What are Backlinks in SEO? Different Types of Backlinks in SEO

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Do you know what are backlinks in SEO? In today’s crowded marketplace, keeping an effective backlink-building strategy can help you make your website authoritative and relevant in SEO rank. 

In digital marketing, millions of websites are in a battle to be in the top position. For that matter, you can employ SEO, which helps you create qualified website traffic by ranking in SERPS (Search Engine Results Pages). However, backlinks are one of the significant Aspects of SEO, which propose to search engines that your website is valuable and qualified and incorporates other high-qualified domains. 

Moreover, SEO has become complex for those who are unaware of its reach in digital marketing. It is difficult for smaller businesses because they are unable to identify their place in the SERPS ranking. This affects their web visitor numbers. Suppose you are unfamiliar with SEO; you might wonder what are backlinks in SEO.

What are Backlinks in Seo?

Before looking into backlinks, you should know what is link building. Link building is the process of accessing other websites to link to a page on your website. We call these hyperlinks backlinks. 

A backlink is a link from a page on one website that is employed to link with another website. Although, search engines like Google see it as votes, to measure how important your website is. The more backlinks you keep on your site, the greater they rank your website for the keywords that matter to your business. Moreover, it builds confidence in your site, helping it gain approval as a quality resource. 

Now you understand what are backlinks in SEO. Let’s see why backlinks are important. 

Why Backlinks are Important?

Backlink is a key factor that helps Google and other search engines determine the relevance and authority of your website and also proposes which pages should be in the highest rank for a given query.  When quality domains link to your content, it contributes to a perception of your website’s value and trustworthiness among search engines.

Getting more backlinks to your website can make more visitors through link-driven traffic. When users go through a popular website, there is a chance to click on your backlinks, which makes them enter your page for some relevant information on a particular topic. Through referral traffic, the site gets a broader audience that increases brand awareness. 

Moreover, search engines find your pages quickly through the used backlinks. Search engines discover new content by revisiting the pages they have already crawled, focusing on the popular ones to enhance user experience. 

Different Types of Backlinks

We already come across what are backlinks in SEO and their importance. Here you can learn about the different kinds of backlinks used in SEO. There are plenty of them, here is a hand-picked list for your reference:

1. Do-Follow and No-Follow Backlinks

Do-follow links allow users and search engines to access the site it points to. However, it passes link value to the linked sites which helps to improve search engine rankings.

Qualities:

• Build when linking to high-quality websites.
• This is a reference for original work when you copy it.
• If it gets higher referring domains results more beneficial to the link. 
• Naturally placed do-follow links are more valuable. 

While No-Follow links allow only the users to follow the link and not the search engines. Although, it does not pass SEO value but can drive traffic.  

Qualities:

• Low-quality sites like casinos or gambling sites.
• Build when linking to unrelated content.
• Generates awareness and traffic.
• Commonly used in paid promotions or user-generated content.

2. Editorial Backlinks

Editorial backlinks are high-quality and relevant links published on sites that maintain high editorial values. Moreover, these inbound links are not for trade, requested, or paid for. For instance, news publishers like the Times of India and Hindustan Times, or websites highly acknowledged for their niche expertise like search engine hubspot, can provide these links. 

Qualities:

• websites earn editorial backlinks instead of building them. 
• Content with lots of added value gets editorial backlinks. 
• You do not get control over the anchor text. 
• Editorial backlinks are evergreen and can drive referral traffic. 

3. Outreach Backlinks

You can create outreach links by sharing unique content and data with other niche-relevant websites. Moreover, the backlinks are just a byproduct of the knowledge sharing which happens on a website. However, it helps the company to reach out to a larger audience and track to keep a relationship. 

Qualities:

• Outreach backlinks point to a resource page.
• Links from influencer websites can drive lots of referral traffic. 
• A brand mention usually accompanies outreach links. 
• Long-term relationships help in getting multiple backlinks from the same domain. 

4. Business Profile Backlinks

Business profile backlinks are old but effective types that can help your website’s ranking, especially if you are a local business. However, you must create business profiles only on authentic websites. 

Qualities:

• Most genuine listing sites offer no-follow backlinks. 
• Your ranking on these sites mainly depends on reviews. 
• Your chances of getting referral traffic are high. 
• Ideal one for local businesses. 

5. Guest Post Backlinks

Publishing unique guest posts on websites that share the same target audience can further improve your brand visibility. Additionally, it also gives you the benefit of great-quality backlinks.

Qualities:

• The editor decides the topic for you.
• Editors outrightly reject any low-quality article. 
• The publishers publish the article under your author bio. 

6. Natural Backlinks

When your blog posts start to rank on search engines you are most likely going to get a few natural backlinks. Even though there are similarities between editorial links and natural links in the way you get them, the quality varies significantly. 

Qualities:

• While the authority might be less, creators usually place the links contextually.
• Generic anchor text
• Difficult to trace unless you use SEO tools.
• You do not need outreach or content. 

7. Directory Backlinks

You can obtain directory backlinks by listing your site in online directories. Hence, those directories organize and list your websites and business on the base of specific categories. When you submit your website in these directories, it creates backlinks that can improve your website’s visibility and traffic. 

Qualities:

• High-quality directories that hold more reputations are more beneficial for SEO.
• Location-based directories help businesses connect with local customers.
• Listing under the correct category enhances discoverability and relevance.  

8. Blog Comment Backlinks

When you comment on a blog post and add a link to your website, you create blog comment backlinks. However, these backlinks can drive traffic and strengthen your backlink profile, depending on how the blog implements them.

Qualities:

• Comments should be more valuable to the discussion rather than serving as mere promotional tactics. 
• The links should include contextually and naturally not as forced ones.
• Providing relevant links can drive referral traffic.

9. PBN Backlinks

Private Blog Network backlinks come from an individual’s or organization’s collection of websites. These sites specifically link back to a target website to boost its SEO ranking. 

Qualities:

• Typically built on expired domains with existing domain authority and backlinks.
• Creators rarely design these for real users.
• PBNs limit the number of outbound links.

10. Reciprocal Backlinks

Two websites create reciprocal backlinks when they agree to link to each other for mutual understanding and benefits. Although, these backlinks help to enhance your site’s visibility and traffic. Moreover, you must use it carefully to avoid penalties from search engines that discourage manipulative link exchange. 

Qualities:

• Provide value to users on both sides. 
• You should place it naturally within the relevant content.
• Should be part of a broader link-building strategy.
• Genuine partnership results in better quality links.

Here you get a chance to go through what are backlinks in SEO, their importance and their type. Also, there are many other types of backlinks for you to know. Thus, if you want to know more about how backlinks work in SEO, you can join SEO or Digital Marketing Courses. 

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Conclusion

Backlinks are a fundamental aspect of SEO. Moreover, knowing more about backlinks and their reach in the marketing field always helps companies acquire a standard place in the SEO ranking. Search engines like Google make your website more valuable and credible through backlinks which you use on the site. Ultimately, achieving successful SEO lies in acquiring high-quality and relevant backlinks from trustworthy sources. Hence, if you install a diverse backlink strategy can boost long-term search engine performance. 

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Frequently Asked Questions

Q1. Do backlinks negatively affect my blog?

Ans. Yes, including low-quality links may hurt your SEO. So try to acquire relevant and trustworthy backlinks. 

Q2. How can I acquire more backlinks?

Ans. Creating relevant, shareable, and quality content on your websites helps to get more backlinks.

Q3. Are backlinks the only crucial factor in SEO?

Ans. No, there are other aspects such as content quality, and site speed which are also important in SEO.

Q4. How can I check the backlinks’ quality?

Ans. The backlink’s quality depends upon the quality of the linking sites. There are tools such as Ahrefs, Backlinko or SEO Review Tools that help you check the quality of a backlink. 

Q5. What is ‘Link Juice’ in SEO?

Ans. The term ‘link juice’ is the value or authority that passes from one site to another through backlinks. It helps to boost and improve the SEO of the linked websites. 

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