“Backlinks” – one of the key SEO factors that play a significant role in the website’s ranking. Almost every blog or article related to backlinks conveys one main message – quality over quantity. This is true, however, the number also matters at times. What makes quality backlinks a strong vertical is high-quality backlinks can significantly improve your chances of ranking on Google when compared to spammy or low-quality backlinks. If an established or popular website in your niche links to you, this tells search engines that your content is valuable, which improves not just the ranking, but also domain authority. On the other hand, choosing cheap or bad links will backfire as Google penalizes if you choose shady or shortcuts to build links.
In this blog, we will explore everything you need to know about backlinks and the most effective backlink strategies that can help your business achieve success in today’s competitive and saturated market.
What is a backlink?
Also called link building or link acquisition is one of Google’s top-ranking factors for websites. But not all backlinks are the same. Some are powerful and help rankings, while others can be weak or even harmful.
This definition is just the tip of the iceberg, there are various metrics in backlinks that demonstrates their value and various things to know to optimize the backlinking process. Here is a list of the valuable metrics that you will be dealing with during the backlinking process:
- DoFollow Link – Passes SEO value (helps rankings).
- NoFollow Link – This does not pass SEO value but can bring traffic.
- Link Juice – The SEO value passed from one site to another through a backlink.
- Domain Rating (DR) – A score (0-100) showing a website’s backlink strength (Ahrefs metric).
- Domain Authority (DA) – A score (0-100) predicting how well a site will rank (Moz metric).
- Spam Score – A percentage (0-100%) showing how risky a site’s backlinks are (Moz metric).
- Business Listing – A backlink from online directories (e.g., Google My Business, Yelp).
- Local Citation – A mention of your business’s name, address, and phone number (NAP) on the web.
- Anchor Text – The clickable text of a backlink (e.g., "Best SEO Guide").
- Main Keyword – The primary search term you want to rank for (used in the anchor text).
- Brand Name – Your company’s name is used as the anchor text for backlinks.
To build high-quality backlinks, you need to understand different technical metrics that affect their value.
How do backlinks work? (simple use case and process)
For example, the New York Times publishes an article about “Top Digital Marketing Trends” and includes a DoFollow backlink to your website.
What Happens Next?
- Google’s Crawlers Follow the Link – Google discovers your site through Forbes' article.
- Link Juice Passes - Since Forbes is a high-authority site, some of its SEO power (link juice) is passed to your website.
- Google Sees Your Site as More Trustworthy - Because a big site links to you, Google assumes your content is valuable.
- Your Ranking Improves –Over time, your page may move higher in search results, attracting more organic traffic.
- Referral Traffic Increases – People reading the Forbes article may click the link and visit your site.
End Result : Your site gets higher rankings + more visitors + increased credibility!
6 Smart & Proven Ways to Build Backlinks That Actually Work
Backlinks are the most important ranking factors for SEO, the way we implement them gives either positive or negative results. Not all backlinks are the same, some can boost rankings, while others drop the rankings. So, how do you build the right kind of backlinks? Here are 10 latest and most advanced backlink strategies, explaining technical aspects, real-world use cases, and steps that can help you maximize the value of your backlinks.
1. Create linkable assets people can't ignore
Linkable assets are considered one of the easiest and most effective link acquisition techniques. These can be guides, tutorials, reports, infographics, tools, surveys, etc. Creating these assets can help you attract links from bloggers, journalists, and your industry-related brands. Keep in mind that only valuable and accurate content sells, since you create these assets from scratch, the more accurate and informative they are, the chances of people reaching out are high.
Eg: You run a Shopify development agency. You create a free Shopify SEO checklist—a detailed PDF that helps store owners optimize their websites.
Now, an eCommerce blog finds your checklist useful and writes an article on “How to Rank a Shopify Store on Google.” They include a link to your checklist as a helpful resource.
Boom! You just earned a natural backlink because your content was valuable.
2. Utilize image link-building
While many brands focus on building text-based link building, what most brands don’t consider is image link building. Image link building is a creative strategy used to earn backlinks using unique, compelling, and high-quality images. These images can be infographics, original photos, charts, illustrations, etc which can be used by individual content creators or organizations in their websites, blogs, or social media. When others use your images and link your website, you can get high-quality image backlinks.
3. Social media and forum postings
Social media platforms are excellent platforms for sharing opinions, posts, and various other promotional content. However, do you know, you can use these platforms and forums for backlinks? Post valuable content with links on social media, use platforms like Reddit, Quora follow your business-specific forums. Analyze the gaps and post your links there, always add value first, people ignore spammy links. This is also one of the most effective ways to get traffic and build domain authority.
4. Exchanging backlinks
One of the efficient and mutually beneficial for to get high-quality backlinks is through exchanging backlinks. You might ask, if two brands are from the same industry, they are potential competitors why would they be ready to exchange? This strategy is very helpful for brands where the target audience are same, but they won’t overlap. For example, if a brand sells cookware, the target audience here is people who cook regularly, and the other brand sells cookware organizers. For both of them, the target audience are same, but there is no competition there. However, it is important to note that Google does not encourage excessive link exchanges.
5. Get Your Business Listed on High-Trust Directories
High-trust directories such as Clutch, GMB, Justdial, and Yelp are all prioritised by Google. These backlinks can significantly improve local SEO rankings. We recommend you create a GMB profile and submit the site to the relevant business directories to ensure NAP consistency, all of which can help in establishing a strong digital presence.
6. Smart internal linking
As discussed, how link juice is transferred between two different websites, similarly, it can also be distributed across the website through internal links. This helps Google crawl and index pages faster.
Pro tip : link high authority pages to lower ranking pages on the site using relevant anchor texts to make them rank. Just avoid too many links on one page.
Final Tips for Better Backlink Strategy
- Get backlinks from high-DA, high-DR sites (avoid spammy links).
- Use a mix of DoFollow and NoFollow links for a natural profile.
- Optimize anchor texts naturally (avoid overusing exact-match keywords).
- Submit your business to local directories & citations for local SEO.
- Monitor spam score and disavow bad links in Google Search Console.
Conclusion
Backlinks can work well and show significant results, but only when done right. While getting more backlinks is important, it isn’t just about building as many backlinks as possible. A single high-quality, relevant backlink can do more for your SEO than a hundred spammy ones. Get your backlinks from genuine connections, valuable content, and smart strategies, and remember to always focus on providing value.
