If you evaluate websites that rank the highest for any given keyword, they probably have the most links pointing to their page from other websites. In 2023, are backlinks even still important for SEO, though? To determine this, we will need to learn what exactly a backlink is.
What is a Backlink?
Anytime another website links out to a page on your website, it is considered a backlink. A backlink serves as a vote from another website indicating that your content is valuable and trustworthy. The more backlinks a page has, the more valuable it is in the eyes of search engines. But why is being valuable important?
Why Are Backlinks Important?
There are generally three pillars to SEO: Authority, Relevance, and User Experience. Excelling at all three pillars will put your website in a good spot at ranking well for target keywords. Search engines typically rank the most authoritative websites at the top. This is where backlinks come in.
As far as we know, there are multiple different signals that go into determining how authoritative any given page is. At the top of this list of signals are backlinks and referring domains. This means pages with the highest number of high authority backlinks are perceived as the most authoritative. We mention high authority backlinks because if your website’s backlink profile has a high percentage of low quality or spam links, it forces search engines to perceive your website as spammy as well. This can penalize your website and potentially lead to poor ranking performance.
The Proof
Brian Dean at Backlinko increased the amount of organic traffic one page on his website was getting by 110% in 14 days just by acquiring links pointing to his page. He used a popular link-building method called the Skyscraper Method which we have also found success using. The page increased traffic coming from Google due to improved ranking performance. The page also increased traffic coming from the websites that included the link to his page (referral traffic).
Conclusion
With authority making up one of the three pillars of SEO, it is apparent that backlinks still matter. Conduct an analysis comparing your website and pages ranking at the top of Google for your target keywords to gain a better understanding into how many backlinks are needed to rank well. Based on your website’s size and industry, your link-building strategy will be unique. Get in touch if you would like a professional SEO company to assist in link-building for your website!
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