Backlinks
A backlink is a link from another website to a page on your own domain. For search engines like Google, this is a signal that a page is relevant – why else would someone “recommend” it with a link? Good backlinks can therefore lead to better rankings. Link building is thus one of the fundamentals of search engine optimisation.
Structure of a backlink
A backlink consists of two elements: the URL and the anchor text. The HTML code <a href="URL">anchor text</a> defines which text links to which page. For a backlink, this could look like this: <a href="https://www.arboro.com">Shopware agency</a>. Why not simply always link with the domain name? A descriptive anchor text gives search engines additional context about what the target page is relevant for. This means a page can rank better not only for its own name but also for relevant search terms. The anchor text should therefore be chosen carefully and describe exactly what users can expect on the linked page.
How do you get good backlinks?
The most sustainable way to get backlinks is content that others link to voluntarily: guides, your own data and studies, helpful tools or expert articles. If this content is actively promoted – via social media, newsletters or press and industry contacts, for example – editors, bloggers and industry portals take notice. High-quality content marketing and digital PR are therefore the best way to valuable backlinks, even if it takes time at the beginning. There are also obvious sources such as manufacturer and retailer directories, associations, partners and local media. Mass link exchanges, web directories, article directories and social bookmarking services, on the other hand, hardly bring any benefit today and can violate Google's spam policies. Be careful with buying links as well: paid links that are not marked as “sponsored” violate Google's guidelines and can lead to penalties.
Tip: backlinks should come from topically relevant sites and articles. This benefits your page more and is rated higher by Google. An example: if you sell running shoes, you benefit from a link from a site about running. If, on the other hand, you crudely buy links from topically irrelevant sites, you risk Google devaluing them. In link building, as in content marketing, the golden rule applies: the user's interest comes first, and every link must offer the visitor real value.
Beware of bad neighbourhoods: keep your website out of a bad environment
In link building, you should also take care not to end up in a so-called bad neighbourhood. These include websites that practise black hat SEO (i.e. violate Google's spam policies) or sites from questionable areas such as illegal gambling. You should also avoid backlinks from sites that have already been penalised. Such links can cause your own website to lose visibility and, in the worst case, receive a manual penalty.
Follow, nofollow, sponsored and ugc: link attributes at a glance
To label links more precisely, Google provides various attributes. Links can be marked with “nofollow”, signalling that you don't endorse the link and don't want to pass on any signals. Since 2019, however, Google has only treated this as a hint. It is therefore still not advisable to collect lots of bad links and simply set them to “nofollow” – avoiding bad neighbourhoods has top priority. Paid links and advertising partnerships are marked with “sponsored”. They are then not counted towards rankings, but they don't lead to penalties either. There is also the “ugc” attribute for user-generated content, i.e. content created by users themselves. Spam links are often posted in comment sections and forums. With “ugc”, such links can be labelled, and Google knows they don't come from the website owner.