There are many providers where you can buy backlinks for your website. That is not surprising, because building a varied link building profile requires a lot of perseverance. Most online companies do not have the time for this and prefer to outsource this.
This is not a bad idea in itself, but the question is whether you are ultimately doing the right thing by buying backlinks. Opinions on this are strongly divided.
Buying backlinksWhat are backlinks?
Backlinks are inbound links from other domains that point to your website. Ideally, backlinks are created to refer visitors to qualitative and relevant information. High-quality information can often be found on websites with a large number of backlinks. Think of a website that contains many relevant articles such as Business Insider. Or a webshop with many products and suppliers.
Over the years, Google has come to see backlinks as a kind of indicator for the quality of a website. And in 2021, Google still sees backlinks are very important ranking factor. The more backlinks and the more qualitative they are, the more authority a website deserves according to Google.
It seems that Google plans to forgo backlinks in the future, but for now, this seems like a future. The goal, therefore, remains to obtain as many qualitative backlinks as possible.
More qualitative backlinks through link building
Realizing high-quality links to rise in the search engines is also known as link building. In combination with a well-thought-out content strategy and solid website technology, link building ensures a higher ranking in search engines. Link building has a lot of influence on the position in the search results and especially works in addition to a search engine optimization strategy.
First of all, you want to have the technology of your website in order and ensure that it loads quickly. After the technique, you want to create valuable content for your website. Finally, backlinks come into play.
The advantage of link building is that it is seen as a sustainable long-term strategy. A backlink that you realize for your website simply remains on the other domains unless the backlink is eventually removed. If this happens you can always send the relevant website a message with the request to repost the backlink.
Backlinks must meet these preconditions
Collecting a number of backlinks yourself is not that difficult in itself. Simply approach websites to ask if they want to link to your website. All great ways to get more backlinks to your website.
However, they do not always ensure a higher ranking in the search engines, because there are quite a few preconditions attached to the quality backlinks. Whether you choose to collect backlinks yourself or outsource this, a number of criteria must be met.
Precondition 1: the website from which the backlink comes may not contain a high spam score
Ideally, you want backlinks to grow organically, as they are often the most valuable. Yet the majority of backlinks on the web are not obtained organically but through the deliberate posting of links on the web.
Before you decide to also opt for this strategy, or already use it, it is wise to check the spam score of every single backlink.
The higher a spam score, the worse the backlink for your website. There are several tools that you can do this with. We do this with SE Ranking.
Also, check websites where a backlink referring to your domain has been up for a while. It is possible that a website has built up a considerable spam score in the meantime. In that case, it is wise to send the website a message with a request to remove the link.
Precondition 2: always look critically at the quality of a backlink
In addition to the spam score, it is also very important that you examine the quality of the backlink. You can test a potential backlink with the following questionnaire:
- What is the authority of the referring website?
- What kind of backlinks are there on the referring website?
- How many backlinks are there on the referring website?
- Is there relevance to your website?
- What is the dofollow/nofollow ratio?
- What anchor texts are used?
Precondition 3: provide more backlinks than the competitor
Although the quality of a backlink is important, the number of backlinks that are obtained is just as important: the more links, the greater the chance that you rank higher than your competitors. Also, more links are often better for the diversity of your backlink profile.
When two websites have comparable content and both have good website technology, the number of backlinks can make all the difference for a higher ranking. So: the more qualitative backlinks you have, the more relevant Google finds your website for the visitor and the higher ranking you will be awarded.
Precondition 4: create a diverse backlink profile with sources from different types of websites
In the good old days, it was possible to build a strong backlink profile with many links from the same source. However, Google now also looks at the origin of the backlinks. Does a large part of your backlinks come from the same website? Then this does not benefit the reliability of your website and a poorer ranking is the result.
What Google prefers is a nice diverse backlink profile with different sources and types of backlinks. A balanced distribution of links from home pages, blogs, business pages, and social media channels. Therefore, try to collect as many different backlinks as possible for a healthy backlink profile.
Precondition 5: use the correct anchor text for the backlink
The text of the backlink that points to your website is called the anchor text. These texts show visitors what to expect when they click on the link. For example, a backlink with the anchor text ‘have website built’ indicates that it is a web agency where you can have a website built. Anchor texts are included by Google when assessing your backlink profile and contribute to the relevance of your website.
Extra tip: use different types of anchor texts, because Google likes variety. Alternate with, for example, ‘have a website built’, ‘have a website built’, and ‘outsource the construction of a website’.
Precondition 6: let your backlink profile grow as naturally as possible
There are many companies that try to achieve as many backlinks as possible by means of so-called blackhat SEO methods. Examples of this are buying backlinks on a large scale or spamming a link from a website on every domain that can be found.
Not smart, because search engines detect quickly enough when the growth of a backlink profile is unnaturally fast and also assess the quality of the links. The result is a penalty, which causes a website to drop significantly in the rankings.
In some cases, outsourcing link building is, therefore, a better idea. When you outsource it to an expert such as Sowmedia, you are assured that your backlink profile grows organically and that many high-quality backlinks are realized. This will undoubtedly increase your website ranking, increasing the chance that more traffic will land on your website.
Obtaining and buying backlinks, in what forms can this all be done?
Backlinks can be obtained in a number of different ways. They all have their pros and cons.
You can choose to create backlinks naturally, you don’t actually have to do anything for this. At the very least, you need to have rock-solid content that other websites are willing to link to voluntarily. Despite the fact that you are not consciously creating backlinks, a lot of effort still has to be put into writing valuable content. Although this is the most time-consuming method, it does create the most qualitative backlinks.
Approaching companies to get a backlink or to place them on a directory (a link page) is also an option. However, for this strategy, you must be aware of the preconditions for backlinks. You want to avoid a penalty at all times. Moreover, most companies are not open to participating in the barter trade.
In doing so, they also take a considerable risk. Furthermore, for directory links it is often the case that they are not of good quality, lack relevance and they come from foreign websites.
The last option is buying backlinks and this is a tricky issue. Many marketers claim that this strategy will drive your rankings to the bottom. The other side is convinced that this only happens if the backlinks are obtained in an irresponsible way.
What is an irresponsible way? For example, you have found a backlink provider that offers a ready-made link-building package with hundreds of links from various vague websites. You only pay a few bucks for this. If you purchase such a package, you will most likely get a huge boost in your rankings and you will be at the top in no time.
The only problem is that you then fall just as hard again because Google has discovered that you have deliberately manipulated the search engine algorithm. You will receive a yellow card or a Google Penalty. The links are also not of good quality, so you run the risk of being completely removed from the search results. You are now even further from home!
Buy backlinks in a reliable way
So how can you buy backlinks in a reliable way? By working with a party that offers customized backlinks based on extensive keyword research. After all, you only want backlinks to be created for the keywords you want to rank higher on.
The party then sets to work together with you to create a diverse backlink profile, which consists of a balanced distribution of links from home pages, blogs, company pages, and social media channels. Such a party also sends you a monthly report on the progress and the results achieved.
Only in this way do you know that the backlinks you purchase are reliable and also yield results in the longer term. So please watch out for price fighters who sell a large arsenal of backlinks for next to nothing. This does your rankings more bad than good.
Buy backlinks at Sowmedia
At Sowmedia we offer a tailor-made link-building process. This means that we start creating backlinks from various qualitative and reliable sources based on extensive keyword research. The backlinks that we create are sustainable and therefore remain permanently on the internet. This way you continue to benefit from a good ranking in the search results.