Not all backlinks are good for your site. When it comes to link-building, you can’t just go around building any kind of backlinks you can get your hands on. In fact, link-building for SEO is an art, and you have to take a lot of different factors into consideration when building backlinks for your website. Chief among which is backlink quality checks! You don’t just need random backlinks for your website; you need high-quality backlinks that are guaranteed to help grow your business by improving your site’s authority, credibility and trustworthiness in the eyes of search engines. This is necessary in order to rank high on SERPs, so checking the quality of backlinks is absolutely essential to the success of your site’s backlinking strategy!

Your site’s backlink profile should contain quality backlinks not just because they’re necessary for your site’s growth but also because low-quality links can ruin your website’s reputation and search engine rankings. More on this later. Right now, let’s get started with some of the basics and learn what makes a link a quality backlink!

Characteristics of High-Quality Backlinks!

High-quality backlinks can be defined by a number of different factors; let’s take a look at them:

• Authority & Trustworthiness of The Source

The authority and trustworthiness of the website linking to your site are one of the most critical factors in determining the quality of a backlink. If the linking site is reputable and has a high level of authority in its niche, then the backlink is considered high-quality.

• Relevance To The Content

The relevance of the linking website to your website’s content is another essential factor in determining the quality of a backlink. If the content of the linked page is related to the content on your website, then the backlink is considered high-quality.

For example, if you run a website that sells running shoes, a backlink from a running blog that provides tips on how to choose the right running shoes will be a high-quality backlink!

• Anchor Text

Anchor text is the clickable text that contains the URL link. The anchor text is essential in determining the relevance of the backlink to the content on your website. If the anchor text is descriptive and relevant to the linked page’s content, you have yourself a quality backlink for your website!

Let’s understand this with a simple example, if you run a website that sells organic vegetables, a backlink with anchor text like “organic vegetables” or “buy organic vegetables” will be more valuable than a backlink with anchor text like “click here” or “read more.”

• The Traffic of The Source

The traffic of the website linking to your site can also affect the quality of the backlink. A backlink from a website that receives a lot of traffic is considered a high-quality backlink. This is because search engines assume that the more people visit a website, the more authoritative and trustworthy it is. Of course, there are ways to manipulate the traffic figures, but that’s where you need to do your due diligence and only go for sites that have consistent traffic scores. You want to stay away from any sudden spikes or discrepancies.

• Link Placement

Suppose you score the best backlink ever! It has great authority scores and quality traffic, and the website is incredibly reputable in the community. Well, none of that will matter if that link isn’t placed in a natural way on your website. Link placement is an art, and if not done properly, that link can look like spam, and readers aren’t going to be tempted to click on it and visit your website. 

So, an important characteristic that defines high-quality backlinks is the actual placement of that backlinks. Your site’s backlinking strategy should always be based on natural link placement for maximal effectiveness!

At this point, you should have an understanding of what a quality backlink looks like. To understand link-building metrics and properly understand your backlink strategy’s success, check out our link-building metrics guide! You might be wondering what could happen if you don’t build high-quality backlinks for your site and end up going for low-quality backlinks.

Toxic Backlinks!

If you’ve asked yourself what’s the worst that could happen if my website had low-quality backlinks? Here’s your answer:

• Ruined Search Engine Rankings

Search engines use backlinks as a way to measure a website’s authority and relevance. Low-quality backlinks can signal to search engines that your website is not reputable or trustworthy. This will result in a significant decrease in your website’s search engine rankings.

• Risk of Getting Penalised or Deindexed

If your website has too many low-quality backlinks, it can be penalised by search engines or even get deindexed. This means that your website will no longer appear in SERPs, and your backlinking strategies will go to waste!

• Damaged Reputation

Low-quality backlinks can damage your website’s reputation by associating it with spammy and irrelevant websites. This will harm your credibility and make it difficult to attract new customers. On top of that, your niche community won’t respect your website, and you won’t be able to build any kind of business relationship.

• Decreased Traffic Flow

At this point, this might sound like an obvious one, but low-quality backlinks will also result in a decrease in your website’s traffic. If your website is penalised or deindexed by search engines, it obviously will no longer appear in search results, resulting in fewer clicks and visitors.

• Waste of Your Resources

Acquiring low-quality backlinks will result in a waste of time, effort, and resources. In some cases, low-quality backlinks may also include you paying for backlinks from low-quality websites, which can be a complete waste of money.

• No Sales!

Once your website is associated with low-quality backlinks, it will impact the user experience. Visitors will become hesitant to click on your website if it appears to be associated with spammy or irrelevant websites. All of this directly results in your sales figures dropping and significantly hurting your business.

Conclusion

Link-building can be a hassle to deal with. There are so many factors you need to address and things to watch out for if you actually want your backlinking strategy to work. This article is intended to show you the difference between a backlink and a high-quality backlink. We’ve gone over all the different basics you needed to know, as well as the importance of high-quality backlinks! High-quality link-building requires a lot of time, effort and expertise, which is why most businesses opt to go for professional link-building agencies that have years of experience in building quality backlinks for businesses of all niches. TheDigitalXperts can give you just that! We have over a decade of experience in the link-building industry, and we’re really good at it. Get in touch with us now and score high-quality backlinks for your website!