It is a common human tendency- the want to get to the top. You might have wanted to be the highest scorer in your class, the first ranker in a competition, the best employee in your workplace, or something similar. When you impose this want on your content, you require tools- one of which is SEO.
SEO or Search Engine Optimization pushes your matter to rank higher in the search results and improve visibility, considering that it covers necessary criteria. If you are wondering why top results are better, think about what you do when you have a doubt. You look it up on search engines like Google.
Do you scroll to the later links to find your answers, or stop looking after the first few results? Most people tend to do the latter.
Thus, to reach a larger audience, you need to boost your search engine ranking, which is one of the goals of content marketing. The links appearing in the top results are the more optimised ones. You can boost your content using various approaches. Including keywords and backlinks and maintaining good quality in your content is one way to do that.
According to a statistics report by BrightEdge, organic search makes up a dominant percentage of 53% of a website’s traffic.
Among the different ways mentioned, let’s delve into the importance of backlinks. Popularity does not guarantee credibility. You can build a trustful bond with your audience by supporting the content with high-quality backlinks. A source people can believe and rely on is bound to bring more traffic, thus ranking higher in SERP or Search Engine Result Pages.
Evolution of SEO
A Greek philosopher, Heraclitus, once said, “Change is the only constant.”
The Past
Can anything that does not change keep up with this ever-growing world? Imagine reading an article from top results and not finding it credible enough to get your answer.
Until a few years ago, most marketers flooded the content with keywords and backlinks, irrespective of relevance. This situation was present because of the belief – quantity over quality.
Today, you can see why these methods weren’t encouraged for long. The audience relies on the backlinks for relevance and authority. Thus, eventually, the process of optimisation improved to match the user’s needs and expectations.
From stuffing keywords to removing unnatural links and unnecessary keywords to giving priority to quality content, SEO practices have evolved. Search engines filter links based on the reliability of what they store.
The Present
While search engines have shifted their focus to a diverse profile, including the aspects mentioned above, did you know there has been a significant addition to the content marketing landscape? Technical SEO. It integrates the importance of user experience by optimising site speed, device friendliness, and more. You may notice search engines prioritising websites that efficiently cater to the audience’s needs.
As you create and mould your website, you should remember the following points to gain visibility and better SERP ranking in the present.
- Relevant Keywords
- Credible Backlinks
- High-Quality Content
- User-Friendly Experience
Thus, backlink building can support content marketing and increase discovery rates, bringing organic traffic. However, you might still have a question tugging at the back of your mind.
Are Backlinks Truly Relevant?
According to a Twitter poll by Dr. Marie Haynes in the last month of 2022, about 40% of respondents believe that backlinks hold the same effectiveness they did until a few years ago.
Despite the decrease in popularity of use, backlinks are still considered the source of organic visitors through referral traffic. As different sites lead to your own, the action increases the visibility and engagement of your business website.
One of the experts, Mercy Janaki, also mentions –
To get a better understanding, consider backlinks equivalent to recommendations. Take a situation where you plan to get earphones and seek a knowledgeable friend’s advice. They might suggest 1-2 of their preferred brands. So, just like the friend led you to an earphone brand, backlinks bring visitors from a website to yours.
The present SEO approach also works against the old above-mentioned ‘quantity over quality’ belief.
The quality of backlinks can do both harm and good for your website, so it is recommended that you conduct regular backlink analysis. Referral traffic from trusted, high-quality sites tends to view your site as similar, although not equivalent, to the source. Writers for these sites tend to use relevant backlinks to support their data and maintain credibility.
Unnatural or bad backlinks, however, are used only for the sake of their presence and tend to bring down rankings on SERP. Search engines take these measures since they perceive the links as manipulative or against the guidelines.
Navigating Backlink-Building in 2024
Using malpractices or violating guidelines to rank higher unfairly is termed Black Hat SEO. Here are a few examples to give you an idea of what those might be.
- Keyword stuffing
- Blog comment spam
- Paid links
Doing this can lead sites to be either pushed down to lower rankings or completely removed. To avoid that, you should stick to White Hat SEO, prioritising quality content and user experience.
Here are some approaches to ethical backlink-building.
As mentioned several times, quality! A well-written and appropriately optimised content is likely to attract more traffic.
- Unlinked mentions: Look for sites mentioning your company that need to be linked. You can contact the owner to add the necessary URL.
- Online mentions: You can leverage your work and collaborate with other sites to gain recognition.
- Social media: You can maintain a social media account as a part of content marketing and mention your website link in the bio.
- Quality vs. Quantity: You must put quality above quantity while optimizing content. Backlinks from relevant, trusted, and known channels tend to establish a bond of trust with the viewers, pushing you higher in SERP.
Beyond Backlinks: A Holistic SEO Approach
As Jes Scholz, an International Digital Director at Ringier AG says, “Impactful SEO is rarely executed by a lone wolf.”
SEO is more than just backlinks. There are a lot of checklists, including keywords, technical SEO, content quality, Alt text, Meta elements, and more. Just like how Spider-Man’s spider-sense helps him identify threats, optimizing your website’s metadata, such as your title tags and meta descriptions, can help search engines understand your content and improve your rankings.
We at The Wise Idiot are driven by a passion for creating high-quality content that helps brands expand their reach. But don’t take our word for it.
Check out how we assisted a leading fintech brand in increasing website traffic by an astounding 4300% through organic growth, rising from 2.3K to 99K in just 12 months.
Final Words
Adding backlinks is one of the ways you can use to gain visibility and appear in top results on SERPs. Adding the audience’s comfort and viewing experience to well-prepared sites is a recipe for successful content marketing. A recipe we, at The Wise Idiot, have mastered.
Whether you require engaging blogs and informative articles, social media marketing, or consultation on marketing strategies, our team of experts is here for you! Schedule a call with us to reach your content marketing goals.
Frequently Asked Questions
Q1. How do you generate backlinks?
Ans: There are many ways to earn backlinks. You can find unlinked mentions of your brand and request a link, create high-quality content that others want to reference or reach out to creators and bloggers as a source.
Q2. What is black hat and white hat SEO?
Ans: Black hat SEO uses deceptive techniques to trick search engines into ranking a website higher. White hat SEO focuses on creating valuable content and building links organically.
Q3. Do backlinks improve SEO?
Ans: Yes, backlinks are a major factor in search engine ranking. Websites with high-quality backlinks are seen as more trustworthy and relevant by search engines.
