Building Authority Online Through a Backlink Strategy

I was recently a guest on the Redefine Podcast with Brittni Schroeder. We talked all about backlink strategies and how they contribute to building authority online. It was a great conversation and I was happy to chat with her!

I think backlinks and building authority are things business owners don’t prioritize as much as they should. Everyone tells you to put a ton of effort into social media, but what about your website? People publish their website and think it’s good to go, but it takes work to maintain and earn credibility with search engines. Backlinks are a great place to start building authority. 

So let’s talk through what all this even means and how you can organically increase links back to your website.

What are Backlinks?

Backlinks are links from other websites back to yours. It’s like getting a referral from another website, which tells search engines that they think your website is reputable and valuable. 

You know how word of mouth is one of the most powerful marketing strategies because you trust your friends to give you good recommendations? That’s how backlinks work. Someone else is referring you by linking to a page on your website.

What is Domain Authority?

Domain authority is a score from 1-100 (higher is better!) developed by the SEO tool, Moz. The score predicts how well a website will rank on search engine results pages. Search engines didn’t create this score, so please understand that it’s not an exact science. You aren’t guaranteed higher search rankings by having a high domain authority. However, the score can help you understand how well your website is optimized and give you areas for improvement.

Here is how Moz calculates your domain authority:

• Quality of Backlinks: The quality and authority of the websites linking to your domain. 
• Quantity of Backlinks: While quality is more important, the quantity of backlinks also matters. A higher number of quality backlinks can contribute to your domain authority.
• Link Diversity: Having backlinks from a diverse range of domains, especially from different authoritative sites.
• Internal Linking: A well-structured internal linking system within your site helps distribute authority across your pages.
• External Links: The quality and relevance of the sites you link to from your domain can also play a role in domain authority.
• Domain Age: Older domains tend to have higher domain authority because they have had more time to accumulate backlinks and establish authority. 
• Content Quality: High-quality, relevant, and engaging content attracts more backlinks and user engagement.
• On-Page SEO: Proper use of on-page SEO techniques, including keyword optimization, meta tags, and responsive design.

To improve your domain authority, focus on creating high-quality content, earning quality backlinks, maintaining a solid internal link structure, and following SEO best practices.

Why Backlinks are Important for SEO

Imagine you put a link to someone’s website on your website. You likely trust that person and consider them authoritative on the topic. Search engines recognize this and also start to notice your authority on the topic. It’s like an endorsement from other websites to tell Google they think your content is valuable. 

Even though Google hasn’t outright said it, all the data shows that backlinks help your ranking and domain authority. According to Neil Patel, 96% of sites in Google’s top 10 positions have 1,000+ links from unique domains. So if you want to increase your domain authority/search rankings, start implementing a backlink strategy.

How to Increase Backlinks

Backlinks are a great place to start building your authority with search engines. Luckily, there are a lot of ways to do this!

• Guest blogging: Search for your industry + guest blogging to find opportunities to write a post and publish it on someone else’s website. You’ll be given a few linking opportunities within the article.
• Guest podcasting: Pitch podcasts within your industry to be a guest. Your website and relevant offers will be linked in the show notes (that’s what I did on Brittni’s podcast!)
• Networking: Network with people in your industry. The more you get your name out there, the more likely you are to earn backlinks, referrals, partnerships, etc.
• Online directories: Join online directories or communities. You’ll get a bio with a link to your website, plus a lot of other perks to joining!
• Speaking opportunities: Apply to be a speaker for virtual conferences or summits. You’ll have a speaker bio, which includes a link to your website. Plus, the host will be promoting their conference and your session to their audience!
• Create valuable, sharable content: The most organic way to increase your backlinks is to create content people want to reference and link to.
• List posts: Email authors of list posts (top 10…) and ask to be added to the list.
• Fix broken backlinks: Use an SEO tool like Ubersuggest to find broken backlinks and email the website owner with the correct link. This will help their SEO, too!
• Offer testimonials: Offer testimonials to people you’ve worked with and request a backlink when they publish it on their website.

By consistently applying these strategies, you can significantly increase the number of high-quality backlinks to your website, improving your SEO performance. 

SEO tools like SEMrush and Ubersuggest will show you the number of backlinks you have and the domains they come from. They also tell you how backlinks impact your domain authority. Generally, the more high-quality backlinks you have, the higher your domain authority will be. 

Will Spam Backlinks Hurt My SEO?

Backlinks are an organic marketing strategy. While you can request a link back to your website, adding the link is ultimately up to the website owner. You can’t always control where you’re linked, and sometimes you will get spam links. You can try reaching out to the website owner and request your link to be removed if you’re concerned about the link. 

However, if you use the strategies in this article to earn high-quality backlinks, a few spam won’t impact your SEO. Google understands you can’t control backlinks and won’t punish you for having a few spam links. I think every website has some at this point! 

Start Building Authority with Backlinks

Understanding and building authority with backlinks is a key component of a successful SEO strategy. Domain authority is one of many factors influencing your search engine rankings, but a higher domain authority can give you a competitive edge. Focus on building a strong, diverse backlink profile and producing high-quality blog content to improve your domain authority and website visibility. Contact me to chat about your blog content strategy!