Table of contents:
a) What Does SEO mean?
SEO stands for "Search Engine Optimization". Our ultimate goal as a business is to be positioned as highly as possible on search engines such as Google and Bing. If someone types in a search query you will not only show up as one of the first results but also (this is often forgotten) then clicked on.all This is achieved with various optimization techniques where you do not pay Google (SEO is very different to Google advertising or Google ads).
b) What is On-Page Optimization?
SEO is divided into Off-page and On-page optimizations. As the name implies, On-page Optimization is making tweaks to optimize your own page. If the page is optimized, users, as well as search engines, are able to read the page better, which results in a better position and additional clicks from your audience.
c) What is Off-Page Optimization?
On-page efforts are supplemented with Off-page optimization, and are therefore secondary ithe SEO ranking, but super important. These actions are about optimizations that do NOT take place on your own site. Backlink building is a central component here.
d) What are Backlinks?
Backlinks are links from other websites that lead to yours. They are directly related to SEO. The stronger the reputation and the reputation of the page that links to your site, the more valuable the recommendation is and the more positively it influences the SEO ranking of your website. It is also important to have a high domain popularity, i.e. to be linked from several pages. Google thinks like us humans do: The more important the person who makes the recommendation is, the more seriously we take it. And we value a recommendation from a hundred “normal” people as highly as a single one from a reputable source.
Although links not only signal that let search engines know how important your website is, they are helpful for website users and generate traffic (clicks) that lead to your site.
A good backlink strategy supports your SEO strategy and strengthens your website as a whole.
Read on to find out what a backlink strategy involves and how you can use it to your advantage.
1 – Analysis
The first thing you need to do is find out where you are and who your competitors are.
With tools like Semrush or suite.searchmetrics.com you can find out who your competitors are and how often your own website has been visited. Compare yourself with the competition and position yourself for words that appear at the top of your keywords in the search engines - because that's where you want to go. If you are on the first place here, then CONGRATULATIONS: You already have a good backlink strategy and probably don't have to do any more optimization ;)
searchmetrics-analyse from www.sbb.ch
With Tools, like linkody.com you can check how your previous backlinks are rated. Again, it's important to compare yourself with the competition.
linknody Analysis for www.sbb.ch
2 – What Makes a Good Backlink?
It's all about building up the best backlinks possible, in the right quantity. Less can also be more, because if the quality of the linked pages is not right, this can also pull your page down.
Let's take a trip into the offline world:
A friend, in his mid-60s, single, an insurance agent, without children, suggests you rediscover baby food. Does that seem credible? Of course not. And that's exactly what Google notices about backlinks. That's why backlinks have to be placed on pages that are as relevant as possible, because Google quickly notices when links are only set for SEO purposes.
Relevance is assessed on the basis of various factors. The content of the linking domain, the quality of the backlinks, which themselves respond to the linking page and, above all, how natural and relevant the content of the linking page is for your page play a major role. The most credible ones are content links, i.e. links from flowing texts. These can be integrated into the text in the form of anchor links. Anchor links describe the linked page. For example, to link an article, you will need an anchor such as: What you need to consider when optimizing the backlink. This method links your website in a natural way that users and search engines will find credible.
You have to be careful with "trash links" from press portals, directories or comment fields - these usually bring little traffic and can even cause harm. Basically, the easier I can create a link, such as within a comment, the less value the link has in terms of SEO ranking - the harder links, such as editorial links from a daily newspaper, carry more value. Of course, these editorial links should also be related to the content. If, for example, a clothing store is linked to a car magazine, this has no relevance to the topic.
It makes sense if other relevant pages are also linked on the page. That said, this has to be carefully measured. If too many other pages are linked alongside yours, you have to share the so-called Link Juice with the other pages. Link Juice is the property and relevance that a page passes on to its linked pages. For Google, a page littered with links can appear unnatural, which also damages your page credibility.
Where the link is placed on the page is also important. The fewer clicks it takes to get from the start page to the linked page, the higher your backlink will be ranked. Worse link positions are usually those in the footer or on the sitebar.
The difference between Follow and NoFollow links is important. This is because search engines increasingly include Follow links in their rankings. The NoFollow links are considered poorly or not at all. For a long time, all links were Follow links, which led to more spam and irrelevant links. Today you can encode a link with "rel=nofollow" and thus separate the ranking power from it. NoFollow links therefore influence search engines indirectly by generating more traffic, which in turn has a positive influence on SEO. There are also those who think that no-follow links also influence SEO, or will again. However, the verdict on this topic is not out yet. Everything changes daily in the digital world and Google and Bing are not typically 100% transparent.
3 - Your backlinks pages
Now you have to find out which pages are suitable for your backlinks. To find this out, you can use the competition comparison as an aid. You should make sure that you only consider the good backlinks ..
With different tools you can enter relevant keywords and get a list with the top 100 websites that rank for your keywords at the moment. If you can now position your link on these pages, you will also benefit from their Link Juice. The easiest backlinks are links on your own e-mail footer, in job advertisements, and on pages like Bing Places or Google My Business
4 - Techniques to get Links
You have a plan and know where you want your page to be linked. How do you get to these links? A good backlink building is time-consuming and often cost-intensive.
The most effective way is to write the site owners with a reason why they should link your site. It is important that you deliver good content. Often, the site operators will want something in return for this, usually in the form of financial compensation. With an attractive product this can also be a product mailing. How much you’ll have to pay depends on the industry and on page quality. In Switzerland, it starts at CHF 100 and can exceed several thousand. With the so-called affiliate partnerships with bloggers, one can agree on the price per click via the set link.
You can also enter into deals with cooperation partners, customers and suppliers or ask friends, acquaintances and relatives to link their page on their website. It should be noted here that link exchanges are at best badly rated by Google and should therefore not be used too often.
5 - Eliminate bad links
Google Penalties should be avoided when building links. Penalties are, so to speak, warnings that are issued when Google notices that backlinks have been artificially created, that the linking pages are sub-par or are spam. This lowers the value of your website.
It is difficult or impossible to remove all bad links, because website owners are often not known. But you can declare bad links as invalid at Google. You should use this function with caution, or it may have negative consequences on your SEO. In addition, Google is usually "clever" enough to sort out these untrustworthy links itself. After all, Google wants to provide users with search results that are as suitable as possible.
Who would have thought: There are also tools, such as Semrush, to recognize pages that are harmful to you.
Conclusion
Google, Bing and other search engines are in a constant state of flux, changing the SEO algorithm. Therefore, your backlink or SEO strategy must always be revisited and adapted accordingly. Backlink building is a long-term, continuous process that cannot be done overnight. It requires a strategy that also includes competitive analysis and must be adapted again and again to innovations and new findings. In the end, it is all about building the right number of good backlinks and avoiding or eliminating "trash links"..