22 Types of Backlinks You Need To Know in 2020

If you’re a business who has looked to SEO as a form of marketing, then you might have heard about the term Backlinks. Brands across Australia regularly build backlinks to their websites to boost domain authority and valuable keyword rankings on Google.

Here, we will explain what a backlink is and how they can drive your website towards the top of Google search results. We discuss how you can gain more backlinks in a Google-safe, sustainable manner.

What is a Backlink?

A backlink gets one website to another and includes incoming links to a page. In short, when one page links to another website, we call it a backlink.

Why Backlinks are Important?

Backlinks are among the key performance indicators that describe a website’s dominance in SERPs and are crucial in improving its overall search ranking.

Furthermore, search engines measure a website’s ranking through several interconnected factors, including backlinks, to rank them in search results. Other factors include your page speed, content quality, domain authority, and page authority, among others.

Just like the above examples, backlinks are the most significant factors in determining your web page ranking. Hence, your backlink strategy can make or break your overall website’s ranking.

If you’re aiming for a sustainable online following and popularity, establishing backlinks with reputable sites can also help you be more dominant on search engines. That way, people can find your site more easily.

To better understand this concept, remember that when site A refers to site B, site B gains more sense of authority on the blog topic that it covers.

With that out of the way, here are the types of backlinks you should think about earning or acquiring.

1. High quality links: authority domains

The definition of high quality backlinks may vary from person to person depending on their standard. We like to think of high quality backlinks as links that are industry-relevant and are coming from authority domains.

Authority domains are typically known as websites that hold industry-leading expertise in a particular topic or industry. 

2. Internal links: they’re more important than ever

Internal links link your pages and content within your site. These can come as sidebar links or blog posts that link vague topics into another page inside your site, discussing the content in detail.

3. External links: we don’t endorse link hoarding!

Also known as outbound links, external links come from other websites that point towards your pages. For instance, a different blog post may link to your site to refer viewers if they want an in-depth view of the topic covered or news sources relating to your online products.

4. DoFollow links: what you want

In a nutshell, dofollow links pass link juice and are vital in gaining backlink points. Dofollow links drive your SEO link juice and therefore boosts the ranking of linked-to sites, as well as positively contributing to your page rank.

5. NoFollow links: believe me, it’s not the end of the world

Nofollow links don’t flow link juice throughout your site, nor does it impact your page ranking. However, nofollow links are critical in other aspects of a website’s health and security, such as privacy policies or terms and conditions that you don’t want to sprout in SERPs.

6. Directory listing: get listed, it’s that simple

Putting your site into an online directory will improve its overall authority and reliability, especially if you keep it up to date. Directory lists act as an online yellow page that lets people list or find various products and services.

7. Free business directory links: believe it or not, there are still good ones out there

You can find several free and high-quality directory sites to register your website. Be specific in signing up to those that are relevant to your business and niche.

8. Paid directory links: access with scepticism

Similarly, various authoritative and time-tested directory lists require you to pay before signing up. Nevertheless, paid directory links are mostly secure and high-quality links within your business industry and niche.

9. Blog comment links: leave comments of value

Peer recommendations are significantly critical in driving traffic to your site. Hence, the simplest way to earn reliable backlinks is through blog comment links. People can leave a comment on forums or blog sites that link to your page.

On the other hand, blog comments don’t flow link juice to your site, as they usually are nofollow links. Therefore, you should use blog comment links as part of your primary link building strategy. Besides, you might end up raising a red flag if Google finds a plethora of comments on one page linking to your site.

10. Guest blogging: they still work despite what Google says

Having another blog or website write content for your site is called guest blogging. With it, you can essentially boost your site exposure, authority, and backlink profile. Besides, building lasting relationships with other sites is something every brand should nurture.

Other benefits of guest blogging include:

• Drive sustainable traffic
• Develop your online authority
• Spread brand awareness
• Expand your brand influence

11. Author bio links: subtle yet effective

Guest blogging usually limits the number of links you can send back to your site. However, most sites that accept guest articles include a dedicated author section or your author profile page within their websites.

While author bios don’t hold significant SEO importance, they still do help with establishing authority in your industry.

12. Forums links: nothing beats a forum mention!

Forum links are useful in spreading by word of mouth and diversifying your website’s backlink profile. With the plethora of broad-range forums online, you can consider posting to those relevant to your industry.

However, be careful not to overdo it because Google has its eyes on every suspicious site, and a few sketchy steps can pull you back down the list.

13. Infographics and photos

Visual graphics integrate with digital marketing more seamlessly than ever. If you still think content marketing is all about wordplay, then you’re wrong.

Your infographics may contain materials from handy lists to a comprehensive analysis of research and statistics. Just make sure your photos are of high quality and if it’s not a compelling infographic, nobody would want to post it on their websites.

Furthermore, using an embed code for your infographic links it to your site whenever someone uses the embed code in their webpage.

14. Editorial backlinks: establish authority

Out of all guest blogging and third-party external links, backlinks that are most beneficial for SEO come from editorial links. That’s when an authority site links to your page through a contextual link.

Editorial backlinks include:

• Citing your staff or content as a source of information
• Referring to your page as a relevant resource
• Providing credits to your site for an infographic
• Mentioning your website/content in a compilation/roundup
• Interviewing someone from your site/staff

15. Business profile backlinks

When building an online profile for your business, you can leave a link that points back to your site. Links from social media sites, niche directories, and business listings tell search engines that your website contains high-quality content and established networks.

16. Webinar links

You might have stumbled upon webinar links without realising they are part of a grand backlink strategy. Creating relevant and valuable resources in your website encourages blogging sites and other pages to link to it.

Some websites even embed webinar links to their blog posts, providing you with both backlinks and brand mentions.

17. Free tool links

Everyone loves a free product. Hence, one way of encouraging sites to link back to your page is by providing a free tool. It could be anything relevant to your niche — a currency converter, mortgage calculator, or a simplified version of a paid tool such as SEO checker and more.

Besides, if you develop something that’s valuable, you can incorporate call-to-actions so users can sign up for the full service, leading to sales and brand awareness.

18. Sponsorship backlinks: get involved industry peers and contribute

Sponsorship backlinks come into play when another website links to your website as part of brand collaboration. Sponsorships links have the potential to hold significant SEO value when partnered or affiliated with industry-leading authorities.

19. Niche directories: powerfully relevant

When it comes to local SEO, signing up for niche directories opens you to a more focused and targeted audience reach than general directories. Niche directories are resources that can generate a relatively robust backlink to your website, especially from authoritative sites.

20. Badge backlinks

You can provide value to other sites as part of your backlink strategy. One way of doing this is through branded badges. These are awards you can give out to other sites as a status symbol.

For instance, if you mention their page as one of the top sites, you can send them a branded badge that they can show off. Besides, you can also link these badges back to your site.

21. Press release backlinks: get your company updates and news out there!

Press releases play a vital role in every digital marketing effort. It can provide first-hand information to media outlets about your page and consequently earn more backlinks. However, a poorly written press release can still break your backlink strategy.

Therefore, only lean to press release backlinks whenever you have something newsworthy and highly relevant/interesting to share.

22. Backlinks derived from press releases

Besides having the media outlets link to your site, you can dig further down the rabbit hole by producing backlinks related to publications and news sites that published your press release. It provides an authoritative path for users to follow and eventually to earn your site a reliable reputation.

Summary

There are countless ways to build organic links that don’t abuse Google’s Search Quality Guidelines. So make sure to diversify your link acquisition approach and don’t settle for only one link source.

To sum it up, we recommend you outline your backlink objectives first, then implement the above backlinks to develop a groundbreaking digital marketing campaign.

Achieving long term design objectives can be possible through relevant data and a best-in-class SEO Strategy. At Red Search, our Sydney SEO experts utilise results-focused and data-driven SEO strategies to secure and sustain your rank on the first page of Google.

For your questions and enquiries, call our SEO experts at 1300 101 712 or leave a message in our contact form.