When it comes to developing a website or creating a content strategy, SEO should always be top of mind. You may have amazing services to offer and a great message to get across, but no one will ever know if your content is not easily visible on search engines.
There are many important aspects of an SEO strategy that start with your website, like developing a responsive website and performing adequate keyword research for blogs. However, we know several insider secrets to boosting your site’s SEO and gaining credibility on Google through building backlinks.
While the typical process of getting backlinks can make you feel like a spammer or contestant in a popularity contest, there is more than one way to earn backlinks to your site. For instance, a solid content distribution strategy recycles your content, allowing you to reach your audience in more way than one while linking to back to your site.
Want the full scoop? Then keep reading because we’re about to deep dive into how backlinks can help supercharge your SEO and unveil Beacon Media + Marketing’s newest content distribution package.
Want to jump ahead and see what a content distribution strategy can do for your company? Schedule a free consultation.
What Are Backlinks and Why Are They Important?
In short, a backlink is a link from one website to another. For example, someone may link to another website if they are trying to cite a statistic or information they pulled from another source. People may also link to a page on another website if it is relevant or provides more context on a topic they are discussing or expanding on in a blog. These are different than local links, which are links you place on your content that direct readers to other pages on your site.
Backlinks, or inbound links, to your website are one of the most important factors for SEO. When someone links to your website, Google and other search engines consider this as an endorsement for your company. They are saying a page on your site has valuable, credible content that is worth looking at. For Google, this translates to your website having authority, relevance, and trust, which are the three pillars of SEO.
Having your link on other websites also gives your target audience more exposure to your content. While they may start out on another blog post, if they see a backlink to your website, they may click on it and engage with your brand that way.
How To Earn High-Quality Backlinks
Where a backlink to your site exists matters. Google not only judges the quantity of inbound links to your site but it also considers their quality. There are several factors search engines consider when determining if a backlink is high quality.
- Website authority: If a website that Google already identifies as having authority and credibility links to your site, this will have a more positive impact toward your SEO. On the other hand, low-quality backlinks from sites that Google deems uncredible can actually hurt your SEO.
- Page traffic: How many people visit the page the link your website is featured on also affects how Google judges the backlink’s quality.
- Relevancy: Google favors backlinks that are on a website with content relevant to the topic it links to. For example, if your blog post on the future of microwave ovens is featured on a page or website that talks about new technology trends or kitchen appliances, it improves the quality of the backlink.
Now that you know what backlinks are and how important they are for your website’s overall SEO, the big question is how do you get other websites to link to your content? While adding the right keywords and making sure you use SEO-friendly headers are easy enough to implement on your own website, you can’t force anyone else to vouch for you on theirs. Here are a few secrets we’ll let you in on.
1. Write Quality, SEO-Friendly Content
If you want people to link back to your website content, the first step should always be to create content that is worth linking to. If your blogs or web pages are poorly designed, dull, or irrelevant to the audience you’re trying to reach, chances are no one will want to send their website visitors your way.
While people are always looking for new tricks to put their website on the fast lane to the top of the search engine results page, the main focus when creating content should always be to create a top-quality piece worth reading. With literally billions of pages on the internet, you need to make your content stand out.
Fortunately, Google has made several core changes to its algorithm to help keep high-quality, relevant content at the top of the SERP while penalizing pages that have little value to offer. For example, pages with low word counts, keyword stuffing, and duplicate content are all unlikely to be valued by Google or anyone who reads them.
By putting time and effort into writing unique, relevant content your audience will enjoy, people are more likely to use as a source in their own work. By following basic SEO guidelines, you can ensure your website is high up on the SERP, making it easy for people to find and link to your content.
2. Reach Out for Backlinks
Another tactic you can use to gain more backlinks is reaching out directly to other website owners. It can be difficult to do this without coming off as spammy, but there are a few tactics you can try to get your content on a relevant page or site:
- If someone mentions your brand without linking to your website, reach out to the author and ask them to credit you with a backlink.
- Reach out to journalists and bloggers who have linked to your old content when you create new work.
- Add images, infographics, and free tools that others can link to in their own content.
- Get featured on directories that are highly used or relevant to your content.
- Find pages that have broken links and suggest a link from your website to replace it.
- Ask people you know personally, like colleagues and business partners, to link to your site.
3. Use Content Distribution to Your Advantage
If your content strategy starts and ends with a blog post, you’re missing out on a major opportunity. With a digital content distribution plan, you can take a single piece of content and use it in more way than one, expanding your reach and gaining quality backlinks.
Our new content distribution package at Beacon Media + Marketing does exactly that. The process starts with us writing a high-quality blog for your website that is relevant to your company and your target audience. We put substantial research into every blog we write, making sure it follows best SEO practices and is engaging to anyone who visits your site.
From here, we recycle this blog to create and distribute new pieces of content that all link back to your site including:
- A video that is featured on the Beacon Media New YouTube channel
- A press release that is distributed through hundreds of news outlets
- A blog summary that is featured on the Beacon Media News website
- Social media posts that link to different assets we create
Not only do these unique pieces of content give your audience more than one way to engage with your brand, but they also all link back your website, helping you earn high-quality backlinks with every blog we write.
Want To Team Up and Take Your SEO to the Next Level?
Developing an SEO strategy that gets your content noticed takes a lot of legwork. Whether you need help developing a website that is functional and appealing, establishing an SEO strategy that gets you noticed, or creating high-ranking content that is engaging and recyclable, we can help.
Ready to watch your business grow, scale, and thrive? Schedule your free consultation now.
