Backlinks are an essential part of any successful SEO strategy, as they signal to search engines that your website is authoritative and relevant. However, not all Backlinks are created equal, and some can actually harm your website’s search engine ranking. In this post, we’ll discuss how to build safe backlinks in 2024.
Table of Contents
What Are Backlinks?
Backlinks are votes of confidence or trust for a website. When another website links to a page of your website from their website they signal search engines that your content is authentic. So in simple terms, backlinks can improve a site’s ranking position or search visibility as pages with a high number of backlinks are crawled faster by search engines.
What is Link Building?
Link building is a crucial SEO (Search Engine Optimization) technique used by webmasters and bloggers to improve the visibility and ranking of their websites in search engine results pages. It involves the process of getting other websites to link to your website.
In the context of SEO, link building helps search engines understand the relevance and authority of your website content. The more high-quality links your website has from authoritative and relevant sources, the more likely search engines are to consider your website as valuable and authoritative in your niche.
In blogging, link building can be achieved by creating useful and informative content that other websites would want to link to, as well as by building relationships with other bloggers in your industry. By acquiring backlinks from authoritative and relevant websites, bloggers can improve their website’s search engine rankings and increase their audience reach.
In summary, link building is an important SEO technique used by webmasters and bloggers to improve their website’s search engine rankings and drive more traffic to their website. It involves acquiring high-quality backlinks from authoritative and relevant sources through natural and ethical means.
What Makes a Backlink “Safe”
Before we dive into how to build safe backlinks, it’s important to understand what we mean by “safe.” A safe backlink is one that is high-quality, relevant, and natural. It comes from a website that is authoritative and trustworthy, and the link is placed in a context that makes sense.
So what is a Risky Backlink?
Non-contextual backlinks are the riskiest ones out there. A non-contextual backlink is a hyperlink that is placed on a website without any contextual relevance to the content of the site. These links are typically placed in a footer, sidebar, or comment section and do not add any value to the user experience.
Non-contextual backlinks can be unsafe because search engines like Google consider them to be low-quality links that are often used in manipulative link schemes. If a website has too many non-contextual backlinks, it can result in a penalty or even a deindexation from search engines, which can severely impact its search engine visibility and traffic.
Additionally, if a website is caught participating in manipulative link schemes, it can result in a manual action from Google, which can be difficult to recover from. Therefore, it’s important to focus on building high-quality, relevant, and natural backlinks from authoritative sources, rather than engaging in manipulative tactics that involve non-contextual backlinks.
What to Consider When Building Worthy Links?
Authority of the Page:
The authority of a page is a measure of how much people trust it. Factors like the quality of the content and how many other websites link to it affect its authority. Pages with high authority are more likely to rank well in search results and get more traffic.
The authority of a page plays an important role in building backlinks for your website. Pages that are considered authoritative by search engines like Google carry more weight and can help boost the search engine ranking of the website they link to. This is because search engines consider links from authoritative pages to be a strong signal of a website’s relevance and authority in a particular topic or niche.
When building backlinks for your website, it’s important to focus on acquiring links from high-authority pages in your industry or niche. These pages are more likely to have a significant impact on your website’s search engine ranking and visibility.
However, it’s also important to note that the relevance of the linking page and the quality of the content surrounding the link are also important factors to consider. A link from a low-authority page that is highly relevant to your website’s content can still be valuable and help improve your search engine ranking.
Hence ideally when building backlinks for your website, it’s important to focus on acquiring links from high-authority pages that are relevant to your content. This will help signal to search engines that your website is authoritative and relevant in your niche.
Authority of Domain
The authority of a domain is like its online reputation. It’s a measure of how much people trust the website, based on things like how good the content is, how many other websites link to it, and the website’s overall reputation.
Websites with high authority are more likely to show up near the top of search engine results and get more visitors. The authority of a domain can also impact how well individual pages on that website rank in search results.
There are various ways to measure the authority of a domain, including:
Domain Authority (DA) and Page Authority (PA):
Both are terms developed by Moz that measure the authority of a domain and a page in a score ranging from 0 to 100 using various factors.Trust Flow and Citation Flow:
Both metrics were developed and trademarked by Majestic. Trust Flow measures how trustworthy a site is by measuring its quality and Citation Flow refers to the popularity of a link in a site without considering the quality of these links.Backlink Profile:
Backlink Profile is the quantity, anchors, and quality of links pointing towards your website. Analyzing a domain’s backlink profile, including the number and quality of backlinks, can provide insights into its authority.Social Signals:
Social signals such as The number of social media shares, engagement, and trustworthiness can be an indication of a domain’s authority.Search Engine Ranking:
If a domain consistently ranks high on search engine results pages (SERPs) for relevant keywords, it can be considered an authority in its respective niche.
It’s worth noting that there is no single metric that can fully capture a domain’s authority. It is always a combination of these measures which can provide a more comprehensive picture.
Domain Age of Linking Website
The domain age of a website that links to another website is how long that website has been active on the internet. Search engines may consider the age of a website when determining the value of its links. Older websites are generally seen as more trustworthy, so links from older websites may be more valuable.
Trust and Authority:
Older websites have been around for longer. they had more time to establish trust and authority with search engines than comparatively newer websites. Therefore, links from websites that have been around for a long time are often seen as more valuable.Backlink Profile:
Since Older websites have established trust and authority They may have accumulated a larger number of high-quality backlinks over time, which contributes to a stronger backlink profile and leads to higher rankings in search results.Stability:
Older websites are often seen as more stable and less likely to disappear or change significantly than newer websites which might not survive. So, Older websites can provide a sense of security to search engines that the linked content will remain relevant and useful for a long time of period.Historical Significance:
Older websites may have historical significance, which is associated with importance and authority within their respective niches contributing to SEO.
It’s important to note that while links from older websites may be more valuable, other factors such as the overall quality of the website and its content are still important to evaluate the value of a link for SEO purposes.
Link diversity
Search engines consider link diversity to be an important factor when evaluating the authority and relevance of a webpage. Having a diverse range of websites linking to a webpage is beneficial for SEO.
In the context of SEO and link building, link diversity refers to the practice of acquiring quality backlinks from a variety of different sources, rather than depending on one or a few sources. This can include links from different types of websites, such as blogs, news sites, directories, social media, and many more. Link diversity is important for a healthy backlink profile, as it can help to avoid overreliance on any one source and send search engines a signal that the website is worthy enough.
Link Anchor Text
Search engines use anchor text to understand the context and content of the linked page. When the anchor text accurately reflects the content of the linked page, it helps search engines rank the page higher in search results for relevant search queries.
Here’s an example: Let’s say you run a blog about cooking where you shared the best lasagna recipe and you receive a backlink from another website using the anchor text “best lasagna recipe.” In this case, the backlink’s value is increased because the anchor text provides additional context and relevance for the linked page as the anchor text accurately describes the content of the page.
On the other hand, if your blog were to receive a backlink with the anchor text “click here,” it would provide very little context for the linked page. Search engines would have a harder time getting the context.
Additionally, not just search engines but people would also give the linked page less importance as the author did not give much weightage to it. Thus, the backlink’s value would be reduced.
Even if a website receives too many backlinks with the same exact anchor text, it can alert search engines and may be seen as an attempt to manipulate search rankings. This is why it’s important to have a diverse mix of anchor texts when building backlinks.
In summary, the anchor text of a backlink can increase or decrease its value depending on how accurately it describes the content of the linked page, and a diverse mix of anchor texts can help avoid the appearance of spammy link-building practices.
Relevancy
Backlinks from relevant pages indicate to search engines that the linked page is also relevant to the topic or theme of the linking page. A backlink from a relevant page is considered more valuable for SEO than a backlink from an irrelevant page.
Backlinks from Different domains
Backlinks from .edu or .gov domains are considered to be high-quality backlinks for SEO. They are considered to be authoritative and trustworthy sources of information because they tend to come from highly trusted and credible sources.
In the case of .edu domains, they are reserved for educational institutions such as universities and colleges. These institutions are often recognized as leaders in their respective fields, and their websites typically contain a wealth of high-quality, research-based content. When a .edu website links to another website, it signals to search engines that the linked website is also a reputable source of information, and this can improve the linked website’s search engine rankings.
In the case of .gov domains, they are reserved for government institutions at the local, state, and national levels. These institutions are typically viewed as highly authoritative sources of information, and their websites often contain important and trustworthy information on a wide range of topics.
When a .gov website links to another website, it sends a strong signal to search engines that the linked website is also a reliable source of information, and this can improve the linked website’s search engine rankings.
Overall, backlinks from .edu or .gov domains are considered valuable because they are associated with reputable and trustworthy sources, which can result in improving the credibility and visibility of the linked website.
Link Position
Link placement:
A link on a page can affect its impact on SEO. Links placed in prominent locations such as within the main content area, navigation menu, or header are considered to be more valuable for SEO purposes than links placed in less prominent locations such as the footer or sidebar.
Links that are placed higher up on the page are more likely to be clicked on by users and therefore are seen as more valuable indicators of the relevance and authority of the linked page. That’s why Search engines tend to put more weight on links that are placed in the main body.
Linking structure:
A well-structured internal linking system is necessary as it helps search engines crawl and index the site by understanding the contextual hierarchy and organization of content on the website. This way it can improve the site’s overall visibility and search engine ranking.
In general, the position of a link within a website’s structure can affect its impact on SEO and ranking, but it’s important to remember that there are many other factors that can also influence SEO and ranking, including the quality of the content, the relevance of the content to the search query, and the overall user experience of the site.
Nofollow vs. Dofollow Links
The Nofollow attribute tells search engines not to follow the link that is being tagged. On the other hand, A Dofollow link is a regular hyperlink that search engines follow the link. Obviously, you want to get do-follow links.
Here’s how you can identify whether a backlink is a Fofollow or Dofollow link, You can inspect the HTML code of the page where the link is located.
Right-click on the page containing the link and select “View Page Source” or “Inspect” depending on which browser you are using.
Use the search function, you can access it with Ctrl+F or Cmd+F to search for the link.
Look for the HTML tag that represents the link. A Dofollow link is represented by a <a> tag, as shown below:
<a href="https://www.example.com">Example link</a>
If the link is Nofollow, it will have a rel=”nofollow” attribute added to the <a> tag, as shown below:
<a href="https://www.example.com" rel="nofollow">Example link</a>
This rel=”nofollow” attribute tells search engines to ignore the link and not to pass any link juice or authority to the linked page.
In short, if you see a link with the rel=”nofollow” attribute then it is a Nofollow backlink while If there is no rel=”nofollow” attribute then it is a Dofollow backlink.
How To Build Safe Backlinks
Link building isn’t easy, It requires time, effort, and resources to create valuable content. This is why most people struggle to build quality backlinks. Here are some Strategies that you can use to increase your outreach and build safe backlinks.
Make Quality Content
Create content that provides value, this is the foundation of any successful link-building strategy. If your content helps your audience solve their problems then people are more likely to link back to it.
This is a long-term investment that requires patience and persistence. You can increase the visibility of your content and attract high-quality backlinks to improve your outreach and search engine ranking by making note-worthy content.
Original Research Studies And Data-Driven Articles
Writing content that focuses on data analysis and interpretation is highly valuable and a highly effective way to establish your authority in your industry and attract backlinks to your website.
This is a sure shot to get featured on authoritative sites or news sites outlets as this is a ready-for-use story for them.
Infographics
Visual representations of information are a popular way to create content that is engaging, informative, and shareable.
If you make an infographic that highlights a current trend while featuring informative statistics and visually appealing data presentations people would love to use your content and give you backlinks.
Here are some of the Infographics we made in the past:
Broken link building
Broken link building is a tactic that involves finding a dead page and asking linkers to swap the links to a working page on your site. The idea is that they’ll do this as they don’t want to send visitors to a dead resource.
This can only work if you are good at social engineering and convincing people that they too might benefit from such a scheme.
Guest Blogging
This is probably the oldest strategy here, Guest Blogging is when you write content for another person. You can find a “Write for us” page on many sites as it helps guest bloggers and owners both.
The owner of the website gets fresh content, and you get an opportunity to obtain backlinks from their site.
It can be an effective approach for building backlinks and driving traffic to your site, as it allows you to reach a new audience and demonstrate your expertise in your industry.
How to do Guest Blogging?
Here are some ways that guest blogging can be an effective approach for backlink building, along with some real-world examples:
One fine approach to guest blogging is to focus on websites that are leaders in your industry or niche. These websites often have a large and engaged audience, which can help to drive traffic to your site and improve your search engine visibility.
For example, if you run a marketing agency, you might try to guest blog on high-authority marketing blogs such as HubSpot or Moz.
Another approach is to focus on guest blogging on sites that are relevant to your industry or niche. For example, if you run a vegan food blog, you might want to guest blog on other vegan blogs in the sphere.
This way you can establish your authority and credibility within your industry and can also help to drive relevant traffic from people who are interested in the same topics as you.
Overall, guest blogging can be an effective approach for building backlinks and driving traffic to your site. But there are some cons when it comes to guest blogging. Why you should not Guest post or allow it!
Internal linking
Internal linking involves linking to other pages on your website within your content. Internal links help visitors navigate your site as well as allow search engine spiders to discover new pages on your website and help them understand the context of the content more easily.
Internal linking also helps to distribute page authority throughout your website. When you link to a page from other pages on your site, it passes on some of its Page Authority and you’re effectively telling search engines that the linked page is important and relevant.
By repeatedly linking to a certain page on your website you can also signal to search engines that that specific piece of content is your Cornerstone content and you wish to emphasize it.
On the other hand, you can reduce the bounce rate of your website. It keeps users engaged with other relevant content within the site and lets them explore other areas of your website. This way the chances for that specific piece of content to rank also increases manifold.
Resource Pages:
Resource pages are pages on a website that list useful resources or links related to a particular topic or theme. These pages typically feature a curated list of links, often divided into categories or sub-topics, that provide helpful information or resources to the website’s visitors.
Resource pages can provide an opportunity to build valuable backlinks to your website. In addition to improving your search engine rankings, a resource page can also drive relevant referral traffic to your site.
It’s important to note that not all resource pages are created equal. You might want to focus on pages that are relevant to your website and that have high domain authority.
Look for resource pages that feature links to other high-quality websites in your industry, and that are regularly updated and maintained.
Participate in Different Forums
Participate in online communities related to your industry and share your content with the members of the community. People always ask questions on different forums.
You can solve their pain points and link your website for backlinks. Being active users of a popular forum in your niche will also get you organic traffic. This can help increase the visibility of your content and attract backlinks.
Here are some tips for using forums to build backlinks:
Identify relevant forums:
There are many dedicated forums available for almost any topic. Look for ones that are relevant to your industry or niche. This way you can ensure that the backlinks you build are from authoritative and relevant sources.Participate in discussions:
You are not just joining a forum to post links to your website. Participate in discussions, answer questions, and share your expertise. This way you can build credibility and trust with other forum members. People are likely to click on your links and visit your site when you are a trusted and credible member.Use your signature:
Forums are a very good means of marketing a product or service, many forums allow you to create a forum signature which is a block of information that appears below your posts. Make sure to follow the forum’s rules and guidelines to ensure that self-promotion is allowed before including a link to your website in the signature box.Avoid spamming:
Your motivation should be helping people and building credibility not posting irrelevant or promotional content on forums. If you spam in order to just build backlinks it can be seen as spamming and may result in your posts being deleted or your account getting banned from the forum.Monitor your backlinks:
Use tools like Google Search Console or Ahrefs to monitor your backlinks and keep track of the backlinks you build through forums. You can ensure that the backlinks that you built are high-quality and relevant.
Spy on Your Competitors
Analyze the backlinks of your competitors and identify opportunities to gain similar backlinks. Your competitors will have backlinks for content. You can use this to your advantage.
For this, you need to find broken links or outdated content mail people hosting the original content, and offer your website’s content as a backlink.
You can use the Skyscraper technique where you reverse engineer already existing content and make it better. By using this method you can send proposals to replace existing backlinks with your backlinks.
In case the content you create is better than what exists out there eventually people will link back to you as a more credible source of information.
Here are some ways to spy on your competitors:
Use SEO tools:
There are various SEO tools like Ahrefs, SEMrush, Moz, etc. that allow you to analyze the backlinks, keywords, and other SEO-related data of your competitors. You can get hold of a lot of valuable information and insights that you can use to improve your SEO strategy.
Analyze their content:
Look at the content that your competitors are creating and see what topics they are covering. See what keywords they are targeting and how they are optimizing their content for search engines. You can use this information to create better content that targets the same keywords.
Check their social media:
Check your competitors’ social media accounts to see what type of content they are sharing, how frequently they are posting, and what level of engagement they are getting. This way you can have insights into what type of content resonates with their audience.
Look for gaps:
There will be always some areas where your competitors are weak or have gaps. It could be anything like a keyword they are not targeting or a platform they are not using. By identifying these gaps, you can capitalize on them and gain a competitive advantage.
Competitive analysis is a valuable part of building a successful backlink strategy. Here are some ways you can “spy” on your competitors to identify their backlink sources and find opportunities to build backlinks for your own website.
Link Reclamation
Do you ever check that you are probably losing backlinks? Monitor your website’s mentions and reclaim any unlinked mentions by reaching out to the website and requesting a link.
Leverage Social Media
Use social media to promote your content. Share your content on social media platforms as much as you can to increase its visibility and reach. This can help attract backlinks and increase your outreach.
Here are some ways to incorporate social media into your link-building efforts:
Share your content:
Whenever you publish new content on your website, make sure to share it on your social media channels. Do not be afraid of what people will think.Participate in social media groups:
Engage more with your audience on social media. You can conduct a Q&A Session, take surveys or share your expertise with the audience. This can help build relationships with other members of the group, potentially leading to backlink opportunities.Host social media contests:
Host a contest or giveaway on social media that requires users to visit your website and share a link to your content to participate. This way you can divert traffic to your website and encourage others to link to your content.Use social media monitoring tools:
You can use social media monitoring tools like Mention or Hootsuite to monitor when someone mentions your brand on social media. When you identify a mention from a prospective user who would be willing to include a link to your website.
Here’s a real-world example: Let’s say you run a blog that covers travel. You might join a Facebook group for travels, participate in discussions, and share your experience.
Over time, you build relationships with other members of the group who run their own travel websites.
They start linking to your content in their own blog posts, helping to improve your search engine rankings and drive traffic to your website.
Build Relationships With Bloggers, Journalists and influencers
Build relationships with bloggers and journalists in your industry and offer to provide them with high-quality content and data.
Try to collaborate with influencers in your industry and offer to provide them with high-quality content that they can share with their audience.
Final Thoughts
Building backlinks takes time because it involves building relationships, creating high-quality content, and promoting that content to attract links. This process can take weeks or even months, depending on the niche and the competition.
Time is a significant factor in the process of backlink building. However, it’s not just about spending more time on the process it’s about using your time effectively and efficiently to build high-quality backlinks. Obviously, it’s important to be patient and persistent in your link-building efforts, there are no guarantees that spending more time on the process will lead to exponentially better results. The key is to use your time effectively and focus on building high-quality backlinks from authoritative and relevant websites.
Here’s an example to illustrate this point: Let’s say a guy named A spends 10 hours per week on link building, but most of that time is spent on low-quality tactics like spamming comment sections or submitting your website to low-quality directories.
In contrast, A guy named B spends just 5 hours per week on link building but focuses on high-quality tactics like creating and promoting valuable content and building relationships with influencers in their industry.
Over time, B’s efforts are likely to be more successful in generating high-quality backlinks that drive traffic and improve search engine rankings, even though they’re spending less time on the process overall.
The key takeaway is that while time is an important factor in backlink building, it’s not just about the amount of time you spend on the process. It’s more about using your time effectively and focusing on high-quality tactics that are more likely to lead to success in the long run.
So, create high-quality, informative content that provides value to your audience, and utilize a combination of these strategies to help you gain exposure and establish yourself as an expert in your industry.
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