SEO Backlinks - What are they?

Learn How to Build Back Links and Common Mistakes to Avoid

Start building links effectively

Link building has and will probably always be one of the most challenging SEO tactics to implement. Make one wrong move and you could end up being penalized by Google after working so hard on your rankings for years. Before we get started on how to build back links that will enhance site rankings and traffic, let’s look at some link building techniques you should always avoid.

• For starters, stay away from low-quality links. Getting numerous poor quality links from untrusted sources adds no value to your web pages. Google understands this and that’s why they penalize sites that are caught up in the act.

• Secondly, make sure you trust the agency working on your SEO Toronto. It’s always recommended to hire SEO specialists to do the heavy work for you but make sure the people you choose to partner with are not only competent but also understand the current trends.

• You also need to avoid using exact match anchor text. The anchor texts used on your website should be relevant to the content on that page. Don’t just stuff keywords on the anchor text, make sure they’re relevant if you want the page to rank better.

• Most importantly, avoid black hat SEO techniques if you don’t want to be penalized by Google. Google will notice if you obtain a large number of links within a short period of time and penalize your site for it. Don’t look for shortcuts such as using people’s content to boost your on-page SEO. Google will soon take notice and penalize you.

Should you disavow a link?

One of the best link building practices is knowing when to accept or disavow links. Don’t be quick to accept links unless they are relevant and add value to your website’s current content. If you notice a link appears to be too promotional or spammy then do not accept it. Also, do your research to make sure that the site you are linking to is relevant to your users. Remember that if you link to a site that Google sees as having spammy content, your site will also be affected. Do not link with sites that contain malicious code or pages that are yet to be indexed by Google. Some sites may have a low domain authority but really good content. In such cases, it makes sense to link to it.

In a nutshell, below are a few sites you should avoid linking to:

• Sites that are malicious or suspicious such as porn and gambling sites
• Sites that have keyword-stuffed anchor links
• Link farms and link exchange websites
• Sites that are not relevant to your niche
• Sites that have a high spam-risk score

Getting started

You need to start by identifying any potentially bad links on your website. You can do this by performing a backlink audit. By using a tool such as SEMrush, you can easily get a list of all the sites that are linking to your website. Start by removing the sites that you’ve never heard of from that list. Check for sites that have unusual anchor text or with foreign language and get rid of them. You may have to check some of the websites on that list manually before you decide to disavow them. Make sure you disavow links only when it’s necessary.

Getting numerous links all in one go is very tempting but always remember that it’s never a good strategy that you can sustain. Cloaking, link buying and hacking promise you a lot of backlinks in a short time but the risk is far greater than the reward.

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