Backlinks, also known as “inbound links,” “incoming links,” or “one way links,” are hyperlinks that connect one web page to a page on another. Google and other major search engines consider backlinks as “votes” for a given website. Pages having a high quantity of backlinks typically score well in organic search engine results.
Significance Of Backlinks
Backlinks are particularly significant for SEO since they reflect a “vote of trust” from one website to another.
Backlinks to the website, in essence, indicate to search engines that others approve of your content. When many sites hyperlink to the same web page or site, search engines might deduce that the information is worth connecting to and, therefore, worth appearing on a SERP. Earning these backlinks might therefore improve a site’s page ranking or search visibility.
While over 200 known Google ranking factors, backlinks are among the most important. This is because a link to another website is more than just a link; it is a vote of confidence, a recommendation, and a way for publishers to say something to their readers.
It is tough to obtain such an endorsement, particularly for new enterprises or startups. However, to improve your SEO performance, you must ensure that you continually generate high-quality backlinks to your website faster and better than your competitors.
High-Quality Backlinks
When it comes to backlinks, quality is equally as important as quantity. Obtaining high-quality backlinks is the most challenging aspect of SEO. You’ll need the following links:
- Authoritarian – The website has an influential backlink profile (multiple affirmations of trust), a lot of attention, and even rank highly in the SERPs. Furthermore,.gov and.edu sites, as well as industry-leading sites, tend to carry greater weight.
- Appropriate – The connecting website addresses a comparable topic or niche, for example. If your technology firm’s homepage receives a backlink from a blog article about “how to golf,” this is not considered an essential or quality backlink.
- Unique – You will be advantaged if the website connects to you but not to your competitor. Otherwise, the backlink may be helpful, but it’s incredibly competitive.
- Natural – The connection is not marketed, the anchor text is not labelled or spamming, and the quantity of links on the referring website is standard.
Best Checkers for Free Backlinks
All of the tools listed below give a macro picture of the backlink profile, but they each provide various extra information.
- Ahrefs Backlink Checker
- Backlinks (Neil Patel)
- CognitiveSEO
- MonitorBacklinks
- OpenLinkProfiler
- RankWatch