What Are Website Backlinks And How To Build Them?

1. Follow Links

These hyperlink types are without extra attributes -i.e., standard hyperlinks. These links tell search engines like Google to hand over trust and authority to a website being linked to. 

Important Note: There’s no “follow” link attribute, as any type of link is considered “do follow” unless an attribute is supplemented. 

This is how a “follow” backlink looks like in HTML code:

2. Nofollow Links

When you link to high authority websites, you’re explicitly authenticating for it and using a “follow” link as the default. But in a few cases, you might not wish to do that.

For instance, you might require to link to a contender's web page for text but don’t wish to give them any type of authority automatically. Or assume you wish to link to high authority websites in your text. 

Nofollow links make use of the rel=”nofollow” attribute to tell search engines like Google and other search engines that they must not hand over the authority. 

This is how a “Nofollow” link looks like in HTML code:

Remember that search engines like Google handles the “nofollow” attribute like a hint, even so. Therefore, Google will finally decide whether or not to give the authority via that link. 

3. Sponsored or Paid Links

When money, a product, or a service is provided in return for a link, the rel=” sponsored” link attribute must be supplemented. 

These types of links help search engines like Google recognize sponsored or paid links:

4. UGC Links

UGC stands for “User-generated Content” links, which allows Google to recognize which links have been created by users or consumers. 

This lets webmasters mention that they don’t journalistically promote particular website links. for example, the links in forum posts, blog comments, etc. 

This is what UGC backlinks look like:

5. Editorial Backlinks

Editorial backlinks or editorially placed backlinks are the links you earn naturally without being asked. 

Let’s assume that high domain authority websites for backlinks to your blog are related to backlinks because they believe it’s an excellent resource for their readers. This will be an editorial backlink or editorially placed link. 

Search engines value these types of website backlinks because they’re intended to improve UX instead of manipulating search engine algorithms. 

6. Link Schemes

Also known as link spam, refers to website backlinks meant for “manipulating rankings” in search engines like Google. 

For example:

• Trading money, products, or services to get backlinks. 
• Link spams or link exchanges
• Making use of automatized programs that create backlinks for websites. 

Involving in link spam might lead to a Google penalty, adversely impacting your search engine rankings. 

If you’ve previously been involved in a link exchange, you must deny potentially dangerous website backlinks. I.e., requesting Google to ignore specific website backlinks to your website. 

Pro Tip: Google suggests that you just deny website backlinks if you’ve paid for them or involved in a link exchange of any type. 

You can make use of Backlink Audit to create a list of website backlinks you want to deny. Afterward, you can submit the disclaim file to Google’s disclaim tool once you submit your disavow request. 

We’ll also distill how external linking to a website of third-party sources is a definite gain. But before that, let's find out the factors that need to be analyzed before external linking. 

1. You can embark on improved reputation

When you include high quality backlinks sites to third-party websites of high authority and name in the process, by doing so, your brand awareness is improved in the eyes of search engines and the target audiences.

Since people today don’t have time to explore ten different websites to solve their queries so, by providing shortcut links to those users on your website, you can save their time and sketch your image as a reliable, authoritative, and subject-matter expert brand.

2. You get great backlinks

By creating high authority backlinks or outbound links, you create an influential association with other reputed companies, websites, bloggers, and journalists. When you endorse other websites’ efforts on your site, you will be endorsed, too, in the form of effective backlinks. The more high authority backlinks you score, the more will be your SERPs ranking.

The vital part - Those high DA backlinks created will not help you get direct traffic (as only a tiny percentage of public taps on those backlinks), but the ranking you will get from those high domain authority links will be the real win.

3. The High Authority Links Increase The Relevancy Of Your Brand

You’ve got no idea how your single link can improve your SEO game. By putting the correct external links, the latest Google algorithm update can learn a lot about your website; with a single linking, the search engine crawlers will know:

• What industry are you in
• What user query or problem statements are you aiming to solve
• Your type of competitors
• How much your page is valuable upon users' online searches

When you put authority backlinks to high-authority third-party sites or pages, you win the search engine's trust regarding “that yes, you are a legitimate player of the industry you are in ''. Thus, you get great relevance in ranking high in the SERP.

4. Your site becomes a more valuable and scalable resource for end-users

Doesn’t matter how exceptional a website you plan to make; there would still be a bunch of readers who won’t find your website’s information or content adequate. And it is natural. Since you can’t make your website a global depository, that is why you need to leverage the “power of high authority backlinks.” 

The high quality backlinks sites will make your website a more valuable and scalable resource as linking will add on to make your website experience better and more rewarding for the visitors. Practicing the linking process will make you a valuable reference resource in your business niche.

1. Make sure your links open in the separate tabs

These high authority links drive people away to other third-party sites. To ensure your site doesn’t get abandoned entirely by the user, make sure your hyperlinks are prone to open in the new tab.

If your hyperlinks are opening in the same tab of your website, your readers will feel irritated as they would have to hit a “back” button to continue again on your site or especially has to do a right-click to open that link separately manually. It might happen that users out in irritation, won’t make efforts to continue on your website.

To make your hyperlinks open in a new tab:

By doing this simple thing, you will get excellent traction and engagement from your end users.

2. Don’t Keep Adding Too Many Authority Backlinks

This is a general rule of life, and you cannot have too many good things. Everything beyond the limit is just detrimental. Water is good for the body, but drinking 4 gallons of water, thinking it will be healthy, isn’t how things work.

Similarly, you can’t put plenty of high domain authority links on your site. While posting plenty of links, you will experience two bad things - first, you will drive away your potential users to other sites, and second, search engines will look at you like a website that’s circulating spammy links to manipulate the search results.

Though there is yet to be a clear understanding of the number of high DA backlinks, the key is to keep only the links that could help and support your users' reading time. 

Make sure your high domain authority backlinks are:

• Sparsely located within the content and don’t look clustered
• The sentence or fragment of the content you plan to hyperlink to is relevant to the high domain authority websites and tells precisely what people will get ahead of by clicking on that link.
• If you assertively want people to open those links, you can use catchphrases like “this might help you” around or for hyperlinks --- this will more likely make people click at it.

3.  Don’t force links in your content

Backlink building should be organic rather than forced. When you do your writing part right, there will be ample opportunity to insert the relevant links.

In 2016, Google imposed penalties on websites that contained unnatural or irrelevant external links. Such offending websites' webmasters were asked to remove the irrelevant links or put no-follow tags on such links.

Firstly write the entire copy on the subject or topic you want to, in parity with your business offerings. There, if you need to improve user experience design, look for the content fragments and link them to the websites that have better and more detailed information about that fragment or the essence of the topic. You can use high domain authority links if your content needs powerful backup sources to support your writing statements.

4. Don’t fall for the too-much mutual backlinking game

Too many mutual backlinks can be suspicious for search engines. Earlier, many websites were putting this practice of supporting mutual backlinks in great quantity to empower each other’s websites and increase their search engine rankings.

Ever since Google’s Panda update rolled out, it broke down the network of mutual backlinking promoting websites to prevent fake authority and fake rankings. Though businesses are still putting the use of this practice, if Google spots down too much of mutual backlinks, there will be negative consequences to such intended actions.

Even if you want to have mutual backlinks, ensure they are created naturally and not after carefully planning to fool the search engines. Misusing this practice will not only make you lose your ranking but also degrade your brand image. A professional link building agency like JanBask Digital Design will help you generate long-lasting and sustainable business growth.

5. Select an anchor text that’s descriptive 

Anchor text is a fragment of content you select to put a hyperlink on - high authority websites. Make sure to select an anchor text for the external link that is descriptive and sums up what to expect on another page.

You can choose your target keywords or other clear words that describe the third-party page well-off. Doing this practice will improve your website’s usability for search engines as well as the target audience.

6. Be Strict With The High Domain Authority Websites for Backlinks

Just like linking to authoritative and relevant websites can increase your brand value, similarly, if you opt for the poor resources fed and low-quality websites, blogs, comments, subreddits, and forums for linking, you will erode your business image.

Pro tip - Do not automatically allow the links in your comments section. If you do not want to choke your website with spammers, trollers, and self-promoting webmasters, make sure to manually monitor whatever is posted in the comments section - to maintain the integrity of your content and the image. Timely use an outbound link checker to ensure that all your links are the latest, resourceful, and aren’t broken ones.

7. Get the help of Google’s related link tool to find the external linking websites

If you are having difficulty determining the types of external links or sites for your website, you can take the help of Google’s related link tool. The tool helps you find high authority links to websites that are similar to your website type.

Inside the tool’s search bar, enter - “related: (your website name).” Upon entering this query, you will have a handful of website links that Google thinks are similar to your website type.

How To Use Google Search Console To Understand Your Website Backlinks Profile

• Go to GSC >> Log in.
• Browse to “Links” on the left side of the sidebar at the bottom of the screen. 

• Inside the “External Links” column, you’ll be able to see an overview of your website’s backlink profile.

Different reports include:

• Top linked pages - The web pages on your website with maximum backlinks.
• Top linking sites - The websites that link back to you the most.
• Top linking text - The most popular website backlinks anchor text utilized in your backlinks. 
• Click “More” below any of these options to see the complete report. 

• You could also export your website’s external backlinks in the form of a CSV file. For that, click the “Export External Links” option at the top of your screen. 

In the next section, we’ll explain how to analyze website backlinks.

How To Analyze Website Backlinks

Using Semrush’s “Backlink Analytics” tool, you can get extra insights about your website’s backlinks. You can also get information about your challenger’s website’s backlinks. 

Begin by selecting a website or a particular URL you wish to review. Paste the URL into the search bar and click “Analyze.”

The fundamental metrics tracked include:

• Authority score
• Referring domains
• Backlinks
• Monthly visits
• Keywords
• Outbound domains.

If you wish to see the complete report, click the blue no below each metric. You could simultaneously weigh up to 5 websites by adding their domain names. 

Scroll to the bottom to find out how the websites compare to each other according to their “Backlink types,” “Link attributes,” “Referring domains categories,” and much more. 

If required, it’s possible to export data to a PDF. Click on the “Export to PDF” option at the top-right corner. It is helpful when you wish to further analyze website backlinks or forward competitor analysis to a customer.