Offsite SEO

It is impossible to rank on page one without good technical foundations and relevance. The final piece to the SEO puzzle is Authority. As we know Google and all the other search engines are trying as hard as possible to keep their users happy, by showing them the most relevant queries. To further help keep their users happy they also factor authority, to ensure they’re providing content that is popular with people like the user. 

Authority is the engine that drives your website traffic and is gained through backlinks. Backlinks are probably the most difficult part of SEO, but before we get stuck into how you can put an effective backlink strategy in place;

What is a backlink?

Backlinks are simply links on other websites that reference your site as the source, or as an expert on the topic. Every time another website points its viewers to your content you gain a backlink to your website. You can find examples of great backlinks in most blogs and news articles you read online and are simply the links out to other sites that give the reader more information on the topic of that article. Hint; you want to be that site they link to!

A search engine will use the quantity and quality of backlinks that point to your site as a guide for a websites authority. The idea is simple, we all like to be right (especially Google), if Google provides us with the most correct answer to a query we are more likely to re-use Google for a search query next time. If a site has a bunch of high-quality backlinks from sites with high authority on the topics that your site is also looking to rank for than your site must be an expert and therefore a good choice for google to match the search query. The catch is, not all links are created equally, and low-quality links can actually negatively affect your rankings. Low quality or suspicious links are those that look like they have been deliberately built to trick Google into thinking your site is more authoritative (Classic Black Hat move). 

What determines backlink quality?

When building links you should aim for the highest quality site references as possible to get the most out of the effort you go to gain those links! Whilst there are no clear guidelines on which factors specifically determine the quality of a link, there are some factors that should be considered.

The linking site’s popularity - Any link from a domain that search engines already consider an authority on the keywords you’re looking to rank for will naturally have high quality. In my experience, news websites are great sources of authority as they generally have broad authority over a range of industries and keywords. Because of this, PR is quickly becoming a valuable tool for SEO which we will cover a little later.

Topic relevance - You should be looking to build links from domains whos topics are similar to yours. Naturally, if you’re being referenced by sites with authority in your topic area than these backlinks will carry more authority than those from random websites.

How do you build Backlinks?

Link building is the process of building backlinks and can be the most time consuming and difficult task for SEO practitioners. Good link building practice requires creativity, strategic thinking, and most of all patience. Before you start reaching out to other sites for links you should develop a link building strategy. The key thing to remember when developing your link building strategy is that your links need to pass the search engines quality checks, so don’t take short cuts!

So, is it all doom and gloom? No! There are plenty of things you can do to get started building backlinks, and these are a few great places to start.

Organic Editorial links - Sometimes you’ll get lucky, sometimes it’s a sign that you’re becoming a genuine authority on a topic but these backlinks come from websites that reference your content on their own. These are the exception, not the rule.

Public Relations Outreach - Just like good PR, this technique involves reaching out to other website or publications for links. PR is truly an art in itself and is the most underutilised technique to build backlinks. A great example of how PR can be utilised to build amazing backlinks is in this example from Rise at Seven as referenced by this article in Marketing Examples.  Rise started working with Missguided, a fashion retailer who sold dog jumpers. The team a rise knew there was a story here, and as such came up with this headline:

Missguided launch matching jumpers for you and your dog this winter

Guess what, the media loved it and resulted in the campaign pulling in 80 backlinks.  This huge influx of relevant and authoritative backlinks pushed Missguided to soar from #30 to #1 for the search “dog jumpers”.

The key takeaway from this example is that good PR requires a good hook or story that resonated with the audience of the publications you’re pitching to. Good PR agencies pretty much do the journalists job for them, and once you get a good reputation it all becomes a lot easier to get publicity, and therefore backlinks!

Guest posting - Guest posts are blog articles that you publish on third-party websites. In turn, those companies often allow including one or two links to your site in the content and author bio.

Directory linking - Many local and industry directory websites allow users to create a profile that contains a link to their website. Not all of these links carry strong authority, but some might and they are an easy and great place to start. 

Competitive analysis: It is also great practice to see where your competitors who’re ranking well are gaining backlinks. This can give you a pretty good guide on where you should aim your link building efforts for your website. 

Still awake? If so you’ve made it to the end of this part of the SEO Guide. By now I hope you’re really starting to get a grasp on this SEO business and finding that SEO is not as complicated as you originally thought. However, if SEO is still giving you a headache, don’t hesitate to reach out with any questions or for help via our contact form.