The 7 Heavenly Virtues of an Effective Backlink Strategy

What’s the difference between a backlink and a referring domain?

A backlink, or inbound link, is a link from a website that directs users to your site. This link can appear in hyperlinked text, as an embedded image, or as a click-through button. Any link from a website to your website qualifies as a backlink, and you can have many backlinks from the same third-party site. This third-party site is known as a referring domain. This distinction between a backlink and a referring domain is important, because having a diverse range of high-quality referring domains is generally more valuable than having many backlinks from a single domain.

Consider backlink authority in your SEO strategy

In the infamous Handforth Parish Council meeting, the question of authority was hotly debated, with one councilor memorably exclaiming, "You have no authority here, Jackie Weaver, no authority at all!" This chaotic scene mirrors a similar debate in the SEO community regarding the authority of backlinks. Just as in the meeting, participants were uncertain about who held the power, SEO’s have long grappled with determining which backlinks truly have the authority.

Traditionally, high-authority backlinks have been considered the gold standard for boosting off-site SEO, whilst low-authority sites with little or no traffic have been branded irrelevant. However, a recent 2024 Google leak has debunked the myth that low-ranking sites are not worth having at all. Much like how Jackie Weaver's actions, despite lacking official authority, still influenced the meeting, these lower-profile backlinks can contribute positively to your overall SEO strategy. The BoostSourceBlocker attribute revealed that certain pages can act as sources of ranking power without being ranked themselves, meaning low-ranking sites can still pass on link equity.

While high-authority links like those from prominent news publications remain the most valuable, this revelation suggests that a diverse backlink profile, including links from less prominent sources, can play a role in improving your search rankings.

Just as Jackie Weaver took decisive action against the toxic behavior of other councilors by removing them from the zoom meeting, SEO professionals should follow Jackie’s lead when toxic or spammy backlinks appear.  Removing or disavowing harmful links promptly can help protect your website's SEO health and search engine rankings. Do it properly and Google will be informed to ignore specific backlinks when evaluating your site's ranking.

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Now, lets get started on the seven heavenly virtues of an effective backlink strategy:

1. Analyze the backlinks of the market-leading competitor in your industry

Analyzing the backlink profiles of market-leading competitors will provide you with valuable insights, ideas and opportunities for your own SEO link-building strategy. Use SEO tools to identify and shortlist the highest-value link sources. Industry leaders are likely to be well-documented across review/comparison sites, industry directories and press publications, three areas which should be part of your SEO strategy too. Analyze all the link types and patterns across their backlink profile and see if you can figure out how and why they are getting traction in the different areas.

You may see crowdfunding or charity websites that the competitor has donated to, and has subsequently received a mention and gained a backlink. Many crowdfunding platforms allow donors to include a link to their website. This strategy not only helps you gain backlinks but also demonstrates corporate social responsibility.

2. Write testimonials for products & services you use

Provide genuine testimonials for products or services you enjoy using. Many companies feature customer testimonials on their websites and will often include a link back to your site. This strategy not only helps you gain backlinks but also builds relationships with your suppliers & other businesses in your industry. Take this idea one step further by writing a comparison guide for competing products or services but be sure to be thorough, unbiased, and regularly update it to maximize their link-earning potential.

3. Provide opinions on key topics in your industry

Keep an eye out for industry newsletters or roundups your firm could contribute to. Guest blogging is a great way to get your firm’s name out there, research your sector to see which are the most popular platforms to pitch to. Regardless of whether you’re contributing to regular columns or one-time articles, offering guest content to websites remains an effective link acquisition method. Sense-check the approach you are taking by asking yourself whether you would still create content for a particular site, even if there is no guaranteed backlink from it.

4. Generate data-driven assets others will want to reference

If you can generate research that provides original insight & that’s relevant to your particular industry or the broader business community in general it’s likely people will cite it, generating backlinks to your site. Resources like Canadian Open Data Portal or the UK Data Service are great starting points for collecting raw data to run some analytics on. Consider using infographics, research reports, or a video as a way to convey your organic research and findings.

Another option is using objective research and data already collected by others, citing the authors/companies and drawing new data-driven rhetoric from it. ‘How to guides’ or ‘tutorials’ could be an interesting way to distribute the work.

If you don’t have the time or resource to crunch the numbers yourself, you could outsource it to a data consulting firm like copoly.ai to do the heavy lifting for you.

5.  Claim Unlinked Mentions 

Set up Google Alerts & use a brand monitoring tool to get alerted to when your brand is being mentioned online, or across social media. If the mention doesn’t provide a backlink to your site, reach out to the content creators, and politely request that they add a link to your website. This strategy helps you capitalize on past, current and future brand mentions and turn them into valuable backlinks.

6. Internal Link Building

While not a traditional backlink strategy, effective internal linking is essential for distributing link equity throughout your site. A logical internal linking structure helps search engines understand your site's hierarchy, and dictate which pages it will offer up in the SERPs.

Organizations that have invested time and mastered their internal linking strategy will be:

• Enhancing the general user experience of visitors

• Helping Google better understand, discover & rank their new high-quality content

• Helping to ensure inbound traffic lands on their highest converting pages

7. External Linking

External linking, or outbound linking, is the practice of connecting your website to other websites through hyperlinks. The practice is a vital aspect of SEO that enhances your website's credibility and authority if done correctly. By connecting to high-quality, relevant sources, you signal to search engines that your content is trustworthy, which can improve your rankings. Use ‘anchor text’ thoughtfully by concisely describing the source/content you are linking to, this is far better practice than just having ‘click here’ or ‘learn more’ which provides little context to the search engine crawlers. By linking to reputable sources like authoritative journals, well-known industry experts, or government sites, your site will be better indexed, provide better user experience, & rank higher.

As you implement these strategies, keep in mind that backlink building, Internal linking, and External linking is an ongoing process, requiring patience, creativity, and a commitment to providing value to your audience and the wider online community. Talking about providing value to the online community, if all else fails with your off-site SEO strategy, remember there is always this alternative approach: just boot your colleagues out of an internal Zoom meeting one at a time, while confidently declaring, 'You have no authority here!' Not only will you go viral, but the press will pick it up, and before you know it, you'll have authoritative backlinks coming in from multiple-news outlets.

‘Please refer to me as Britney Spears from now on’ – Jackie Weaver, Clerk, Handforth Parish Council

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