A Guide to Authority Backlinks

November 14th 2022 | By Emma Grant

Backlinks are an important search engine optimisation strategy. They have the power to increase web traffic, generate new leads and boost the perceived authority of a website, leading to improved search rankings. But when it comes to acquiring backlinks, there are right ways of going about it. And there are, most definitely, wrong ways.

In 2021, Google released its Link Spam Update with the aim of fighting link spam, backing the search engine’s policy of rewarding high quality content.

Google considers the amount of inbound links to a website when looking to understand what content could be useful to searchers. But if those links have not been earned honestly, then Google won’t be best pleased. This is because it doesn’t like its web users being misled as to the relevancy or quality of a web page.

A website that has acquired links through means that are in breach of Google’s best practice guidelines quite simply won’t benefit from those links, and could lose rankings as a result of its tactic.

So, just how should website owners be approaching a link building campaign? Let’s explore the RIGHT WAY of acquiring authority backlinks.

First things first… why run a backlink campaign?

Link building offers a whole host of valuable SEO benefits.

Firstly, it can help to build organic rankings. Run a Google search for the term ‘SEO backlinks’ and you’ll see that the top results all have hundreds if not thousands of backlinks.

The reason is simple… backlinks are one of Google’s most trusted ranking signals. Google says that web pages with a large quantity of backlinks carry authority. And for Google, this means it’s a useful page that is likely to answer users’ queries.

Backlinks also help with faster indexing. One of the methods search engines use to find new web pages is to follow backlinks from other sites. The fewer backlinks a page has, the more difficult it will be for the search engine crawlers to discover and index it.

Another benefit of inbound links is that they can generate referral traffic. This is one of the greatest advantages of authority backlinks, as they drive visitors to your site. The higher the authority of the site linking to yours and the more visitors it gets, the more likely you are to benefit with a good chunk of those visitors clicking on your links.

How to acquire authority backlinks… the right way

There are various ways to build authority backlinks to your website. Let’s take a look at some of the most popular.

1. Analyse the competition

Checking out your competitors’ backlinks will allow you an insight into what’s working for your industry. It will also help you develop a strategy to employ for your own back linking campaign.

Take a look at the quantity of backlinks, the sites being linked from, and which sites are driving the most traffic. Once you have this information in hand, you can shape your own strategy around what you now know to be a winning formula.

2. Write guest posts

Guest posts are blogs or articles you write that are posted on other websites. They include a link back to your site.

Guest posting is very effective, providing you follow the correct, best practice procedure. It needs to be genuine guest posting, with no automation involved. Your aim is to create quality, helpful content for relevant websites with high authority.

3. Publish press releases

Press releases are a magnet for web traffic and a great place for backlinks. However, the web is flooded with them, and they’re not always genuine news releases.

Using a trusted press release distribution service or an industry blogger or influencer to distribute your release is therefore good practice. It’s also vital that you’re savvy with your keywords to increase the likelihood of your release being found by the right people.

Also, make sure you release genuine news so that you pique interest. A blatant sales piece will be rumbled within the first few lines, and will likely miss out on decent dwell time as a result, which isn’t a great signal to Google.

4. Get interviewed

If you can get yourself profiled or involved in a Q&A on a relevant, authority website, you’ll command attention. Interviews with the media or with prominent figures in your industry will get a lot of traffic, so you’ll benefit from plenty of attention.

Just make sure you get a backlink in the piece as part of the deal.

5. Answer questions

Q&A platforms such as Quora and Reddit are great platforms from which to acquire authority backlinks.

Scan the platforms for questions you can answer as an expert. You’re allowed to include a link in your answers to help further explain your advice, so make the most of the opportunity.

6. Share your content to social media

Sharing your web pages and blog posts to a range of social media platforms will get you instant backlinks.

You can also use your platforms to share guides, reports, infographics and promotions. This will help to engage users and prompt shares, which will expose your content to an even wider audience.

7. Identify unlinked mentions

Unlinked mentions, where your business is mentioned but there’s no link back to your website, are an opportunity waiting to be optimised.

Run a search for your business name, brand or products, and then contact the owners of any sites that mention you but aren’t yet linking and ask them to add a link.

Need help acquiring authority backlinks and boosting your online presence?

At Figment, our award winning team has been achieving top class SEO results for local businesses for several years. All our strategies follow Google’s best practice guidelines, including our authority backlink building tactics. We also focus on creating quality, helpful content to help engage users.

To discover how we could help your business achieve the online visibility it needs to increase sales through a tailored SEO and back linking campaign, you are welcome to get in touch.