Search engine optimization (SEO) refers to how effective your site is when evaluated by web browser search engines. When you type a search into Google, Google produces a list of search results. You want the search engine to produce a list of the most relevant sites offering the information you seek. The results presented to you are called a search engine results page (SERP). Search engines consider a number of factors and assign your site a domain authority (DA) score, which can also be referred to as an SEO ranking. Popular sites with higher domain authority scores will appear higher on the search engine results for relevant searches.
Your website’s backlinks are one of the components that will affect your site’s DA score. Understanding what backlinks are and how to generate good backlinks can help you improve your site’s ranking and raise its SERP placement.
What is a backlink?
When a website includes a link to your website, that is called a backlink. Backlinks are links from other sources that can drive traffic to your site. You can include backlinks on your company’s social media pages. Others who have discussed your company in news articles, blog posts, or social media posts may also opt to include links to your site.
How do backlinks help your SEO score?
Backlinks are important for a few reasons. Web browsers send out crawlers that go from site to site and gather data. This data is used to assign each web page an SEO score. In order for crawlers to reach your site easily, they need to be able to follow links directing them to your site.
Backlinks generate traffic to your site. High traffic volumes will increase your site’s ranking. Web browsers also consider the volume of backlinks to be an indication of authority. Sites that have larger numbers of backlinks receive higher SEO scores.
How can you assess your backlinks?
SearchAtlas is a free tool that enables you to evaluate the strength of your backlinks. You enter your website’s Uniform Resource Locator (URL) into the tool. Search Atlas performs a site assessment. It will tell you what your site’s domain authority score is. It identifies the number of keywords present on your site and tells you how many organic visitors your site receives in a typical month.
This tool also identifies the number of reputable sites with backlinks to your site, and the number of spam sites linking to you. One way you can improve your site’s backlinks is to remove spam links to your site when possible.
Search Atlas also determines who your site’s closest competitors are and how much traffic they generate from Google each month. The tool can evaluate those sites and report how many backlinks they have. It assesses those sites to determine how they are generating traffic to their site. This can be used as part of your strategy to improve your site’s backlinks.
How can you generate more backlinks?
Relevant content on your site will attract visitors. You can include a blog on your site to enable you to add new information regularly. You can also use photographs and videos to attract an audience. For example, an agricultural site may post step by step instructions for planting certain types of crops and how to care for them. These instructions may include photographs illustrating each step. Another option is to create videos about how to care for specific types of plants. Sites that present helpful information establishing the site’s authority as an expert on a subject will attract more visitors, and visitors who find your information helpful will be more likely to link to your site.
You can use Search Atlas or an SEO checker to determine the DA score for other sites. Approach blogs with good DA scores and volunteer to contribute a blog post. Include a link to your website in your bio, which will increase your number of backlinks from relevant sources.
You should also use your social media channels to distribute direct links to specific content on your site. Linking to your homepage is not always the most effective way to appeal to visitors. Link to videos, tips, or posts about specific information and use keywords in your content, in your image file names, and in your social media posts to attract visitors interested in that topic.