Like it or not, high authority backlinks are a critical SEO component.
But what makes a backlink effective? As Google has cracked down not only on keyword stuffing but “link stuffing” as well.
Let’s be straight. Not every backlink is equal. And, even more importantly, some may even damage your SEO ranking.
That said, learn what high authority backlinks are as well as what you need to do to generate them.
What are high authority backlinks?
This one question provides the answer to this:
If a viewer clicks on this link, will he/she learn relevant and effective information? Put another way, will the viewer waste his/her time going to the page the link is connected to?
The answer to this will determine if you have a solid backlink. Or if it isn’t and you’re wasting your reader’s time.
So, in a nutshell, a high authority backlink is a link that directs the user to an informative and relevant third-party page.
Let’s dive deeper into this…
Why the link needs to be informative AND relevant
We’ll give you an example.
Let’s say you wrote an article about how to fish. You find this other article about ways to improve your baking skills. It’s highly informative. And you believe your readers will find it useful.
Even if your target audience likes to fish and bake, linking an article about baking to your fishing article won’t be effective.
Why?
It’s not relevant to your fishing article. Your reader clicked on your article to learn about fishing. They may be deterred if they click on the link, believing they’re being sent to another informative and relevant article about fishing. And then they go to a baking page.
On the other hand…
Let’s say you find an article about fishing but it provides superficial advice—aka fluff.
Linking this article to your fishing article will still be ineffective.
Again, why?
The reader may not initially be turned off from the link, compared to our baking article example. But as he/she reads the article, they’re eventually going to be. They won’t gain any new information. And it’ll turn out to be a waste of their time.
So, external links need to go to pages that are relevant AND informative. Not one or the other. This is vital. Read on to learn why…
What you risk by not providing high authority backlinks
Here’s what you risk by not providing relevant and informative links:
- The reader loses interest in your website.
- The reader unsubscribes from your newsletter.
- Your readers don’t view you as a credible source in the industry.
- Your SEO ranking may suffer.
On the other hand, if you incorporate effective backlinks, the opposite will happen: more readers, more subscribers, better SEO, and a better reputation and brand image.
And, guess what?
People will want to link to your site. Which will only help boost your backlink strategy even more.
So, how do you create effective backlinks?
It all boils down to content.
Write informative and relevant content. (Yes, those two words apply to your content too.)
What does this mean? As this article states, your content is your foundation. You may provide the most effective links to your articles. But if no one’s interested in the content you’re producing, it doesn’t matter.
How do you write solid content?
Replace facts with vague statements. In other words, dare to be specific. What we mean by this is instead of saying “People name their cats many different names,” go deeper.
Replace this with a fact such as “Fifty-two percent of cat names were human monikers in 2016. This is up from 2015, where only twenty-two percent of cat names were.”
Or, if you’re not a numbers person, “In a 2016 study, Oliver ranked as the most common name for a male cat. And Luna was the most common name for a female cat.”
By using either (or both) of these statements, you provide the reader with a lot more information versus the previous vague statement.
Let’s break it down:
- You list how many people name their cats a specific name (52%).
- You list what the specific cat names were (Oliver and Luna).
- And you provide some context on why these facts are important: Human moniker cat names are on the rise, jumping several percentage points within a year.
Now, the vague statement only gives the reader this:
- A number of people choose a variety of names for their cats.
This is so vague that you could even throw this piece of information out.
So, by replacing vague statements with specific facts, you provide the reader three more pieces of information compared to (questionably?) only providing one.
Ok, so you’ve written solid content. What now?
Share it! Tweet about it on Twitter. Post frequently about it on Facebook.
Utilize social media to get the word out there about your content. By doing this you accomplish two things: 1.) Drive more traffic to your website. 2.) Increase the chances of someone inserting a link to your article. As this will further boost your backlink strategy.
But it doesn’t just stop there…
Get on niche-related forums and communities, and participate in the conversation. By “donating” your expertise and time, people will see that you’re a credible expert and will poke around on your website. They’ll read your content. And, wanting to boost their image, they’ll insert links to your articles.
What we don’t recommend
Here are a couple “do nots”:
- DO NOT insert your links into industry forums and chat rooms. This is spamming, and Google and other search engines will not reward you for this. In fact, your ranking may be damaged.
- DO NOT link to link exchange websites. in other words, websites that only are on the web for the sole purpose of link exchanging and SEO.
- DO NOT try to beat Google at its own backlinking game. Aka “link stuffing” in subtle ways.
That said, by incorporating high authority backlinks to your SEO strategy, you are more likely to establish authority, boost traffic, and increase your conversion rate.
For more information about high authority backlinks, check out more of our SEO articles.