SEO: Backlinks
Backlink = a website as a link backing up (referring to) your website As mentioned in past posts (SEO: Theory and SEO: Copywriting), backlinks are part of the determining factor of how a site can be more discoverable (aside from keywords) since Google bots/spiders/crawlers pass through links to discover and crawl web pages.
Before the Penguin update, a site with many backlinks would be deemed as credible and would rank better on SERPs. But Google wanted quality over quantity so it rolled out the Penguin update wherein it checks the quality of the backlinks. Now, it is wiser to get backlinks from quality sites so when conducting off-page optimization (on-page optimization is optimizing within your website while off-page optimization is optimizing outside your website). How would you determine if a site is of quality? Use the MozBar (chrome extension, sign up for a free account needed). Once activated, it can tell you the Domain Authority (DA), Page Authority (PA), and Spam Score of a website. It can also determine other βhiddenβ info about website.
Moz.com explains that DA is a search engine ranking score developed to predict how well a website will rank on search engine result pages (SERPs). The higher the score, the better. Domain Authority is calculated by evaluating multiple factors, including linking root domains and the number of total links, into a single DA score. PA score, on the other hand, is based on the single web page itself. Spam Score represents the percentage of sites with similar features Moz found to be penalized or banned by Google. The lower the percentage, the better.
This practice also allows you to check on your own websiteβs DA, PA, and Spam Score to see how your SEO efforts are faring so far. You can look for other tools as well to determine a websiteβs PA, DA, and spam score should you wish to.
If your website has a bit of spam score, you may check/assess your backlink βhealthβ through various tools like SEMrush and Ahrefs see which spammy backlink youβd want to remove or disavow (to discard harmful links pointing to your site by βaskingβ Google). This is usually practiced by long-time existing sites which probably have so many existing backlinks. Why does this happen? Some of those backlinks may be websites that are already non-existent by now or have been flagged as spammy by Google if theyβre not practicing White Hat SEO. Some may have been done by competitors to subtly attack your website (giving them better chance to rank higher than you on SERP, this is a Black Hat SEO method).
How do you earn backlinks? Old practices involve blog commenting (wherein your website is hyperlinked in the comment section of a website) and online forums (create a dialogue to insert hyperlinks directing to your website). Since those are becoming unnatural and quite spammy, the ideal way is to create relationships/partnerships with other existing brands/companies or NGOs/NPOs and have them link to your website (whether it be logo or mention hyperlinked to your website within part/s of their domain).
Releasing official Press Release articles within news sites that mention your brand and is hyperlinked to you is also a modern White Hat SEO practice. With enough PR and articles, you can also create a Wikipedia article about your company/brand (.org, .mil, and .gov domains are highly credible a.k.a. βlink juiceβ for Google standards). Messaging/contacting blog owners may also help earn you a backlink but the exchange would vary (either pay them for it or ex-deal link exchange wherein you will link to their website as well a.k.a. link exchange).
Citations are also ideal wherein you will list your company and the website URL within online business directories. One example of Citation is Google My Business (GMB).


















