How successful are backlinks?
- Thread starter Connie Powell
- Start date
The internet is a popularity contest so yes, backlinks will make a different to your ecommerce site. Google wants to see other 'quality' and 'relevant' sites recommending the pages within your site.
Please note, I said 'quality' and 'relevant' site.
Do not go spamming a ton of crapy blogs or buy some $100 a month service that gives you links from sites in Outer Mongolia!
Here are some do's and don'ts:
The main crux of what I'm saying is that you need to start getting on people's radar and building genuine relationships with them. Don't go straight asking for a link because they will block you.
Think about how you can earn 'quality links' from 'quality sites.
Hope that helps.
Matt
Please note, I said 'quality' and 'relevant' site.
Do not go spamming a ton of crapy blogs or buy some $100 a month service that gives you links from sites in Outer Mongolia!
Here are some do's and don'ts:
- Never buy links, earn them
- Try to gain links from sites where your customers 'hang out'
- Create valuable content that is helpful to your customers (people will then link to it)
- Include videos in your content (this is easier to link to and maybe even embed)
- Promote your content to other sites and through social media (often forgotten)
- Partner with other brands on content (that way, it's in their interest to promote as well)
- Partner with influencers (they will also promote where they appear - i.e your site)
- Add internal links from your blog and content to your product pages (this improves internal link juice)
- Contact blogs and online publications in your space with an interesting angle on an importance story. Offer an opinion and say you'd like to comment or written something. If you go to them with a pitch then you're more likely to secure coverage.
- Search for sites in your industry that take guest posts - Use the Google search queries 'Your Keyword “write for us”' or Your Keyword “guest post'
- Partner with a local charity to raise money (they will then promote you)
- Sponsor a local organisation or sports club (It's a low-cost way of picking up a local link)
- Get in contact with local press and offer to talk about a particular issue for local businesses
- Use a tool like SEMRush to find backlinks into the top ranking sites in your niche and competitors. Try to get the same links.
- Use SEMRush (or another tool) to find broken links on blogs / sites in your niche and contact them to fix it. Be the good citizen. Offer to work with them at the same time.
The main crux of what I'm saying is that you need to start getting on people's radar and building genuine relationships with them. Don't go straight asking for a link because they will block you.
Think about how you can earn 'quality links' from 'quality sites.
Hope that helps.
Matt
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@WebshopMechanic is a good guy but I'm going to disagree with a few points he made.
There's no harm in buying links. Do it. But be smart about it. They can't look like bought links! There should be no way Google can tell, or suspect, that it's bought. I don't understand all this nonsense about doing what Google tells you to do! Do what actually works, not what the Gorg would like you to think works.
Maybe don't bother with videos. It was the new hot thing a couple of years ago and everyone jumped into it. Pause and think whether video is the best medium for your target clients. It isn't always.
Don't write for sites that take "guest posts" unless they are very, very high quality sites with impossibly difficult standards to meet (think Harvard Business Review).
Don't spend too much time getting backlinks. Backlinks are far, far less important now than they were a few years ago. Google's worked out other ways to detect quality.
There's no harm in buying links. Do it. But be smart about it. They can't look like bought links! There should be no way Google can tell, or suspect, that it's bought. I don't understand all this nonsense about doing what Google tells you to do! Do what actually works, not what the Gorg would like you to think works.
Maybe don't bother with videos. It was the new hot thing a couple of years ago and everyone jumped into it. Pause and think whether video is the best medium for your target clients. It isn't always.
Don't write for sites that take "guest posts" unless they are very, very high quality sites with impossibly difficult standards to meet (think Harvard Business Review).
Don't spend too much time getting backlinks. Backlinks are far, far less important now than they were a few years ago. Google's worked out other ways to detect quality.
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0
No problem disagreeing with me @Clinton . We're all here for a healthy debate and you're a good guy too. 
I agree with all your points.
You're right, we shouldn't dance to Google's tune and we do need to be careful that we don't go against their terms and conditions.
Buying links - If you're going to buy links then I'd suggest working with a company that creates high-quality content and then gets it placed on strong, relevant sites. I certainly wouldn't paid for a cheap link-building service.
Videos - I think videos engage more than text. Text is great for search but you need to make sure it is easily read by your audience. If they want quick answers and don't want to read a page of text then text + video is the answer.
Again, I agree with you on the not focusing too much on backlinks. Don't plough all your time into it but maybe set time aside as part of your overall marketing strategy.
At the end of the day, you need to 'create something worth linking to'.
Matt
I agree with all your points.
You're right, we shouldn't dance to Google's tune and we do need to be careful that we don't go against their terms and conditions.
Buying links - If you're going to buy links then I'd suggest working with a company that creates high-quality content and then gets it placed on strong, relevant sites. I certainly wouldn't paid for a cheap link-building service.
Videos - I think videos engage more than text. Text is great for search but you need to make sure it is easily read by your audience. If they want quick answers and don't want to read a page of text then text + video is the answer.
Again, I agree with you on the not focusing too much on backlinks. Don't plough all your time into it but maybe set time aside as part of your overall marketing strategy.
At the end of the day, you need to 'create something worth linking to'.
Matt
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All good advice but @Connie Powell probably doesn’t have the resources to implement all this. She can’t even get the site owners to dump the awful godaddy thing they are using.
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If they won't change there is no point in doing any link building. The sites are so bad Google will not give you any credit for your efforts.
Google is looking for trust and authority, neither of which are present on your websites. You could spend months on link building and get nothing in return.
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B
billybob99
No problem disagreeing with me @Clinton . We're all here for a healthy debate and you're a good guy too.
I agree with all your points.
You're right, we shouldn't dance to Google's tune and we do need to be careful that we don't go against their terms and conditions.
Buying links - If you're going to buy links then I'd suggest working with a company that creates high-quality content and then gets it placed on strong, relevant sites. I certainly wouldn't paid for a cheap link-building service.
Videos - I think videos engage more than text. Text is great for search but you need to make sure it is easily read by your audience. If they want quick answers and don't want to read a page of text then text + video is the answer.
Again, I agree with you on the not focusing too much on backlinks. Don't plough all your time into it but maybe set time aside as part of your overall marketing strategy.
At the end of the day, you need to 'create something worth linking to'.
Matt
I did buy a blackhat SEO package from the BH Forum 4 years ago and I'm still ranking top 5 for [keyword] + {city].
I used to be 1st for all the keywords, over the years dropped slightly into 3rd position for most of them.
Was $80 well spent back then.
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Competitive backlink research is also a good option. By analyzing the backlink profile to a competitor that's already ranking well for your target keywords, you can achieve insight about the link building that may have helped them.
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M
MoritzBauer
Backlinks are very important. You shouldn't usw spammy links like you will get on fiverr. Instead you can hire agencies or do it all alone. But builiding Links is very hard. Just head over to google and type: "Neil Patel" + "Backlinks" or "Backlinko" + "Backlinks". You will find a lot of detailed information, which will help you!
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R
Richard Leader
Backlinks are really important for a number of reasons, but for me, it's all about quality. If you put links on spammy paid-for sites, they *might* have a positive impact on your SEO, but then the *might* not.
I'd rather think of backlinks as valuable traffic generators themselves, rather than as an SEO play - do you want the traffic on that site? If the answer is 'yes', it's probably worth working with the site owner to see how you can be mutually beneficial to each other.
Questions to ask yourself are:
> Is my site good enough to link back to?
> What's in it for the host site and their customers?
> How can I create compelling content for the host that will encourage them to link back?
And you know what? If you're targeting quality sites with quality traffic, chances are you'll be doing a good job from an SEO perspective too.
I'd rather think of backlinks as valuable traffic generators themselves, rather than as an SEO play - do you want the traffic on that site? If the answer is 'yes', it's probably worth working with the site owner to see how you can be mutually beneficial to each other.
Questions to ask yourself are:
> Is my site good enough to link back to?
> What's in it for the host site and their customers?
> How can I create compelling content for the host that will encourage them to link back?
And you know what? If you're targeting quality sites with quality traffic, chances are you'll be doing a good job from an SEO perspective too.
Upvote
0
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