Backlinks are fundamental to rank well organically and are a staple in a solid SEO strategy. A link from an authoritative website can be valuable and help give you an advantage over competitor websites, however, not all links are good.
In the early days of SEO, any good was considered a good link. The more links a website could get the better, regardless of relevance or quality. Nowadays Google actively penalises websites with vast amounts of bad links.
But how can you identify these bad links?
Types of Bad Backlinks
- Link farms
- Directories*
- Explicit websites
- Websites who have participated in unethical link practises
- Irrelevant websites (i.e. you a restaurant but have a link from a construction site)
- Excessive internal linking
- Multiple links to the same URL from the same article/page
*Directories aren’t always a big ‘no-no’. Sometimes adding your business to a directory is a smart business decision. If it makes sense for your business to be listed, then you should get listed. An Italian restaurant in Birmingham is relevant to be listed on a directory of the best places to eat in Birmingham, it doesn’t belong on a construction forum.
Now you know what types of links to avoid, the following types of links are what you should be actively trying to gain as they are the most valuable and Google approved!
Types of Good Backlinks
- Websites with high trust signals
- Websites relevant to your industry
- Naturally given links
- PR
- Review sites
- Websites who rank well for your priority keywords
- Links that use keyword or branded anchor text
- Internal links to relevant service or content pages
Google sees a link to your website as a vote of confidence but they also recognise quality over quantity. Be strategic about where you gain links from and who you link out to, do you trust all the websites you link to? If not, look for a more trustworthy source or make sure to ‘nofollow’ the link!
Things To Remember
- Not all links are good links
- Be choosy about the websites you link out to from your own website
- Gain links from authoritative, established websites with good reputations
- Focus on websites relevant to your industry
- Directories are good if you belong there
Still don’t know where to start? Leave it to us! Our clients trust us to build them a solid backlink profile full of only good, authoritative links. Find out more about our link building service.