External linking (Backlinks). What is link building?

As is well known, website optimisation for search engines (SEO) is a very complex and long-term process. One of the important related issues is external linking. It is worth finding out a bit more about it.

What are external links?

External links are links found on a website that lead to another site. They are known precisely as external or inbound links. Search engines such as Google view external links as votes for a given page. In other words, by linking to another page, you cast a vote for it. That is why pages with many external links are more likely to rank higher in Google search results. The position is especially higher if such links come from trusted sources with authority.

An example of how such links work can be links leading from World Wildlife Fund to BigOven and other companies from blog posts. Because World Wildlife Fund is a global authority, smaller organisations can benefit by gaining links (or votes).

1. 01A link to another pageDirects outside
2. 02A vote of trust from GoogleInterpreted as recommendations
3. 03Higher ranking positionMore traffic from search

Building authority through trusted links increases a website’s visibility.

Why are external links important in SEO?

External links can:

• improve your position in search results,
• improve your credibility,
• help Google find new pages,
• drive traffic to your site.

So let’s move on to the details.

They improve your position in search results

Google recognises external links as one of the most important signals when it comes to SEO content. Because Google perceives external links as votes of a page’s popularity, there is a strong connection between pages with many high-quality backlinks and high positions in search results.

You can also acquire a huge number of external links from low-quality spam sites. However, they will not have the same power as a few external links from authoritative sites related to your business. This means that if a site is about food, you will trust a link from the Culinary Institute of America much more than one from a local pizzeria.

1. 01Different types of linksAcquisition strategy
2. 02“Follow” linksStandard hyperlinks
3. 03Passing trustAuthority for Google
4. 04HTML code (example)<a href="…">link</a>

Choose the right strategy for your site.

Google finds new pages thanks to links

External links also help Google find your content more easily. When Google follows an external link and goes to a new page, it analyses it in order to detect all the links found on it.

You need to have an appropriate internal linking strategy. This means that pages within a given domain should link to others. This allows Google to use the links on your site and follow further links to other pages and subpages. In this way, Google can understand the structure of your website.

After analysis, pages are indexed by Google. This makes it more likely that pages will appear in search results.

They drive traffic to your site

Referral traffic is traffic from people who visited your site via another website, without searching for you on Google. Such people are referred from another source, which can be external links. The benefits of referral traffic are as follows:

• increased brand recognition,
• introducing the site to new audiences,
• the opportunity to gain additional leads,
• improved authority thanks to external links.

1. 01Appropriate toolsGSC, Ahrefs, SEMRush, etc.
2. 02Important checkAvoid Google penalties
3. 03Request removalRemove toxic links
4. 04Simplified processUse GSC or paid tools

The key to protecting search rankings through monitoring and managing link profiles.

Types of external links

There are many different types of SEO external links. Understanding their various types can help you create the right link acquisition strategy.

“Follow” links

“Follow” links are hyperlinks without any additional attributes – they are therefore standard hyperlinks. A “follow” link tells Google to pass trust and authority to the linked pages. There is no “follow” link attribute, because every link is considered one if no other attribute is added to it. An external follow link looks, for example, like in the HTML code below:

<a href="https://www.domain.com/”>this is a follow link

“Nofollow” links

When you link to a page, you are giving it a vote (using the default “follow” link). In some cases, however, you do not want to do this. For example, you may want to refer to a competitor’s page in context, but you do not want to pass authority to it, or you may want to include a link to a page as an example in your content.

“Nofollow” links use the rel=”nofollow” attribute to inform Google and other search engines not to pass authority. In HTML, a “nofollow” link looks like this:

<a>this is a nofollow link

It should be remembered that Google treats the “nofollow” attribute as a hint. This means that Google will ultimately decide whether to pass authority through such a link.

Sponsored or paid links

If money, a product or a service is offered in exchange for the link, then the rel=”sponsored” link attribute should be added, as in the example below:

<a>this is a sponsored link

This attribute helps Google identify promotional links.

UGC links

User-generated content (UGC) links tell Google which links were created by users or customers. This allows webmasters to specify that they do not place these links editorially on their sites. Examples can include links in forum posts and in blog post comments. UGC external links look like this:

<a>this is a UGC link

Editorially placed links

Editorially placed links are links acquired naturally, without asking for them. Let us assume that a website links to your blog post about external links because it has been recognised as a good information resource. In this case, we are dealing with an editorially placed link. Google values such links because their purpose is to have a positive impact on user experience, not to deceive and manipulate search engine algorithms.

Link schemes

Link schemes (or link spam) is a term referring to “manipulating Google search results”. Examples of link schemes may be as follows:

• offering money, goods or services in exchange for links,
• link exchange systems (e.g. “create a link to my site, and I will create a link to your website”),
• using automated programs that create links to your site.

Participating in link schemes may result in a Google penalty being applied. This, in turn, negatively affects the site’s position in search results. If you have used link schemes in the past, you should disavow potentially harmful external links. This means asking Google to ignore specific links leading to your site.

Google recommends disavowing only links that have been paid for or come from any kind of link scheme. It should be added that Google handles link spam outside your control well. Otherwise, the site’s performance will be harmed.

How do you acquire external links?

Acquiring external links to your site takes time and effort. Here are 7 simple ways to start building a base of external links leading to your site:

• adding links to the site in profiles on social media platforms,
• searching Google for a post that is performing well and improving and expanding it,
• creating list-style posts, i.e. “how to” posts, “why” posts, infographics or posts with embedded video content. Such formats usually generate more external links compared with standard posts,
• create guideline posts. These are very long posts containing many thousands of words, and they cover every aspect of a given topic,
• create guest posts on other blogs and websites,
• contact influencers in your niche or industry and tell them about an article on your site that they may want to link to,
• interview influencers in your industry and send them to the link. They will certainly send many users back to your site.

You can also start looking for competitors’ external links. To do this, you need to observe the links of competitors who rank highly.

How do you check your external links?

There are many external link monitoring tools that allow you to check your site’s external links. These include tools such as Google Search Console, SEMRush, Ahrefs, etc.

Monitoring your external links is very important. Google’s webmaster guidelines require you to ask the owners of toxic sites to remove their links from your site. If you do not do this, Google will penalise your site, and the site’s position in search results will begin to fall. It is therefore important to find answers to the following 3 questions:

• Where can I find all of my external links?
• How can I check whether they are toxic?
• How can I contact the owners of sites with toxic links?

Fortunately, with the right tools, answering this question is easy. You can, for example, use Google Search Console. You can also use the previously mentioned paid tools: Ahrefs, Majestic, Semrush or MOZ.

Monitoring your own external link profile will tell you a great deal about the value of your website. This is a very important element of an SEO strategy.