When you step into the online world of brand building and marketing, the first thing you look for is exposure. Online or offline, exposure is important for your growth and expansion. In traditional ways of marketing and promotion, you advertise, put banners or circulate pamphlets in the market. But things are a little different in modern ways of building exposure. We use the technique of link building to build visibility and drive traffic to websites. If you are new to the online game of brand building, you must be confused. But don’t worry, we will get you covered in this article. We will discuss in details backlinks and their importance in building your brand.
Let’s dive in.
What are backlinks exactly?
Backlinks are links that are provided on websites other than yours to direct visitors to your website. Other terms for backlinks are inbound links and external links. Let’s understand it with the help of an example. Say page X has uploaded an article on their site. They use a link in their article which when visitors click are directed to your website. The link from site X is a backlink for you.
Backlinks are an important component of SEO. An SEO agency uses the technique of link building and other methods to optimise your website and improve your organic search ranking in google.
How can you earn backlinks?
Backlinks are important to build exposure and visibility of your brand and improve your ranking on google. Let us learn the primary ways how you can earn backlinks-
Natural Backlinks- Natural backlinks are those which are linked to other websites because of the quality content that it offers and not because you asked for it. The only way to get natural backlinks is to improve the quality of your content. If someone finds valuable information and content on your website and they want to share it on their article or blog, they can do it by creating a backlink. This is the most organic way of building exposure with no extra cost.
Manual Backlinks- Manual backlinks are created when you partner with other sites and ask them to feature or mention you in their articles or blogs. This is one of the most popular ways of link building. Guest blogging is one of the ways you can create manual backlinks.
Self-created links- These types of links are created when the owner or manager of a site adds to a forum or other sites through blog comments, guest book signings and form signature. These may seem like the most convenient way to earn backlinks but it is not as easy as it sounds. It can earn you a negative search engine reputation and penalisation if you overdo it.
Why are backlinks important?
As already mentioned backlinks is an important component of SEO. An SEO agency uses the technique of link building to drive more traffic to your website and increase your brand visibility. Let’s have a look at their importance for your brand-
Improves your ranking organically- It is a great way to improve your ranking and visibility on google. Google credits those sites which have multiple quality backlinks on various sites as it seals your credibility. Backlinks are built gradually and may take some time to perform. You need to be patient and also focus on the quality of your content on your site to gain natural links and improve organic ranking.
Increases brand visibility and exposure- Whenever a site mentions you on their site, it is a given that their visitors have a chance of clicking on the link and visiting your website. This will bring in new visitors increasing your brand value and exposure. If the website mentioning you is reliable and has a lot of loyal followers, featuring on their page can also increase your credibility.
Increase in referral traffic- When a visitor visits your website using a backlink, the click is recorded as a referral visit by google analytics. This boosts your referral traffic as it is more targeted and relevant with minimum bounce rates than other traffic types.
Builds credibility- When you are featured on a notable site, the visitors or followers of that site naturally assume a good connection. As such, if the site mentioning you is credible and popular, you have a good chance of strengthening your brand value and visibility. It adds great value to your brand.
Ways to create your backlink-
Create social media profiles- Numerous social media sites drive huge traffic on their site daily. You can create a profile on these sites and create content frequently. Such sites can be Facebook, Instagram, LinkedIn etc.
Engage in forum sites- People post their questions on forum sites asking the audience their opinion. It is a great place to engage and carry on discussions. You can leave your links in the comments. People who find it relevant will click and check your site. But be sure not to overdo it or your site might get devalued by Google.
Submit blogs on free blogging sites- Guest blogging is a great way to create backlinks. Write about a relevant topic and link your site to the blog. There is a high chance that visitors who read the blog, will click on the link and discover your site. But make sure to work on the content of your site to make it look attractive to the visitors so that they engage and discover more about you.
Summing up-
As we have thoroughly discussed, link building is an important method of driving traffic to your website. Many new businesses take the help of a reliable SEO agency to optimise their website. The correct use of SEO can build the correct exposure for your brand increasing its visibility to gain maximum exposure. When you step into the online world of brand building, only providing quality content and services is not enough. You will have to invest in different sources who can offer you reliable guidance and services to keep you on top of the game.
