as they are clicked.
Backlinks are a key component in the way search engines value a website and as such, should never be an afterthought!
How to Get Backlinks
In the not so distant past, website owners often had the mentality of waiting for links; "If you build it, they will come." However, this sitting-back-and-waiting tactic really doesn't work for small website owners.
Luckily, there are a number of legitimate ways to get quality backlinks. But first and foremost, a website needs to have compelling content that causes others to link to it naturally. These organic backlinks, with a variety of naturally occurring anchor text, can have a major impact on a site's page rank.
Note: Be sure to watch the one minute video by Google's Matt Cutts for an illustration of why compelling content matters.
Compelling Content Brings Organic Backlinks
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Additionally, the onslaught of:
- article writing sites,
- blogging tools, and
- social media,
have given website owners the ability to easily take marketing matters into their own hands and create backlinks to their central, potentially money-making target website. Social media is especially useful in this arena since people's willingness to share links can potentially generate a lot of additional organic backlinks.
As long as the source of backlinks is legitimate and relevant (not link farms), backlinks provide value to the target or destination website, increasing its rank in search engine results.
The following 10 tips for SEO and backlinks will give you insight into how to get the most bang for your buck for each backlink you create:
Backlinks, Anchor Text & Clicking
#1 Backlinks should contain keywords.
Although we are not privy to Google's search algorithm, or any search engine's for that matter, many tests have been done and conclusions drawn that are well worth practicing. For example, the text link or anchor text matters.
The html code for an actual backlink looks like this, with the words "Text Link" being the words that can be clicked on:
<a href="http://www.hubpages.com" target="_blank">Text Link</a>
Link Text (anchor text) should:
- always have keywords in it
- be concise - focusing on one keyword idea
Link Text (anchor text) should NEVER contain:
- URLs (i.e. http://www.hubpages.com)
- generic text, such as click here or home
#2 The higher up the backlink is in the html, the better.
Links pass value to the destination or target web page and the higher up the backlink appears in the html code of the page, the more value it gives to the target page. For example, if you link identical text twice on the same page, targeting two separate pages of a target website, the target page that is linked to first is given more value than the second, all other things being equal.
If you think about it, the logic makes sense. If I want to convince you of something, I am going to present my best argument first. Why should Google be any different? It considers our first "reason" for following a link more weighty.
#3 Backlinks should be within the content of a page.
Backlinks located within the content of a web page provide much more value to the target page than if they are located in the sidebars or footer.
#4 The first instance of a backlink to an URL on a page is the only one that matters.
This is a case where quality is better than quantity, which, like so many things related to search engine optimization, is usually the case. In addition to the fact that a page overloaded with links to the same target just looks spammy, it is ineffective.
Say for example, that you have included five links in an article all leading to your money-making destination website. The only link that Google values is the first link that appears on the page to that particular URL.
#5 Backlinks on pages with fewer links give the target URL more value.
If a website has a lot of links on a single page, then the value each of these backlinks might add to its target website is diminished. Once again, quality over quantity is at play. While there is no known link density to avoid, it is always best to only include relevant links that add value to the content which surrounds them.
Google Webmaster Tools lets you see what sites link to your site.
There are many things that website owners can accomplish with Google webmaster tools, including:
- Using Webmaster Tools to see what sites backlinks to yours, and
- Using Google Webmaster Tools to add an URL or submit a site.
#6 External backlinks are more weighty than internal links.
It goes without saying that all websites should have an internal linking structure, connecting all the pages within the site to one another. In addition to navigation though, website owners can also create some backlinks within their own content to their own pages. This is internal linking.
However, backlinks from external websites increases the ranking of the destination page more than internal links. While you cannot dictate the keywords that external websites use in the anchor text to your site, having clear and compelling content surrounding a single topic, makes it easier to get good backlinks from external sources.
#7 Backlinks from a unique domain matter more than a new backlink from a previously linking domain.
Let's suppose that site A already backlinks to your website in three different locations. Did you know that a new backlink from site B, a site that previously never linked to your website, adds more value to your website's rank than a new additional link from site A?
Backlinks from a variety of domains that are relevant to a website's content is one key to long term ranking.
#8 Links from relevant sites provide a lot of value.
Suppose you have a friend who has a website for his plumbing business and this friend offers to place a link on his website to your dog walking business. While this is a very kind gesture, it will not provide you with a relevant backlink. On the other hand, if you have a friend with a website for a successful dog grooming business then a backlink to your dog walking business would be beneficial.
The relevancy of the linking site to the desitnation site's content matters.
#9 Backlinks from trusted, reputable sites help destination sites.
Not only is site relevancy important, so too is a site's reputation; its trust factor. Perhaps you've seen terms such as trust rank, trust scores, and trust seeds. Backlinks from trusted, reputable sites pass more value to the desitnation site, than non-trusted sources. Google doesn't single out sites for trustworthiness like .gov or .edu, but these sites tend to have a high page rank because of the number of sites linking to them. Additionally, links from sites closer to the trusted seed may help search engine rank.
It's also speculated that a backlink from a less important page on a site with high trust rank, is more valuable than a backlink on a more important page (i.e. home page) on a site with a lower trust rank. This makes sense because the less important page on a reputable site may in fact have a higher page rank than the page rank of a non-reputable site's home page.
#10 Having a quantity of quality backlinks is best of all.
Having multiple, quality backlinks, especially from relevant and trusted sources, is key to increasing the target website's rank in search engine results.
Although a website owner can only control SEO and backlinks from their own articles, blogs, press releases, other websites, etc., it is important to write content where the topic is readily apparent. This will make it easier, a "no-brainer," for external websites to come up with keyword-rich backlinks to your website.
In summary, successful off-page SEO for backlinks is a matter of applying these 10 SEO tips for backlinks and working smarter, not harder.
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Hi Arlene. I can't tell you how happy I am to hear that you're getting the SEO stuff, even if it's very slowly. I know first and foremost you are a writer, an excellent writer, so applying some basic seo techniques, is going to allow others to find your wonderful articles. As always, I appreciate you letting me know my seo hubs are helpful to you, as well as the votes.
Fantastic hub. Really well written and loads of clear advice. People always want seo tips and backlinks are so important.
Voted up :)
Thanks Emma. I've actually read that quality backlinks can help boost a destination page without the best on-page seo higher in search results than a page that has great on-page seo with less or lesser quality backlinks. Whether or not this is completely factual, we don't know, but I do know that I have seen sites outrank others that don't have the keywords in the title. Backlinks and traffic probably are factors in these types of situations. Thanks for your comment and vote up.
Great hub about explaining backlinks and detailing how they work. I know this can be a confusing subject to grasp initially, but you've explained it very well. I will definitely share this hub with others.
Excellent work here, ktrapp. This hub is so helpful to those attempting to create backlinks and also maintain a solid relationship with search engines. Great work! Voted, up, useful, shared, etc.
Bookmarked!
ktrapp, you have added another wonderful hub to your SEO collection! Very useful and helpful. Thank you for sharing. I might send you some questions at a later date.
voted up and sharing!
ktrapp, excellent hub for those of us wanting to absorb the value of SEO behavior. Thank you!
Christin - I appreciate your comment. I agree, backlinks and seo sometimes seem tough to grasp at first, but I truly believe it is just a matter of knowing what to do and then following through. Thanks for sharing this hub.
Brittanytodd - I really like the way you said, "maintain a solid relationship with search engines." That afterall is the goal, to rank well in search engines, but to do it ethical manner.
Nothing replaces letting search engines know what a site is all about through solid content, URLs, titles, headings, and internal anchor links. Backlinks, traffic, perhaps time spent on a page, etc., additionally let search engines know that a site is relevant for its keywords. Thanks for sharing your thoughts, votes, and for sharing.
Missolive - I do consider bookmarking and sharing to be the sincerest compliment, and you did both. Thank you for that and I certainly am glad to answer any questions you have either here in the comments or you can contact me. I'm always glad to help.
Ytsenoh - I like the way you put that, "absorb SEO." It is sort of an absorption process. I think we hear SEO this and that over and over and then finally we just sort of get it. And since no games or trickery are involved in SEO it should be something that anyone interested in SEO and backlinks can absorb. Thanks.
Ktrapp - I booked marked this hub. Very useful. I have put this hub as one of My Favorite Hubs of the Week: Jan 15. Thank you for the information.
Tarajeyaram - You are more than welcome for the seo/backlink information. Thank you for thinking highly enough of this hub to consider it one of your favorites of the week, as well as to bookmark it.
Very Informative will read over and over again
Good information - I am always watching for new bits and pieces I can learn about SEO. You covered a few areas here that gave me a different perspective.
yols-a Thank you so much.
healthwealthmusic - I am glad I brought a new perspective to the backlinking/seo topic for you. Some of these tips may seem counter-intuitive to the linking-like-crazy crowd, but if you think about each of these tips, they are all very logical.
Awesome! Awesome! Awesome! Straight to the point, useful information. Voted up!
Thank you, thank you, thank you Kim - thrilled that this information will be useful for you.
This is another great article. I learn so much from you. This one is being placed in your special bookmarking folder. I even understood much of what you were talking about, so I have been teachable. LOL
Thanks so much for all the knowledge you have so freely shared.
Homesteadbound - The people that are "teachable" are the ones who are motivated and ready to learn, qualities that you clearly possess. I think so much of SEO is a matter of knowing what to do and then doing it. So I am glad I have been able to share what I know about SEO with you and others.
Thank you so much for this information. I am one of those people who is new to all of this writing for online. While I have extensive knowledge about traditional writing techniques, writing for the web is a horse of a different color. My husband was impressed a few months ago when I was able to say what the acronym for SEO meant. I am just picking up what I can where I can.
Hi Stephanie - I think there are a lot of people who come to HubPages who are "traditional" writers first. The good news is that the majority of SEO is fairly simple to incorporate if you are aware of what to do. Since you are a new online writer at HubPages I would recommend one of my other hubs that is second in the list of article links above: "Get Hits on HubPages: How to Use Keywords in All the Right Places." Best wishes.
Hi this is a good hub, full of useful information, thank you for sharing, what do you find the best way of getting links on good PR sites, do you try and guest blog?
Little by little the usage of backlinks is sinking in. Your hub provides such good and useful information. Definitely a hub to be read and re-read. Voted up, useful and interesting.
Thank you dipless. If the PR sites you are talking about are just sites of links then personally I see no value in them. It would be better to put effort into getting links from more relevant and reputable websites. Guest blogging is a great idea, but once again, only if the blog is relevant and reputable. I myself have not done this yet, but there is one particular blog that I have my eye on.
Tillsontitan - I think a lot of SEO and backlinking info. does sort of seep in, but once it's there, you realize how it really was never too difficult after all. Thanks for the comment and votes.
The single most important sentence in this is the one immediately following the video. Those of us coming from a linear print world may prefer to concentrate on writing content, never having given any thought to marketing.
In the world of digital authorship, however, marketing has become primarily the author's responsibility. It requires a second dimension of multiple presences (IDs or sites). That can come as a shock to someone who signed up for a single online presence.
To the extent that an author proceeds to diversify writings through various of those multiple presences, networking their links actually adds a third dimension.
Howard, The digital world definitely is multi-dimensional, requiring the writers/authors to wear multiple hats. I think this often comes as a surprise to those that are new to writing online.
Great tips! SEO can be an overwhelming concept, but if you keep making one or two changes at a time, you'll start to see improvements.
Thank you randomcreative. You're very correct in saying that small changes with SEO do add up.
I already have a folder for your hubs! Voted up, as usual. Will be revisiting, as usual. Generating great comments, as usual. Thanks much!
You are very welcome RTalloni, as usual. I'm really flattered that you have a bookmark folder with my name on it and I certainly hope the contents of it help you with all your SEO on HubPages questions.
If you want to play with your keyword in First on SERP, You must have a good follow links which is used for enhance your PR juice and put you on top. Getting backlinks from your Niche is Best although if you get backlinks from a good authority websites, It's also help you to put your keywords towards the top.
Yes it's right !
Click Here, Home etc are consider as the page is about click here or home, we must change it with our keyword.
Good On. Thumbs Up. .
Thanks for sharing this article, I will try this tactics to one of my website.
TotallyDriven - Would love to hear the results if you apply these SEO and backlinks tips to one of your websites.
adomcruze - Did you know that if you Google "click here" that Adobe is first in the results (even though the words "click here" are not on the Adobe page?
There are probably millions of sites with "click here" links for Adobe reader. "Click here" and "home" are a waste of potential link juice. Thanks for your comment.
I have tried SEO tips and I have used SEO services. I think they all work very well. Back links are extremely necessary and one of the best SEO methods.
This was an intresting one, glad I found you on the forum !
Thanks Luke. I hope you're able to put these SEO-backlinks tips to good use.
You pointed out important topics when doing SEO. This is a great hub. Thank you so much.
mfriedstore - Thank you. I know a lot of people focus more on the quantity of backlinks to their website instead of the quality of the backlinks themselves. I hope this information is helpful.
This was such a great hub, I put it in my favorite hubs hub:
http://brittanytodd.hubpages.com/hub/My-Favorite-H
Great work, again!
Brittany - Thank you...thrilled to know that you thought highly enough of these backlink and seo tips to include it in your "favorite hubs" hub! I will be sure to check it out.
Great !!
Well Organized and nice structured. Awesome All of your tips besides it, i was looking for some way of link building. If you know some advance tips, you must reply on the same post. I will definitely come back here to find out some more advance tips inside seo.
UP. . .
Great Hub that outlines the points in such a way that it is easy to understand.
Lauryallan - Thanks. I hope you are able to use these backlink tips to your benefit.
Thanks for another awesome hubs on SEO techniques! I knew that the anchor text was important, but I didn't realize the value of some of your other points.
You are welcome Donna. You are not alone; a lot of people aren't aware of some of this information about back links. You are a step ahead in realizing the importance of the anchor text, though!
ktrapp - I loved this hub so much, that I included it in my latest hub luv hub #13. Great job! -Cindy
This hub was very helpful. I know some more about the mysteries of backlinking. I'll have to bookmark for future reference. :)
homesteadbound - How nice of you to include a mention of this hub in yours. It's certainly nice to know that you thought highly enough of it to share it with others in one of your wonderful collections.
cclitgirl - Glad to know that this hub helped unlocked some of the mysteries of backlinks for you. Thanks for your comment and for considering it useful enough to bookmark!
Great tips!! This is excellent.
TransferAmerica - Thanks so much. I hope you are able to put these backlinks tips to good use.
I love the way you defined it. It's well known that getting backlink is the purpose of seo to rank higher on SERPs. I like ur hub (Google Webmaster Tools for HubPages How to Add an URL), Hoping the next you define Analytic also. Good One..
Voted UP...
ktrapp, this is such a wonderful hub. I have just recently found your website and have already bookmarked it! I will implementing many of the seo techniques on my own website http://www.thinkgreenlimo.com Naperville Limo in order to achieve high PR. Thanks for sharing such great tips and tricks.
adomcruze - Thanks for you comment. Backlinks certainly do help a site rank higher in SERPs. I'm glad the hub on adding URLs via Google Webmaster Tools was also useful to you.
Nice explanatory hub here. In my experience, backlinks from articles published on article sites have worked for me. But, my keywords haven't been that competitive. I am still not sure what kind of backlinks i need to get for competitive keywords
blakequintero - That's great that backlinks on article publishing sites have worked for you. I hope these seo backlink tips bring you even greater success. Especially be sure to put keywords in the link text. Thanks for your comment.
Thank God, I found this Hub. Very well written and lots of great information. You are such a great writer. Shared and voted up!
This is a really great hub! You have explained and organized this complex subject so it is clear. Backlinking is something I am constantly trying to improve. Thanks for this very useful article. Bookmarking! Voted up!
Thank you so much for putting this information in a way I was understand. Very helpful and informative.
I learned a lot from your hub! Thanks for sharing your valuable information with us.
As you said links from the relevant sites having less external links will give more value..
I completely agree with your points #4 and #5. I see so many websites stuffing their pages with links to several pages or the same URL repeatedly in a single page. That looks so awkward and definitely gives a bad impression. Cheers!
urmilashukla23 - I'm so glad this Hub was beneficial to you. Thank you for the compliment and votes!
susanm23b - I'm thrilled to know you found this Hub helpful in your backlink improvement efforts. So many people just worry about having a large quantity of backlinks when it the quality of the source of the backlink that really makes a difference. Thanks for your wonderful comment.
ADayinMyLife1 - Thanks for letting me know that you found this SEO and backlink Hub informative, understandable and helpful.
DomainNameNews - When it comes to SEO and backlinks it is certainly better to work smarter, not harder. I'm glad you found the information in this Hub to be of value!
ShaamCA - Very true. A link from an relevant external site that is an authority site is quite valuable when it comes to SEO. Not all links are equal in the eyes of Google!
buycontent - I notice a lot of pages that don't follow point #4. The first instance of linking to a URL on a page is the only one that "counts." There is almost nothing worse than a page that backlinks to the same URL over and over using different link text each time.
I like #5 too. A backlink on a page that has fewer links is more valuable than a backlink on a page stuffed with links.
But I think all of these points regarding backlinks and SEO show that the quality of the backlink matters more than quantity.
Good article, ktrapp, and thank you for this useful list of the most important aspects of backlinking. What is your opinion about 'do follow' and 'no follow' links? There seems to be much divided thought about these, mainly along the lines that Google does/does not pay attention to these instructions. Certainly it seems to me that most, if not all, forum and blog links are now 'no follow'.
Kieran Gracie - "No follow" links are not followed. But if I am curious as to what links on what web pages are do-follow or no-follow I take a look at the web page's source code. For example, if you look at the source code for Hubpages, links left by commenters within a comment are no-follow.
Personally, I don't do much backlinking at all. I like to just try to write good enough content that it gets linked to organically. But at times I do answer questions on Yahoo Answers that relate to a topic I wrote about on HubPages. Any links I leave there are no-follow so they do not negatively or positively impact my rank whatsoever. But I do in fact get traffic from those links, which is my only purpose in leaving them in the first place - well that, and to provide a more complete answer to a question.
Useful points, ktrapp. Thank you.
Your welcome Kieran. I'm glad these backlink tips were of use.
awesome thorough hub!
Another great hub by a great author! Thanks for all these tips. I'm now moving towards creating compelling hubs, thanks to you! :)
yougotme - Backlinking does not have to be a back-breaking process. It's not necessarily about volume, but more so about quality. I'm glad you like these tips. Thanks for your comment.
Great hub - voted up and shared :) Backlinking is a very tedious process! :)
Thanks exthus. I hope these tips make backlinking less tedious for you. Remember,it's not about having a massive quantity of backlinks (Google will penalize for that), but rather having fewer, high quality backlinks.
Very useful information you shared here. SEO is such an interesting topic that I don't miss a chance to read any article about it and believe me , almost every time I get something new to add to my knowledge. A few tips also taken from your lens. Thanks !
Arlene V. Poma 4 months ago
Awesome and bookmarked as usual, k. I will have to make a folder just for your articles because I find them easier to understand. This one on SEO tips for backlinks is a pure gem, and a baby step into the unknown. Thank you for the step-by-step definitions and explanations. I'm "getting" it very slowly, but your writing is a huge help. Thanks, again. Voted up and everything else.