What are Inbound Links?
Simply put, an inbound link is a link coming from another site to your own website. Usually, links will be placed in the text to offer the reader a chance to learn more about the subject.
Google views inbound links as an indicator that your site has high-quality content, making these links an important element in search engine optimisation (SEO).
Inbound links used to be merely a numbers game; the sites with the most links ranked the highest in search results. However, this is no longer the case.
This is because, eventually, this led to people spamming their websites with links to put their websites ahead of the competition. Therefore, Google was forced to rethink how their algorithms responded to inbound links.
Nowadays, Google places value on the quality of inbound links over quantity. Links from reputable, relevant websites are your best way to improve your SEO. By contrast, links from lower-quality sites that aren’t relevant to your content won’t help your SEO score.
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The Importance of Quality Inbound Links
Every SEO guide will tell you that inbound linking is one of the most important factors for getting traffic. Why?
Because in most cases, it works.
In addition to boosting your SEO strategy, inbound links are another great way to build awareness of your brand. Search engines treat a quality inbound link as a sign of approval from another source. It tells Google that your website is a source of credible, relevant and legitimate information. Inbound links demonstrate your authority within your industry.
If an online user has enjoyed reading some quality content on another website, which includes an inbound link to your website, they’ll be tempted to click on it. If someone liked reading a blog related to your website, you can safely assume that they are among your target audience too.
When you increase the number of high-quality inbound links to your website, you’re opening up more possibilities of users clicking on a link to your website.
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How to Get More Inbound Links
Consistently creating great content that people naturally want to link to and share is one of the most tried and tested ways to organically generate inbound links to your website.
By publishing content that’s directly related to your industry and that helps your reader, you can achieve more inbound links, demonstrating your authority in the field and improving your SEO.
Read now: 6 Ways to Increase Website Engagement
What is High-Quality Content?
High-quality content achieves its marketing goals. It is also:
- Comprehensive
- Useful
- Helpful
- Educational
- Accurate
- The best answer for the searcher’s query.
Ways to Produce High-Quality Content
- Write for a Reader, Not for an Algorithm
While it’s important to know how to use keywords within your writing, don’t make the mistake of focusing your entire content around search engine algorithms.
Instead, focus your writing around the reader. This is to increase user engagement. If readers enjoy your content and consider you an expert in the field, they are far more likely to share your piece with others.
If content writers truly understand their target demographic and can address their pain points, needs and create solutions for them, it creates a more valuable connection with the reader.
- Build Content Authority
It’s important to give your company a voice of authority. Content authority helps potential customers find you and get what they need, while you get their business in return.
Content marketing is a solid way to build your online authority. Show that you’re an expert in your field.
Remember that authority building is a long-term game. No one gains a great reputation overnight. Instead, your consistent actions – what you do and publish online – proves to people you’re an authority over time. This includes:
- Building your brand through consistent, strategic content and SEO
- Maintaining a social presence
- Working hard to prove your knowledge and provide value to your audience.
- Use Proper Formatting for Readability
It is important for your content to be easy to read, not just for your consumers but also for search engines as they index and rank your website.
The overall performance of your content is dependent on how you format it. This is because people skim through an article, which is why headings and subheadings, lists and small blocks of text broken up by whitespace are easy to digest.
People don’t respond to big blocks of text, and neither does Google.
- Review and Edit Prior to Publishing
Nothing turns off a reader more than bad spelling and grammar. It tells the reader that the author didn’t read it through, making it not very worthwhile to share.
Double check your content, run it through a spell checker, and get a second pair of eyes to read it over before publishing.
- Use Data to Measure Content Performance and Adjust Your Strategy
Even if you think your content is of high quality, your audience may disagree. And it’s the consumer who has the final say over what content is valuable and what is not. Therefore, adjusting your strategy to better suit them is crucial.
- Interact with Your Existing High-Quality Content.
The best high-quality content for SEO shouldn’t be left sitting in the dark. It is something you should go back to over and over again.
Interacting with your existing content gives you the opportunity to expand on it with more creativity. It helps you create additional content quickly, because you already know all the important things to say.
Reusing or re-purposing your existing content is great for your business as it:
- Saves you time and energy on content creation
- Reaches more people that didn’t see it the first time
- Gives you an SEO boost
- Gains extra authority
- Reinforces your message.
Read Now: What is Inbound Marketing and How Can It Help Your Business
Conclusion
Inbound links are a great way for other websites to demonstrate that they consider your business trustworthy and authoritative in your niche. The best way to generate great backlinks to your website is to publish exceptional content.
When you establish yourself as a thought leader in your industry, you increase your chances of other websites linking back to you organically. Google places value on the quality of links rather than the quantity so make sure your content remains relevant, valuable, consistent and educational.
For more advice and ways to help improve your marketing strategy, contact us here at Floodmaker today.