Search Engine Optimization, or SEO, has become a pivotal part of conducting business online. On that note, backlinks play an important role within SEO as a way to bolster a site’s authority and improve its search rankings.
Indeed, proper backlinking can help drive sustainable growth to your business and establish you as a leader in your niche. The emphasis here is on proper, as poor backlinking can end up doing more harm than good.
The Link Between Backlinking and SEO
Backlinking on your site works similarly to how journalists and researchers cite their sources when publishing articles and journals. This way, the reader is aware that the writer had done their research and that the data or claims have a real basis.
Proper backlinking benefits both parties; the site hosting the link will garner authority and trust with its readers while the site being linked to shows a level of credibility and expertise regarding the topic.
This is where improper backlinks come in. Some companies will try to promise you an overnight increase in backlinks, but chances are these backlinks will redirect to bogus websites that are most likely irrelevant to your audience.
Once Google notices that you’re doing this, it will either stop indexing your site or remove your page from its search results altogether.
Why Backlinking Matters
As previously mentioned, backlinks boost your site’s authority. Doing so will make your site appear favorable in the eyes of Google, which values a website’s expertise, authority, and trust.
More commonly known as E-A-T, Google has been using these factors as a way to determine whether a site is credible and is worth placing high on its search results.
Although the rest of Google’s algorithm remains a secret, following the E-A-T principle ensures that your content is highly relevant to your target audience, which will in turn increase the number of sites that want to link out to your page.
For more tips and tricks on optimizing your backlink campaign, reach out to us at Automatic Growth.
