Wondering why your web pages don’t rank highly on search engine results pages (SERPs) despite having high-quality content? While quality content is vital for search engine optimization (SEO), it isn’t the only important factor. You also need links to back up your SEO and digital marketing efforts.
Links connect one web page to another. Without them, navigating online would be far more difficult. They’re also vitally important to SEO.
There are many types of links, each contributing to SEO. It’s helpful to look at both a link’s technical aspects (for technical SEO) and non-technical aspects (for link building).
Here, we do just that to guide your link-building strategy.
Types of links you should recognize and understand
There are various types of technical and non-technical SEO links, each making unique contributions to building website authority and promoting SEO efforts. Here are some options you can incorporate into your link-building strategy:
Backlinks
Backlinks, or outbound links, are among the most effective links. They drive up your page ranking by improving your website’s authority. However, not all backlinks are the same; some types carry more weight than others.
Unendorsed backlinks are the gold standard for SEO. They are given freely without you asking for them—probably because site owners find your content relevant and valuable. The higher the authority of the website giving you the backlink, the higher your ranking could be.
The problem with unendorsed backlinks is that they’re tough to get. That’s where endorsed backlinks come in. This is where you actively ask for backlinks from other website owners.
There are many valid strategies for link-building campaigns, from guest posting to social mentions. Just ensure you target sites with domain traffic of at least 100 and a domain rating of 20, as crawlers often see them as reputable and authoritative. The more authoritative a site is, the higher the quality of its backlinks.
Hyperlinks (<a> links)
This is the most common link type and arguably the most important for SEO. Anytime you see selectable text that sends you to another place on the Internet, that’s a hyperlink. Most links you use for internal linking, backlink building, and search engine ranking are <a> links.
The most relevant part of an <a> tag is the anchor text where you embed the link. This allows search engines to gauge how relevant that text is to the destination web page indicated in the “href” attribute.
You can use hyperlinks in navigation menus to help site visitors move between different sections of your website or even in call-to-action (CTA) text to make it easier for visitors to perform specific tasks, such as signing up for your services or downloading files.
Hyperlinks are vital for SEO and website authority, as they help create link juice, especially when they result from external pages. In such cases, they’re essentially a vote of confidence from other sites.
Image links
An image link is a hyperlink that you embed within a picture instead of text. Anytime a visitor taps on that image, it sends them to the corresponding destination. In HTML code, image links are nothing more than an <image> tag inside an <a> tag.
One of the most important parts of image links is the “alt” attribute. Web developers use this to describe the purpose and context of the image, which search engine crawlers use it to determine relevance when ranking.
You can use image links on social media icons on your website to direct visitors to your social networking accounts. Image links on product thumbnails (for e-commerce stores) can direct visitors to your product page.
If you plan to use them in either capacity, it’s best to learn how to shorten URLs to boost shareability and user experiences. Shortened custom URLs are more memorable, so visitors can easily return to your site in the future. Follow link-shortening best practices, such as customizing your domain and the link’s back half, to boost recognizability and maintain consistent branding across all links.
Rel links
A rel link establishes the relationship between the current web page and another on the Internet. It uses the <link> tag and its associated “rel” attribute.
The most common use of rel links in SEO is for canonical tags. These tags tell search engines not to index the current page and point it to the master web page to index instead. They help identify duplicate pages, which can be problematic to SEO performance.
An example of link canonicalization is the code: <link rel=” canonical” href=http://www.webpage.com/home.html>. This lets Google know it should index the destination in the href instead of the current page.
Nofollow links
A nofollow link tells search engines not to include the specified link for indexing. This is useful for optimizing search engine crawling, as it explicitly states which pages to ignore. Examples include private pages, user-generated content, and paid links.
There are two ways to use nofollow links. One is with the tag <meta name=” robots” content=” nofollow”/>. When a search engine encounters this, it will ignore all links on the page. If you want to exclude on a per-link basis, you can include the rel=” nofollow” attribute in the <a> tag.
Dofollow links
As you can probably guess, a dofollow link is one search engine crawlers can follow to its destination. It has the HTML attributes <rel=”dofollow”> and can contribute to your link juice by passing link equity from your page to another. Crawlers typically take two to four days to recognize dofollow links from reputable sites. As such, it may only take a few days to improve your website’s authority if you play your cards right.
You can use dofollow links in your content marketing strategy to get high-quality backlinks from authoritative sites or in your internal link-building strategy to distribute link equity among your web pages.
Sponsored or UGC links
The newer attributes rel=”sponsored” and rel=”ugc” help provide more context on the nature of certain links. The rel=”sponsored” attribute identifies paid-for links, such as those in affiliate marketing campaigns or sponsored content. The rel=”ugc” attribute identifies links in user-generated content—you can find it in comments sections, forum posts, or anywhere else visitors can add their content on your website.
Using these attributes helps ensure compliance with search engine guidelines, minimizing the risk of penalties. It also provides context to prevent crawlers from viewing your site as spammy. This can increase your chances of running a successful link strategy.
Internal links
Internal links point to other pages on the same website domain. They indirectly contribute to rankings on SERPs by making users stay on your website longer, which means search engines see your site as engaging and helpful.
You can use internal links to cross-link to related content on your site, help visitors navigate your website more easily, and distribute link juice across your web pages, improving your chances of a successful SEO campaign.
External links
External links are those that point to pages on other websites and domains. Their purpose is to refer users to resources that complement or expound on the content on your page.
While external links don’t directly contribute to ranking, they help create a positive user experience. This can drive engagement and potential ranking in the future.
Plus, external linking opens up conversations with other website owners, including the chance to receive backlinks. If you’ve been unsuccessful in your link outreach efforts, adding external links to your content could be a way to get other sites to notice your website.
Tips for analyzing and managing your link profile
Now that you know which links to incorporate on your site, how do you develop and maintain an effective link strategy? Here are some tips to help you analyze and manage your link profile:
Conduct a comprehensive link audit
Regular audits can help you keep a clean link profile, allowing you to maintain or improve your website’s SEO and authority. Here’s how to conduct a link analysis:
- Define your goals: Do you want to recover from an SEO penalty, optimize your SEO, or find potential link partners? Defining your goals will help you determine the best kinds of links to add to your web pages. For example, if you received a penalty for spammy content from paid links or user-generated content, sponsored or UGC links may be the perfect solution.
- Collect link data from your website and competitors’ sites: This can help you compare your link performance with competitors’ data as well as your site’s historical data. You can use tools like Ahrefs and Moz for this.
- Consolidate and assess link data: Analyze key link metrics such as domain authority (DA) and page authority (PA) to understand the quality of current links.
- Benchmark your data against industry standards: This helps you determine where you stand against competitors and highlights potential strengths and weaknesses in your link profile.
Identify and remove toxic links
These are unnatural, low-quality links from irrelevant or spammy sites. They can harm your ability to rank well on results pages, affecting your visibility.
Identifying toxic links is relatively easy thanks to tools like Moz, Ahref, and Google Search Console. Use them to find incoming links throughout your site that search engine crawlers may consider spammy.
When you do, remove or disavow them by requesting removal from spammy website owners. If this doesn’t work, use Google’s Disavow Tool to let the search engine know which URLs not to consider when ranking your page.
Monitor backlink health regularly
Regularly monitoring your backlinks can help you maintain high-quality links from authoritative sites. It can also help you ensure all your links align with search engine algorithm updates, minimizing your risk of low rankings or penalties. For insights into the quality of your backlinks, use tools like Google Search Console, Moz, Ahrefs, and Bing Webmaster Tools for information specific to Bing.
Diversify your link profile for SEO
The phrase “Don’t put all your eggs in one basket” should guide your link strategy. A diverse link profile can improve your website’s authority and trustworthiness, boosting your SEO efforts. It can also make your link strategy more resilient to search engine algorithm updates.
So, diversify your link profile by incorporating different types of links on your web pages. However, don’t focus so much on quantity that you lose sight of link quality—remember, this significantly impacts your rankings.
To achieve a diverse, high-quality link profile, build relationships with reputable bloggers and content creators. Also, regularly monitor your links to identify and remove toxic ones.
It’s worth noting that not all strategies need to use every type of link the same number or kinds of ways. Assess your needs and content types to ensure you only use relevant links.
Leverage analytics for link profile improvements
Regular link assessments and improvements are key to maintaining a healthy link profile. Leverage analytics tools like Bitly Analytics to identify top-performing links in your strategy. This data can inform decisions about link-building and profile management.
For example, if you determine that image links receive the most engagement, you can create more image-inclusive content. To get started with Bitly:
- Create or log into your account.
- Tap Create new and choose Link.
- Enter your long URL in the Destination field.
- If you’re on a Growth, Premium, or Enterprise Plan, choose your preferred domain in the Domain box. This way, your links will have a custom domain.
- Tap Create.
Following these steps will not only leave you with shorter, more manageable links but also provide link analytics to help you make better link decisions. To access link analytics, simply tap Analytics on the left sidebar or tap Links to assess individual links’ performance.
Use Bitly to help integrate links into your strategy
Incorporating different types of links into your link strategy can improve your website’s SEO and authority, boosting your online visibility. Create the perfect blend of links by regularly assessing your profile and link performance with tools like Bitly, using its insights to inform your link decisions.
With Bitly, you receive in-depth analytics into your URLs’ performance, helping refine your link-building strategies. Through the Bitly Connections Platform, you get insights into your top-performing links as well as click data by location and device, allowing you to identify your demographics and the kind of links that resonate best with them.
Sign up for Bitly today to shorten long URLs into more shareable links and gain insights into your link performance for strategy refinement!