What The Heck is a Backlink?

Oct 4

Backlinks are a very important aspect of SEO, but are they just as essential for local businesses? The answer is yes!

Backlinks still matter to local businesses because search engines factor in these links when they rank your website.

If someone needs your services and searches Google, you want them to be able to find you first. There are many different ways that backlinks can come about, but it's up to you where you decide to put them.

What are Backlinks?

Backlinks are links on other websites that point to your website. For example, if you’re a plumber and you’re featured as a top company in your area by the local news station, they may have a link to your website on their website. They’ve just created a backlink for you!

This can help bring traffic to your site because search engines will see your information on that site while their bots crawl through this content.

Backlinks Still Matter for Local Businesses

Since Google's Panda and Penguin updates, many people have been telling local businesses to forget about backlinks.

Even though the role of a link has changed, it doesn't mean that they are no longer important for your site.

These two changes by Google were meant to target spammy sites that built up their rankings through unnatural links (such as blog networks). It was not designed to penalize small businesses whose sites legitimately received these links from other websites over time.

Over 90% of all web traffic is driven by search engines like Bing or Google.

This is why it’s absolutely crucial to invest in SEO and see that your website shows up first in organic results. This means having high-quality backlinks on trustworthy websites pointing towards your website.

Only Quality Backlinks from Authoritative Websites Matter

Not all backlinks are created equal. I repeat — not all backlinks are created equal!

It's important to build quality backlinks because you don't want your website penalized by Google.

Look for websites that are similar in topic or industry as the one you operate on. Otherwise, it will be hard for search engines to determine if these links matter.

If someone is searching for information about how local businesses can benefit from social media marketing, then a link on another site talking about this same subject would help drive traffic and increase rankings.

The best types of backlinks come naturally over time through guest posting opportunities or just having other people write articles with good content mentioning your business.

The more high-quality sites linking towards yours means less competition when trying to rank within certain keywords (since there are fewer authoritative sites).

Quality Link-Building Takes Time and Effort

Many local businesses make the mistake of trying to build links too quickly and without authenticity.

It's important to take your time with link-building because you don't want search engines penalizing your site for not having enough relevant content surrounding these links (or worse, building them via spammy methods).

Google is smart. They are paying more attention than ever to backlinks, as well as unnatural linking patterns such as blog networks. Know the rules. Follow the rules. And reap the rewards of quality backlinks!