Backlink Building Strategy: Types of Backlink in SEO and Best Strategy for acquire high-quality backlinks
Backlinks, also known as inbound links, are a critical component of search engine optimization (SEO). They act as endorsements, signaling to search engines that your content is valuable and trustworthy. However, not all backlinks are created equal. To improve your website’s ranking and authority, it’s crucial to understand the different types of backlinks and implement effective strategies to acquire high-quality ones.
In this blog, we’ll first explore the types of backlinks in SEO, followed by the best strategies to help you acquire high-quality backlinks.
What is a Backlink, and Why is it Important?
A backlink is simply a link which one website get from other website. It is viewed as “votes of confidence” from other websites. The website which has more quality backlinks is appeared more credible.
However, quality matters far more than quantity. A handful of backlinks from high-authority, relevant websites can boost your rankings more than hundreds of links from low-quality sites.
Types of Backlinks
1. Editorial Backlinks
Editorial backlinks are naturally added links in the content of a quality article or blog post by the author. They mostly occur when a site mentions your brand, product, or service as a valuable resource.
Example: The example of this type of backlink is a news website or blog mentioning your brand or content and linking back to your website.
How to Get Them: One can get editorial backlink by creating high-quality & shareable content that naturally attracts mentions from other websites.
2. Guest Blogging Backlinks
Guest blogging is a tried-and-true strategy for earning backlinks. It involves writing an article for another website and including a backlink to your own site either within the content or in the author’s bio section of the blog.
Example: The example of this type of blog is a guest post on an industry-related blog where you include a link to your website.
How to Get Them: By reaching out to relevant blogs in your industry and pitch high-quality, valuable guest posts.
3. Comment Backlinks
Links placed in the comment section of blog posts or articles. In this strategy the backlinks come from comments made on blogs or articles. While these links are usually nofollow (they don’t pass SEO value), they can still drive traffic if placed on relevant sites.
Example: Commenting on a blog and including a link to your website (though often nofollow).
How to Get Them: Engage in meaningful discussions on blogs in your niche and include your link naturally when it adds value.
4. Press Release Backlinks
Press Release backlinks are those links which are created by sending press releases to media house or news websites. These backlinks come from the news websites or blogs once you publish a release. This can help you gain visibility and earn backlinks when picked up by several news outlets.
Example: A backlink from a news website linking to your site through a press release.
How to Get Them: By writing a newsworthy press release and distribute it via press release distribution platforms can help us in getting a backlink through them.
5. Business Profile Backlinks
Business Profile links are obtained by creating business profiles on industry-specific online directories, review platforms or business listing sites and can be quite valuable for local SEO and brand visibility.
Example: A link from Google My Business or Yelp back to your website.
How to Get Them: By submitting your website to directories such as Google My Business, Yelp and niche-specific directories can give our website a backlink which is quite valuable for SEO.
6. Image Backlinks
Image backlinks are those backlinks that occur when other use your images, infographics or graphics and give credit to you by linking back to your website as the original source.
Example: An infographic you created being linked back to your website when used on other blogs.
How to Get Them: Make infographics and photographs that are not only aesthetically pleasing and shareable but also motivate people to share them.
7. Acknowledgment Backlinks
The backlinks that come from websites acknowledging your contribution or sponsorship. These are backlinks earned by sponsoring events, contributing to causes, or being mentioned as a partner or sponsor by other organizations.
Example: A university website linking back to your business as a sponsor of an event.
How to Get Them: Participate in industry events, sponsor webinars, or offer valuable contributions to the community.
8. Directory Backlinks
Directory backlinks are the Links that are generated from online directories where your business or website is listed. While these backlinks are used to be more valuable in the past but now it does not add that much value to SEO. Only niche-specific directories can still provide good SEO value.
Example: A listing on Yellow Pages or niche-specific directories.
How to Get Them: Submit your website to industry-relevant directories to build up your backlink profile.
9. Forum Backlinks
Links obtained by participating in forum discussions and placing links within forum posts or signatures. Forum backlinks come from posts or signatures in niche-related forums. While these are often nofollow, they can still drive traffic to your site.
Example: By participating in a forum which is related to your niche and including adding to link of your site.
How to Get Them: Participate in niche forums that link back to your site is best way to generate a backlink. These types of backlink also generate value for your site.
10. Outreach Backlinks
Backlinks gained by reaching out to other website owners or bloggers to suggest linking to your content. The process usually done by reaching them through email available on the “Write for Us” pages in their sites.
Example: Community backlinks are those backlinks that can be gained, for instance, through one’s blog engaging an audience who would volunteer to become a contributor.
How to Get Them: This type of backlink can be acquired by producing quality work or writing content and subsequently reaching to some site owners or bloggers in your field and asking for a hyperlink.
11. Dofollow Backlinks
Backlinks that pass link equity (or SEO value) from one site to another are known as Do-follow backlinks. These backlinks are the most valuable for SEO. These are regular links that pass on link juice, contributing to your domain authority and search rankings.
Example: A regular hyperlink on a high-authority blog that passes SEO benefits to your site.
How to Get Them: Earn dofollow backlinks through content creation, guest posts, and outreach.
12. Guest Posts
The Content written and published on another website with a backlink to your site is known as guest post. This type of backlink is similar to guest blogging backlinks. In this your write content for other site and receive a backlink in return either within the content or author bio.
Example: Writing for a top blog in your niche and including a link to your own content.
How to Get Them: Offer to write high-quality guest posts for sites in your niche.
13. Webinar Backlinks
Links obtained from hosting or participating in a webinar where the event page or description links to your site. Webinar backlinks come from the promotion of webinars. When you host or participate in a webinar, the event page or description often links back to your website.
Example: A link from a webinar hosting platform directing participants to your website.
How to Get Them: By organizing webinars in your sector or working with others on them, and making sure the event page has a backlink to your website.
14. Infographic Links
Backlinks earned when others share your infographics and link back to your website as the source. These backlinks come from people sharing or embedding your infographics on their websites and linking back to your site.
Example: An infographic you created being shared on multiple websites, each linking back to your site.
How to Get Them: Create high-quality infographics and submit them to infographic directories or encourage others to share them.
15. Paid Backlinks
Links acquired by paying for placement on websites. These are backlinks that you pay for. While buying backlinks from other sites with high traffic may seem like a quick win, Google frowns upon this practice and may penalize your site if caught.
Example: A sponsored post or paid link on a high-traffic blog (though risky due to potential Google penalties).
How to Avoid Risk: Focus on organic link-building strategies rather than paying for links.
16. Footer Links
Backlinks found in the footer section of a website. These backlinks are often not as valuable but can still pass some link equity.
Example: A link to your website included in the footer of a partner’s website.
How to Get Them: Some sites allow partners or affiliates to place links in their footers.
17. Reciprocal Backlinks
Links exchanged between two websites where each site links to the other. Reciprocal backlinks happen when two websites agree to link to each other. While this is acceptable in moderation, too much reciprocal linking can look unnatural to search engines.
Example: You link to a blog, and the blog owner links back to you in exchange.
How to Use Them: Use reciprocal linking sparingly and only with relevant websites.
18. Anchor Text Backlinks
Anchor text backlinks are links where the clickable text is optimized for specific keywords. These can be very powerful for SEO if used properly. This can be done in to link internal pages of the website with other pages.
Example: The anchor text “best SEO tools” linking to a page on your website about SEO tools.
How to Get Them: Use relevant keywords as anchor text when linking to your own content, or request it in outreach emails.
19. Backlink Email Outreach
Links obtained by sending cold outreach emails to website owners, suggesting they link to your content. This is a method of obtaining backlinks by sending cold outreach emails to website owners or bloggers and requests them for a backlink.
Example: Emailing bloggers and asking them to reference your content in exchange for a backlink.
How to Do It: Personalize your email and demonstrate the value your content will bring to their audience.
20. Free Tool Backlinks
Links gained by offering free tools, calculators, or resources that other websites link to. These backlinks are earned when you offer a free tool such as calculator, or other it is considered a backlink and also increases the DA/PA of your website.
Example: A free SEO tool on your website linked to by multiple blogs as a useful resource.
How to Get Them: By developing a free tool or resource that’s valuable to your audience and then promote it across your industry and encourage audience to use it.
21. Irrelevant Directory Links
Links from directories that are unrelated to your niche are often considered low-quality or spammy links. These backlinks come from directories that are not relevant to your industry. These are generally low-quality backlink which can negatively harm your SEO.
Example: Listing your site on a directory that doesn’t relate to your business or industry.
How to Avoid Them: Only list your site on directories that are specific to your niche or have high authority.
22. Badge Backlinks
Badge backlinks which also known as certification backlinks or award backlinks are a type of backlink that occurs when a website or organization gives a digital badge to another website that links back to the original website.
Example: Giving out “Top Contributor” badges to influencers or partners, who then display them on their site linking back to you.
How to get them: Badge backlinks are earned when websites display a custom badge or award you provide, linking back to your site for recognition, boosting SEO and credibility.
Best Strategies for Acquiring High-Quality Backlinks
1. Create Outstanding, Shareable Content
The backbone of any successful backlink strategy is high-quality content. Content that is insightful, actionable and solves a problem has a higher chance of being linked to by other websites. By investing in blog posts, infographics, videos and detailed how-to guides that attract attention of the user can help in attaining backlink from top sites.
Tip –
Research what’s already popular in your industry, then create content that is better and more comprehensive.
Action Steps –
- Focus on creating long-form guides, data-driven reports, case studies, infographics, and video content.
- Use content marketing tools like BuzzSumo to research trending topics and create better, more comprehensive content.
2. Build Relationships with Industry Influencers
Networking with influencers and thought leaders in your niche can open the door to quality backlinks. By building genuine relationships with these individuals, you increase the likelihood of them sharing and linking to your content.
Tip –
The best tip to get this type of backlink is through considering collaborations such as guest posts or interviews to build rapport.
Action Steps –
- Engage with influencers by commenting on their posts, sharing their content, and participating in conversations.
- After establishing rapport, propose collaborative content (e.g., guest posts, interviews) that includes backlinks.
3. Leverage Broken Link Building
Getting backlink through broken links is strategy which involves finding broken backlinks from the competitor websites or high authority websites and offers your content as a replacement of the previous content. It’s a win-win: the owner of the site fixes their broken link, and you get a backlink from a high authority website in return.
Action Steps –
- Use tools like Ahrefs or Check My Links to identify broken links in your niche.
- Reach out to the site owner, inform them about the broken link, and suggest your content as a suitable replacement.
4. Repurpose Content Across Multiple Platforms
Reusing the content into different formats can extend its reach and also increase the chances of getting multiple backlink from different sources or different sites. For example by turning blog post into a sharable infographics, videos, podcasts, or slide presentations and posting them onto different sites can help us get multiple backlinks.
Action Steps –
Submit infographics to infographic directories, post slide presentations on SlideShare, or share videos on YouTube to maximize your backlink potential.
5. Submit Your Content to Resource Pages
Many websites have resource pages dedicated to curating helpful links for their readers. Submitting your content to these pages can earn you a quality backlink.
Action Steps –
- Identify high-quality resource pages relevant to your content using search strings like “intitle + your keyword.”
- Reach out with a polite email offering your content as a valuable resource.
6. Monitor Competitor Backlinks
Analyzing the backlink profiles of your competitors can reveal opportunities for you to gain similar links. If a website is linking to your competitor’s content, there’s a good chance they’ll link to yours if it’s better or more up-to-date.
Action Steps –
- Use tools like Ahrefs or Moz to analyze competitors’ backlinks.
- Target the same sites by pitching your improved or alternative content.
7. Skyscraper Technique
Create content that is better than the top-ranking articles on a given topic, then reach out to sites linking to them and ask for a backlink.
Action Steps –
- Find high-performing content in your niche using Ahrefs or SEMrush.
- Create more detailed, updated, or visually appealing content.
- Contact sites linking to the original article, explaining why your content is superior and requesting a backlink.
Conclusion
Building backlinks requires a strategic approach. By understanding the different types of backlinks and how to acquire them you can create a diverse and high-quality backlink profile that will improve your site’s authority, rankings and overall SEO success.
Strategies such as creating valuable content, building relationships with industry influencers, leveraging broken link opportunities, and using the Skyscraper Technique are all effective ways to earn authoritative backlinks.
Remember, quality over quantity is key. Focus on acquiring backlinks from reputable and relevant sites to strengthen your online presence and ensure long-term SEO success
