There’s a lot of misunderstanding around backlinks or just links, so let’s talk a little bit about what a link is, what are the different kinds of links, and how can I check to see who’s currently linking to me.
#3 Different Kinds of Backlinks
- Bronze Standard – is when someone’s linking to you and you link to them. So it’s called a “reciprocal link”. I link to you, you link to me, and we kind of scratch each other’s backs. That’s fine, but Google’s like, “you’re in cahoots, we see you”. So those are fine but they’re not the best.
- Silver Standard – is going to be inside of your content on your website. You’re linking from your source out to another reference. So that could be a word, or a study, or a stat. And you link to where that stat resides on another website.
- Gold Standard – There’s a wonderful website called Haro. H-A-R-O.com. It helps reporters out. I watch reporters who go in there and they’ll say I need to speak to someone on SEO, or I need an SEO expert, or I need to know how businesses can grow online. I will go into Haro and I will write a quick note to that reporter and say here’s how I can help you. Now, this is why this is so cool is because if that reporter takes my quote I sent him, I get a backlink from wherever he’s creating content back to my website. Remember that’s the gold standard – one-directional from news, educational site back to your website. I’ll take any link that comes from a third-party site back to you. But don’t reciprocate. Remember I don’t want Google to think I’m in cahoots.
It’s so important when you’re trying to establish trust in a robotic setting in search. So remember, gold, silver, bronze. Stay true to creating content. Link out to experts and make sure you give them credit and your backlink profile would become a beautiful example of why people love you and ultimately link to you.
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Watch my full video about “What is a Backlink?”
Post your questions in the comments below or email me – heather@findability.com and we can take a little bit of a geek deep dive into backlinking.