What and why are they essential to SEO?
Backlinks, also called “inbound links” or “incoming links”, are links generated when other websites link to your website.
For example, if another website owner finds one of your blog posts relevant and helpful to their audience, they might link to that specific page on your site. This means that others trust your content. They are voting for it.
Google and other search engines see these “votes” on your pages as proof that your content is valuable and trustworthy. If there are many websites linking to your page for a specific topic, search engines will see that page as relevant and worth surfacing on to the search engine results pages or SERPs.
How to create backlinks?
The goal of off-page SEO is to improve the rankings of a page by creating links on other websites where people find and click on those external links. Some examples of creating backlinks are forum engagements, leaving comments on other websites’ blogs, and business directories’ submission.
When it comes to earning backlinks, these mostly happen when people organically discover your content. Usual channels are through search engines, referrals, social media and opt to link to your webpage. You can earn more organic backlinks by creating content that is high quality, relevant, and genuinely helpful.
It is important to understand that backlinks are a major contributing factor to ranking better in search engines. This is why building quality backlinks is significant in off-page SEO.
Further Reading:
What is a Backlink? How to Get More Backlinks – Ahrefs
Nick Berns is a web developer & SEO specialist.
