How a backlink strategy can improve your search engine ranking
How a backlink strategy can improve your SERP
Backlinks have grown in importance as an effective means of making sure your products and brand can be found online. The value of backlinks has been recognised for some time, but recent changes in how they are generated means that it might be time to update your PR and communications strategy.
What is a backlink? Well, in its simplest form it is a hyperlink between one website and another. For example, if you send out a press release and it includes your website and it is subsequently uploaded to an external site, then that is a backlink. The higher the domain authority of that online site, then the more valuable the backlink.
Why are backlinks important?
Backlinks are important for your SEO because they show Google that another website finds your content interesting and valuable. As you increase the number and quality of backlinks to your website, Google algorithms infer that your website ought to be ranking well on the SERPs.
How do I generate backlinks?
There are three ways of doing this:
Natural links – these are generated by owners of external websites that upload your content and the links it contains because of its editorial merit. As a digital PR agency specialising in the construction and manufacturing sectors, it is our ability to write high quality case studies, white papers and thought leadership pieces that allows us to organically obtain natural backlinks for our clients.
Manual links – created through link earning activities, which basically means requesting that a website generate a backlink on your behalf. For instance, you could ask your suppliers or customers to add them onto their website and reciprocate by doing the same. Bear in mind, the link would still need to be part of content with value or you may be penalised by search engines. Guest blogging for an industry website is another method of creating a manual backlink.
Paid links – this might seem the easiest route, although bear in mind that paying for a backlink can cost upwards of £100. For example, paying for a 1/8 page advertorial in a construction magazine would create a backlink, but, over time, would soon eat through your marketing budget.
What kind of backlink works best?
Ultimately, it is the quality of the backlink that counts rather than the way it was created. Having said that, natural and manual backlinks appear more independent and ‘believable’ to people. Algorithms may look at it simply from a quality perspective, which means that paid backlinks can work for some brands.
As a Digital agency, we incorporate backlink strategies into our overall marketing strategy, which means we are able to build links on high domain authority websites that help our client. In the vast majority of case these are Natural or Manual backlinks, which we are able to generate because of our team’s ability to write high quality, valuable content.
We track the number of backlinks we earn weekly and report these to our clients. It’s a great way to measure the effectiveness of our communication strategy. We are often asked; how many backlinks do we need?. The answer is that this can vary by industry and product. A company with a relatively small number of backlinks can generates sales leads, whereas in a different sector, it really is about maximising the number of backlinks.
For more details of how you could make the most of backlinks, please contact our digital marketing team by email hello@dragonflypr.co.uk or by calling 0114 349 5341. We are a Sheffield based dedicated PR and digital marketing agency that specialises in the business to business and industrial sectors.