What are backlinks?

backlinks are links on outside websites pointing to your webpage.

In very simple terms, backlinks are any mentions of your website on other platforms which direct visitors to your site. This includes other partnering websites, directory links like your chamber of commerce membership, posts on social media profiles, and blog features. Backlinks, also referred to as “incoming links”, could be considered a “vote” for your webpage according to search engines like Google, Bing, and even Amazon. The more votes you get from these outside domains, the better your site’s visibility ranking is with these search engines.

Related: Free Google Analytics Reports you should be using >>

Why are backlinks important?

backlinks are crucial both to search engine ranking and end user experience.

Backlinks aren’t just important for search engine ranking though, it can be just as useful for the actual visitor to your site. With the end user, backlinks give credibility to claims that you are making on your site. For instance, if you are posting a portfolio piece, a link to the live site of that ensures that what you are talking about is real. For instance, I am pretty proud of my latest website build, ellenboughn.com. Or, you’ll often see me quoting statistics about why digital marketing is important. For instance, Shopify Plus has reported that retail ecommerce sales will reach 4.5 trillion by 2021, so you should probably put efforts into your digital presence now.

But let’s get back to how backlinks optimize your site and get your business noticed on Google. For search engines, backlinks give credibility to your site for your ranking keywords and relevant topics. Even further, backlinks signal the crawling bots that external websites are endorsing your products or services. If multiple sites link to the same domain, search engines will conclude that the website is then worth ranking higher on the SERP (search engine results page).

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Where can businesses get quality backlinks?

directories are not all treated the same, but can make a huge impact.

Joining your local chamber of commerce is actually a really great SEO strategy. Since the chambers are non-profit organizations with strong backlinks from municipalities and businesses alike, getting a link from their directory is worth the membership price alone. With all of the members giving quality backlinks to the site, search engines have noticed these businesses as a search engine powerhouse. So by joining a chamber of commerce with a strong digital presence, you can get backlinks from this trusted source, in turn boosting your bussiness’ search engine optimization. I may be biased, but FuseDSM is a chamber you are going to want to watch as they are paying close attention to optimizing their digital presence. If you’d like to learn more about them, we would be happy to meet for coffee and discuss how they have helped our business grow locally.

More ideas on SEO backlink opportunities:

• Guest Blogging

• Social Media profiles

• Directory listings

• Customer Reviews

• Original research with insights

• Building relationships with influencers

• Link reclamation

Conclusion

Getting unique and authoritative links is crucial for higher ranking in the SERPs and improving your appearance on search engines. Google's algorithm changes continue to put emphasis on getting valuable backlinks, and we have no reason to believe that will change anytime soon. If this is something you are interested in learning more about for your business, let’s book a strategy session.

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