Backlinks – a word that sends a shiver down the spine of many, what does it mean? What are they? How many do I need? What are good/bad ones?
A backlink is a way of another website giving you a theoretical pat on the back. By gaining links from a number of ‘good’ websites it can make search engines give your website a big thumbs up. But what makes a good website? Thankfully there’s a quick and easy way to decide this, by using the free tool from Moz you can find a websites domain authority (DA). Ideally for backlinks you would be wanting a domain authority of at least 20 (top score is 100), the higher the domain authority the better. You can download the Moz toolbar by clicking here.
Why would a high authority website want to give you a backlink? Good question! You need to make yourself appealing to them and this usually happens in one of two ways; content or cash (sometimes both!). If you can write some fantastic content that a high authority site would want publishing on their site you can ask for a backlink in return for the content. Another way is getting in touch with this type of high authority website and say that you have a planned budget of xxx for gaining a backlink through a guest post blog.
Not every website with a high domain authority will necessarily be good for you though. For example if you are managing a law firms SEO gaining backlinks from irrelevant sites such as fashion can in some cases actually have a negative effect. When searching for great backlinks make sure there is some form of ‘link’ and that the website isn’t completely random/totally out of your sector.
Creating backlinks can be a time consuming process and for a busy business owner can seem an overwhelming challenge. We have found people have more success when they set themselves realistic targets whether that is a new backlink a day, week, fortnight or a month.
Sourcing blog owners and making contact can be time consuming, pretty monotonous work but it can really be worth it; each link you gain should (hopefully) remain on the site indefinitely so you will see great results far after the hard work you put into gaining a link.