Backlinks are links from an external website to your site. These links are crucial because they tell search engines that your website matters. Google considers links to be votes, so getting new links ensures you receive more votes and win the election (for a search term). Backlinks are therefore crucial for further boosting your website’s authority.
Keep in mind that you’ll receive backlinks that improve your website’s SEO rather than harm it. They must come from websites related to what you do. More votes for your website mean greater credibility and, in all likelihood, a higher ranking for relevant search terms.
What are good backlinks?
As mentioned, we look for backlinks that improve your website’s SEO. How do you know if backlinks are good? If you want to rank higher on the Search Engine Results Page (SERP), focus on high-quality backlinks; the following applies:
A single high-quality backlink can be more powerful than 1,000 low-quality backlinks. It turns out that high-quality backlinks often share the same key characteristics:
- They come from trusted, authoritative websites with high domain authority.
- The focus keyword is usually found in the link’s anchor text.
- The website (and page) are related to the topic of your website.
- Good backlinks are ‘follow’ links, not ‘no-follow’ links.
- The backlink is from a website that has not previously linked to your website.
- High-quality websites that contain authentic text and are not generated by AI.
- High-quality websites with custom designs that are well-maintained: no standard theme websites.
Domain authority and backlinks
To investigate the above 5 points, you can proceed manually or use SEO tools. In particular, paid SEO tools such as MOZ, Ahrefs, and SEMrush offer a wealth of information about potentially interesting backlinks. These SEO tools use a metric called“Domain Authority,” which indicates the authority of a website and/or domain name.
