Building Backlinks: Tips for SEO Success

Google is constantly changing the algorithm it uses to rank websites. Experts estimate that it makes several hundred changes to its search ranking algorithm every year. But one of the most influential factors that determine where and how a website ranks is backlinks. So, what’s the best way to go about building backlinks if you’re hoping to achieve a higher search ranking?

Don’t Pay for Links

The golden rule of SEO is to avoid buying backlinks. There are dozens if not hundreds of companies out there that will gladly sell you backlinks or “backlink packages.” Nine out of ten times, however, paid links backfire by having a negative impact on your site’s rankings. Unless you’re willing to take that risk (and you shouldn’t), never pay for links, and instead let them come naturally.

Diversify Anchor Text

Try to get into the habit of diversifying your anchor text when building backlinks. In other words, don’t use the same keyword for every link that you create. Some webmasters will use their primary keyword as anchor text, which is fine as long as you mix it up with other words, phrases and variations. Opting for a single anchor text looks unnatural — and that may attract a penalty. You can even use your site’s name (e.g. yoursite or yoursite.com) instead of an actual keyword-based anchor text. The bottom line is that your links need to be diverse and not focused on a single keyword or phrase.

Content First, Then Backlinks

Rather than actively building backlinks to your site, you should focus on creating content that attracts natural links. By creating high-quality content, you’ll encourage other users to link back to your site. It’s these “natural” links that yield the greatest influence in boosting your site’s rankings in the search results.

Quality and Relevancy

It’s not just the number of backlinks that you have pointing to your website, but also the quality and relevancy of those backlinks. In the past, you could obtain a top search ranking for just about any keyword simply by churning out a massive amount of backlinks. But Google has since updated its ranking algorithm to place a greater emphasis on quality.

So if you want to rank for a specific keyword or phrase now, you’ll need to build backlinks on high-quality sites and pages that are closely related to your own site. For example, if your website promotes your services as a tax accountant, you would want backlinks from tax attorneys, financial planners, estate planners, etc. Having a backlink from a website about caring for reptiles as pets isn’t going to work, as there’s little-to-no relevancy between the two niches.

Have any other tips for building backlinks? Let us know in the comments section below!