What are backlinks in SEO? Answer by a Certified Consultant

Backlinking (also called Netlinking) is the management of the inbound links of your website by a SEO consultant. It concerns links on another homepage that refer back to your website. The hyperlink is put on a so-called anchor text. Your quoted content may be a blog post or a product  file. 

Example : If you put in one of your blog articles an external link to a New York Times article, the newspaper will gain a backlink. If the New York Times (or another site) quotes your homepage by a link, it’s you who will gain one more. The best chances to be referred to by other sites are when you have great content on your site.

Backlink Management is a better term than the word Netlinking, because the stakes go beyond the mere creation of links. 

The authority score of a website

Search engines consider these inbound links to calculate this SEO parametre. This score is in constant movement. It can raise or drop.

Companies with an authority score of 100 are very rare. Some examples checked in may 2024 (some of them have really big webmarketing budgets !):

A well-known german car producer has a score of 65. A french ministry has a score of 52. A big producer of dairy products in France is at 40. The marketing agencies for which I work as a freelancer, have often scores between 20 and 30.

How many links are necessary to get a good domain authority?                             

It’s an error to believe that you need thousands of incoming links to be successful on Google and other search engines. It’s another error to think that a high number of backlinks alone does automatically guarantee a high authority score. Let’s have a look at some examples :

The first web page has 27 100 backlinks and an authority score of 17. The second site has « only » 311 backlinks, but the domain authority is higher, at 23.

However : the backlink number and even the authority score are only one element among others to appreciate the performance of a website. It’s necessary to check the following aspects too : the client’s business sector, his competitor environment, factors such as seasonality, the keywords on which the site is positioned etc.

In the past, Google considered only the pure number of backlinks. Nowadays, it’s different. The quality aspect of the site that publishes a link is a key factor for Google’s calculations. The links themselves can belong to various categories : follow links are more valuable than nofollow links, etc.

Certain bad practices are even considered as spam, which can lead to penalties by Google. It’s possible to eliminate some of these penalties, but you need a backlinking expert to do it.

Thus : you understand, that the mere blind accumulation of backlinks is not the ideal strategy to raise your online success.   

Purchase of Backlinks : Google’s rules

Google publishes the rules concerning the ranking factors in its search engine in the document « Google Search Essentials » (formerly called Google Webmaster Guidelines).    

The principles that apply to bought links are unequivocal : Google considers them as « link spam » (last update: may 2024) :   

With regard to current Netlinking techniques, there are two types of service providers :

Link Building Agencies that propose bought links:  

Certain agencies continue to sell backlink packages. They propose packs of 5, 10, 20 or more inbound links for a fixed fee, i.e. 500 EUR per backlink. Some of these « backlink stores » function like a webshop for slips : You fill in a formsheet with the desired size, colour and number of pieces of the product. Then you validate your purchase with your credit card.   

Remind the following elements :  

Google considers in its official guidelines that bought backlinks are « spam ». The quality of the site that publishes the backlink is crucial. In case of bad backlinking, you risk a decline in organic traffic, a lower ranking position in the search engines, and even penalties by Google.

Tailormade SEO Management 

A personalised service by agencies or freelance consultants that propose a real strategic coaching.  

It’s an integral marketing process that includes an analysis of you company, a check of your current backlinks and the backlinks of your competitors, the elimination of bad badlinks and potentially even of Google penalties, and of course the building of new quality backlinks too.

For the realisation of this work, professional SEO tools such as Semrush and Google Search Console will be used.

Reading tip : Check out my service description for Backlinking to get a detailed explanation of this process (click the SEO section in the main menu of this website or the contact button at the end of this article). 

Selection of a Netlinking Partner : How to earn backlinks of high quality

As you’ve seen, backlinking is a complex affair. If you desire high quality for your website, you need a confirmed expert.  

Do always check the competence profile of the consultant you are dealing with, be it a telesales agent for backlinks in a callcenter in India, or a SEO agency in London.

I personally propose tailormade Backlink Management. My philosophy is, that an efficient backlinking strategy is one ingredient among others for website optimisation. Together with my client, I define a concrete strategy to reach realistic goals.  

If you choose working with me, all work will be done 100% by me, and not by an anonymous outsourced helper. I hold a degree in digital marketing and am a certified SEO consultant.  

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