3 key things to remember when building a good backlink profile
On-site and technical SEO is vital when it comes to improving your website from a search perspective but any good long term SEO strategy also incorporates off-site SEO into the mix and one of the most important parts of off-site SEO is having a good backlink profile.
What is a backlink?
A backlink refers to any hyperlink from one website to another, and they can come in various forms such as in-text links (editorial links) image links and many more.
Links are important for good SEO as they act as signals to Google that a webpage is worth ranking, and they can be optimised for specific keywords and search terms.
The backlink profile refers to the total backlinks and referring domains (websites) for a given site. Not all backlink profiles are created equal, and poor backlink profiles can have a negative impact on your SEO.
So, what do you need to remember when building a good backlink profile? Well, the short answer is quite a lot, but here are 3 key areas to get you started!
1. Work out if there are any links worth removing
Whilst removing ‘toxic’ backlinks is not going to drastically change the impact of your backlink profile on your SEO, it can be worth factoring into your backlink improvement strategy.
If you have a lot of links coming from less than reputable sources, they may well be diluting the impact of the good links within your backlink profile. Removing these low-value links will help shine the spotlight on your high-value links and increase the overall effectiveness of your off-site SEO.
2. Check to see if you are using optimised anchor text
Optimised anchor text is very important when it comes to developing an outreach strategy that is good for both PR and SEO. Optimised anchor text should contain the keyword you are targeting the particular link to, and it should not be generic. Links with anchor text like ‘click here’ and ‘go to their website’ will be providing some SEO value, but with a little forward planning they could be providing a whole lot more.
Getting webmasters to use specific anchor text can be difficult, particularly if the content and links have already been posted, but it is always worth asking and a lot of the time they are more than happy to help out! Also when you are sending content over for posting in the form of a guest post or PR piece, try and include optimised anchor text within the article, and get the journalist or webmaster to post it.
3. Develop a strategy for getting optimised relevant sites to link to you
When it comes to off-site SEO the quality of the sites you get the links from is very important, but so is the context of those links and the pages that they come from.
An editorial link further up the page is going to be worth more than a generic one further down or on a page where there is high link density and links to a directory page. Try to develop a strategy that incorporates quality editorial links within the backlink profile, and try to optimise the anchor text for specific pages.
In addition to this, try and develop a strategy to get the target sites to point to the right pages, links to the product pages if you are in an e-commerce store could prove invaluable when it comes to increasing the overall effectiveness of your backlink profile.
Get in touch with us to learn more about optimising your backlink profile
Varn are experts in all things search marketing and have experience running several successful campaigns that have led to a long term uptick in quality backlinks and rankings for clients. If you want to learn more about how targeted SEO outreach can improve your rankings and revenue, get in touch with a member of our team today.
