A backlink plays a vital role in letting the search engine assess your website. There is no doubt that backlinks play a very important role in deciding the worth and value of your SEO content. When you get high-quality backlinks, you ensure that your content is effective and reaches a bigger audience. So it’s natural to think about the type of backlink used.
With so many types of backlinks, you should be aware of them all to reach a final decision. These links signal whether they consider the content of the website trustworthy. By trustworthy, they mean content that provides valid and accurate information. When you use high-quality and relevant links, you increase brand authority.
You encounter various types of backlinks when you work on your SEO content and try and improve its reach in the search engine. But, recently, the experts have emphasized one thing: the quality of the links matters more than the quantity.
Google’s recent Penguin update has further written this down in stone. This update ensures that all the users that have
- bought links
- obtained links from link farms
- used sketchy and spammy links
are not shown and brought up in the search engine.
What Are Backlinks?
Backlinks, also known as incoming links or inbound links, are links to your website that exist on other websites. These external links help Google and other search engines decide upon the worthiness and relevance of the content.
They are an enormous factor that impacts the ranking of a website. So the more high-quality backlinks are present on a website, the more chances are there for it to show up on the front pages of the search engines.
Different Backlink Types To Know About
Knowing the different types of backlinks helps you reach a better understanding of how to make your content perform well and reach the target audience. This will help you get your website in the top search pages and hence attract a higher number of views.
Here are the 18 diverse types of backlinks:
Guest Post Outreach Links
To understand guest post links, first, it is important to know what guest blogging is. It’s when you write as an invited author for someone else’s website.
With the amount of content available on the internet and the need for discussion of various topics, this practice is common. You often see guest authors write for a website about their relevant topics. This makes the content educational and intriguing.
When you write relevant content as a guest blogger for a well-known and high-rated website, more people visit your website too. But this is not where it ends! Once people visit your blog and notice that your content is up to their standards and provides the information they like, they link to your content.
How To Build Guest Post Links?
Google is not against the use of guest post links. Instead, it prefers if you have high-quality content giving relevant information to the reader. Here Google discusses large-scale campaigns to attain links.
Google is very vocal about backlinks. It warns against the use of many low-quality links as it detects them as spammy links. Consequently, Google considers a website full of spammy links as a link scheming site.
Hence, the key to building successful guest post links is to avoid links only for link placement. To build good guest post links, you have to keep them in context to your work and provide relevant information instead of spamming the web. Additionally, make sure that you do not pay for published posts.
Private Blog Network Links
The concept of private blog networks is simple – they are websites that are specifically built to link out to other more influential websites. This improves search visibility.
The influential site passes the value to the main site and boosts views and positions on search results.
PBNs are more private and have no digital trace on the internet. You can achieve this with several sketchy blackhat strategies. But these make them part of a link scheme and hence are dangerous and useless.
Are Private Blog Network Links Still Used?
Google has used these years to improve its algorithm and hunt for link scheme skills. Before, the search engine would not be aware of whether a link was from a PBN. But now, Google can make all your PBN backlinks obsolete.
As PBN building isn’t a whitehat link building strategy, we advise against it. This is also why, in recent years, many people do not prefer to use this form of backlinks anymore.
Pay-for-placement Links
You can understand the concept behind these links from their name. Paid links refer to those backlinks that you curate by buying them in exchange for money.
But Google flags this strategy and goes directly against Google Webmasters guidelines. And hence, the value of paid links is close to none in the search engine.
Are Pay-For-Placement Links Good For The Value Of Your Website?
We caution you against acquiring any form of links for your website by simply paying for them. Webmasters concentrate on producing a backlog of excellent content in order to obtain backlinks that are very advantageous to a site.
If something is not supporting the value and reach of your website, that is not a backlink that we will tell you to use. Instead, you can go for various other types of backlinks that can get you to appear on the first search page. These paid links lead to you receiving a manual action website penalty.
Related Post: The Truth About Backlinks
Link Directories
Link directories are a compilation of websites and businesses – something like a catalog. At a time in the past, link directories gave your website a strong background and footing while giving it NAP consistency.
Are Link Directories Still Used?
Even though used a lot in the past, today, people tend to shy away from this form of backlinks. Linking your site to a high number of low-quality websites like this can hurt your rank instead of helping it – you could even get a penalty.
Google has ensured, in recent times, that its algorithm has improved. So now, links from web directories don’t carry as much weight as they used to before.
Google has warned the public not to use blackhat link-building strategies like directories for link building.
Blog Comment Backlinks
This type of backlink used to be a popular trend until 2005 when Google created the Nofollow link. With the blog comment links, users left comments on blog posts using keywords and anchors to land on a website page.
After some time, this spamming of blog comments became frustrating for website owners. As a consequence, these links were automated.
How To Build Blog Comment Backlinks?
Google does not consider these links a violation and allows users to use them. But it does recommend only the most moderate use of blog commenting with links. Yet, many experts do not consider comment links to be a legitimate form of backlinking.
The first thing you need to ensure that your links are not spammy. If they are, they contribute to a link scheme. So make sure that you are using relevant links that add value to your site.
Social Bookmark Backlinks
Social bookmark links are the different links to websites users save for later use or to share them. These are essentially bookmarking websites where you can leave links to your content.
Users who leave their links on bookmarking sites then benefit when the site gets viral traffic; such users are among the top beneficiaries of this type of backlinks.
Is There Any Value In Social Bookmarks Links?
There is not much value in this form of backlinks anymore. Used a lot in the past, it has lost its following and adds no such value to your website.
Like paid links, the Nofollow strategy by Google was the first to make this form of backlinks out-of-date.
Author Bio Backlinks
Many times, when you search through a website, you notice that they often give the readers an introduction to the author. This is called the author bio.
Some people use certain anchor texts for links and link their websites, stores, or even social media accounts.
How To Build Author Bio Backlinks?
Backlinks in author bios have the drawback of appearing a little too spammy. If you include a hyperlink in the author bio, ensure the anchor language is related and does not undermine readers’ confidence.
Instead of employing keyword-rich links that make the page appear spammy, place more emphasis on brand anchors and bare links.
Blog Directory Links
A blog directory is a website that contains several articles written by various authors. These provide the writer the chance to publish content and reach several websites. These articles can later be used and reused by other site visitors for their content.
Whenever the original post is republished, additional information is added with connections to article directories.
How To Build Blog Directory Links?
It is not necessary that using these links will link your website to a link scheme. Yet article directory links are something that users do not use anymore.
Google has stated that their algorithms filter these backlinks out as they seem spammy. So, we can say that this is an outdated form of backlinks and is no longer useful to Webmasters.
Editorial Backlinks
Having a website that generates pertinent and excellent content will get you editorial links. The material in the text should be informative for the reader. However, links that are bought or are spam are not considered editorial.
These are also known as contextual connections since they are clear in what they signify. Links to the author’s research are provided if the website’s author decides to back up their claims. These backlinks provide visitors with an insightful look at the subject being discussed.
How To Build Editorial Backlinks?
Supported by Google, editorial links are what it encourages its users to turn towards. After all, they provide relevant knowledge on a topic.
Hence, they make the website more educational and efficient. These types of links make a strong foothold for the website and increase its value a lot.
The best way to create the most efficient editorial links is to be unique and innovative. Write with effectiveness by using specific vocabulary and generating high-quality content.
But, make sure never to buy editorial links because as soon as you do, the links become acquired and lose a lot of value.
Social Media Links
Backlinks on social media offer users the choice to put backlinks to their own websites. On websites like Twitter and Instagram, many individuals even post the URLs of various petitions and shops.
Creating accounts on multiple social media platforms with the sole purpose of linking them to your website is what is known as profile link building.
How To Build Social Media Links?
Google has not yet made any announcements regarding the effects of social media links on a site’s quality and rating. Therefore, creating links through social media won’t have much of an SEO advantage.
However, they are excellent for advertising companies. They bolster the business’s internet visibility and give customers confidence in the legitimacy of the retailer. If the backlinks are not malicious and come from user-generated content, you shouldn’t have an issue.
Automatic Generated Links
Some SEO professionals use software (bots) to generate links regularly. These bots are trained to use these technologies to publish links in discussion forums and comments.
These entries focus on particular website phrases. The phrases, better known as keywords, often provide a temporary advantage to the website as you rank for them. However, it’s not sustainable since you can be exposed to link fraud once Google finds them.
How To Build Automatic Generated Links?
Google has consistently cautioned against these kinds of backlink building – backlinks produced by automated programs or bots. Doing this simply opens you up to penalty risks for your website.
Press Release Backlinks
If you understand what a press release is, it would not be difficult to know what this type of backlink refers to. It’s a formal announcement made by a business or group with the goal of spreading information.
The importance of these press releases was quickly understood by webmasters. As a result, they began linking websites from press websites using anchor texts that contained powerful keywords.
How To Build Press Release Backlinks?
Press release backlinks are essentially advertising links, at least, that’s what Google thinks. They are not necessarily backlinks that can improve a site’s authority and rank. As a result, the SEO frequently disregards these links.
Backlinks from press releases are crucial for the organizations themselves, but they are not a very effective strategy for link development.
Widget Backlinks
A widget is an extraction from a code. It provides ways to make the user experience of a website more improved and advanced. They are sometimes seen in the form of tools or extra features, such as a calculator. In the past, Webmasters would embed links into site widgets.
How To Build Widget Links?
This is one type of backlink that Google hasn’t held its thoughts on. Here’s what they had to say about widget links:
“Some widgets add links to a site that a Webmaster did not place. They include anchor text that is not under the webmaster’s control. These links are in violation of Google Webmaster Guidelines since they are not placed naturally.”
Therefore, we advise against using these links at all because doing so might result in your website being flagged for link spam. You must delete or apply the Nofollow tag to any links in your earlier work that contain this phrase.
Infographic Backlink
Infographics are images that have the traits of being informative. Their usage is for educational purposes and showcases data for research and academics.
One can get infographics links by creating an image with a nice design. Once the image is created, they can then share it with others.
You receive credit as the owner every time this infographic is shared on a social network or website. Having this ownership results in a backlink to your website.
How To Build Infographic Backlinks?
Google has nothing against linking to infographics. However, Google’s Matt Cutts has talked about how the usage of infographics is disconcerting. This is due to the fact that it allows for the exploitation of ownership.
You must concentrate on the design and arrangement in order to construct these linkages correctly. The information you give the user is what matters the most. It must be factual and pertinent.
Additionally, make sure the infographic includes a code incorporated in it that enables sharing. You must make sure that the link points to the appropriate location and that the infographic is pertinent to the content in order to build strong backlinks for infographics.
Footer Backlinks
Links put at the bottom of a page are known as website footer links or footer links. But links like this can be tricky because whether Google takes footer links into account or not relies on the entire website.
Today, if you overdo footer links in hopes of building backlinks, you’re just risking your site’s authority and rank. In the worst-case situation, you may even incur a fine.
Are Footer Backlinks Safe To Use?
Let’s face it: footer backlinks are unnatural and are not earned by the Webmaster. Google says that outright. They are instead acquired and hence do not provide the user any benefit.
It is wise to steer clear of these links because Google has made it quite clear that using them is not recommended. The use of links in footers should be avoided at all costs to prevent the SEO from flagging the site for link stuffing.
301 Domain Backlinks
301 domain backlinks are a method for transferring domain authority. They direct visitors and search engines to the new URL of an outdated or expired page. Once more, this is a strategy employed for quick and perhaps unsustainable gains.
The practice of purchasing an expiring domain with credible links was widespread in the early 2000s. The domain was subsequently pointed to a personal website by the purchasers.
This was due to the idea that redirecting an earlier domain with several prior connections would benefit the creator of a newer domain.
Are 301 Domain Backlinks Safe To Use?
301 domain backlinks are for benefiting from old and spammy links from a useless domain. Google can detect low-quality links and penalize the website with ease.
We have already noted that Google is against the use of these backlinks. So it is best to stay away from the “benefits” of linking your website to an older domain because they are not safe.
Resource Page Backlinks
Website pages devoted to a specific topic’s information and links are called resource pages. These can also be referred to as “extra reading,” as they provide you with more information on the subject at hand. They are excellent for developing backlinks as this process entails putting websites on the page.
Are Resource Page Backlinks Safe To Use?
Google hasn’t yet made any specific comments on resource linking. However, analysts do believe that Google would not oppose them. They don’t go against Google’s rules.
Your effort succeeded in providing the necessary knowledge and understanding of the subject at hand and that’s the reason why your content was linked in their resource page. Therefore, it shouldn’t be considered link scheming.
These connections can be built similarly to editorial links. They should concentrate on producing top-notch content. The material would subsequently be cited and included in the work of other websites.
However, you must be careful to provide correct and current information when utilizing resource pages as a backlinking method.
Review Backlinks
Backlinks from websites that offer reviews come in two different varieties.
The first situation is when a review is written for another person or website. It is a recommendation and contains a link to your site.
Customer reviews for your goods or services make up the second category. There will be a backlink to your site in this.
How To Build Review Links?
Google hasn’t said that using review backlinks is bad. Additionally, it has not clarified how its policies prohibit the usage of these linkages.
As a result, we may infer that review linking is natural and organic and does not put your site in danger. However, we can’t predict when other people will start abusing this as well, at which point there may be a punishment as well.
The factors that ensure that you are building strong review links are
- not getting any products for free
- payments, or any other goods in exchange for the review.
You may like: Link Building Tactics for eCommerce
Conclusion
These are the 18 different types of backlinks and a complete breakdown of them. Now you know how each of these backlinks and their use impact your website and its ranking.
No matter what, every website owner aspires to see its content on the first page of a search result. Through a proper understanding of these different backlinks, you can achieve this goal. You can even help others with this basic information.
Knowing which backlink-building tactic can help your website and which one can land you in trouble is crucial when it comes to SEO and taking your site to the top of the search engine results pages (SERPs). We hope this article was of help to you and now you have a better insight about the type of backlinks.
