Hey there, WordPress user! If you‘re looking to attract more organic traffic to your website, you‘ve probably heard that backlinks are important. But what exactly are backlinks and how can you leverage them to boost your WordPress site‘s SEO?
In this guide, we‘ll dive deep into the world of backlinks to answer all your burning questions. From the technical details of how they work to proven tactics you can use to earn more of them, you‘ll walk away with a clear understanding of why backlinks matter and a practical gameplan to build them for your site. Let‘s get started!
What is a Backlink?
Here‘s the simple version: A backlink is any external link from another website that points to a page on your site.
But there‘s a bit more to it than that. Backlinks, also known as "inbound links" or "incoming links", are important because they signal to search engines like Google that other websites find your content valuable enough to link to it within their own content.
Here‘s how it works behind the scenes: When search engine bots crawl the web, they follow each link they find between individual pages. They use these links to understand the relationship between different webpages and websites. The more high-quality external links that point to a specific page, the more likely it is that search engines will see it as relevant and authoritative for the keywords that page is targeting.
Think of backlinks as votes of confidence. Each one sends a message that your content is valuable and worthy of citation. The more votes you accumulate from reliable sources, the higher your content will likely rank.
How WordPress Displays Backlinks
Want to see your WordPress site‘s existing backlinks? If you have Jetpack installed, you can view your top backlinks right in your WordPress dashboard by going to Jetpack > Site Stats and clicking the "Incoming Links" report.
Here‘s what it looks like:
This report shows you the total number of external links pointing to your site, as well as which specific posts and pages are attracting links.
You can also connect your site to Google Search Console to get even more detailed backlink data, including which specific pages on other sites are linking to your content.
While these tools can give you a general sense of your site‘s link profile, to do more advanced competitive research you‘ll likely want to invest in a specialized backlink analysis platform like Ahrefs, Semrush, or Moz. More on that later in this guide.
The Impact of Backlinks on SEO
Okay, so backlinks are important – but just how much do they actually matter in terms of SEO results?
It‘s difficult to overstate the impact that backlinks can have on your search rankings. While Google looks at hundreds of different signals, many studies have found that backlinks are one of the most strongly correlated factors with first page rankings:
- A 2021 study by Backlinko that analyzed 11.8 million Google search results found that the number of domains linking to a page correlated with rankings more than any other factor. (source)
- The average #1 ranking page also has over 3.8x more backlinks than positions #2-#10. (source)
- In a 2020 analysis of 6.2 million websites, Ahrefs found a clear positive correlation between the number of referring domains to a site and the amount of organic traffic it receives. (source)
Of course, the sheer quantity of backlinks isn‘t everything. Relevance and authority also matter. According to a Google Webmaster Central blog, "A site‘s ranking in Google search results is partly based on analysis of those sites that link to it. The quantity, quality, and relevance of links count towards this rating." (source)
So while attracting raw backlink volume can certainly move the needle, prioritizing links from topically relevant, high domain authority sites will likely give you a bigger SEO bang for your buck.
How to Get More High-Quality Backlinks to Your WordPress Site
Now for the part you‘ve been waiting for: how to actually start generating backlinks to your WordPress site. While there‘s no silver bullet, here are a few of the most effective tactics you can focus on:
1. Publish Link-Worthy Content
Creating unique, valuable content that other websites will naturally want to link to is arguably the most important thing you can do to attract quality inbound links. In fact, link building and content marketing are two sides of the same coin.
What exactly makes for "link-worthy" content? While the specifics will vary based on your industry, here are a few key characteristics:
Original research and data: Publishing original research reports, industry surveys, and data-driven blog posts can be a great way to attract links from journalists and bloggers looking to cite fresh statistics.
Definitive guides and tutorials: In-depth ultimate guides, like the one you‘re reading right now, tend to attract a lot of links. The key is to cover a topic comprehensively with actionable advice.
Free tools and resources: Creating truly useful free tools and resources related to your niche is a great way to generate buzz and attract links. A great example in the WordPress world is Yoast‘s Free SEO Analysis Tool.
Infographics and data visualizations: High-quality infographics that visualize compelling data in a creative way are extremely shareable and can be a great link magnet. Here‘s an example of a popular WordPress Market Share infographic.
The more your content stands out as legitimately interesting and valuable, the more likely people will be to link to it voluntarily. Focus on crafting content you‘d be genuinely excited to share yourself.
2. Guest Posting
Writing guest posts for other popular blogs and publications in your industry remains one of the most effective ways to reach new audiences and secure high-quality backlinks.
The key is to be highly strategic about where you guest post and what you write about. Focus on blogs that would be a natural fit for your expertise and pitch topics their audience would be genuinely interested in (not just something designed to get a link to your site).
Always prioritize relevance and audience alignment over a site‘s raw domain authority. A link from a hyper-relevant DR 40 site will often be more impactful than a link from a DR 70 site in a tangentially related niche.
Try to naturally incorporate 1-2 relevant, non-spammy links back to content on your own site within the body of your guest posts when it genuinely makes sense and adds value for the reader. Just be sure to avoid generic or over-optimized anchor text.
3. Resource Page Link Building
Resource page link building is the process of finding relevant resource pages in your niche (lists of helpful sites, tools, blogs, books, products, etc.) and reaching out to the page owners to suggest your site as a helpful addition to their page.
The key to success with this tactic is to:
- Make sure your content is genuinely a good fit for their specific resource page
- Send a personalized, friendly outreach email that clearly articulates the value-add for their audience
Keep your success rate expectations realistic. Resource page owners get pitched a lot, so you may need to reach out to 50+ before securing a link. But these links are typically very high quality and can drive real results.
To find relevant resource pages to reach out to, try searching Google with these search operators:
- inurl:resources + "your keyword"
- intitle:resources + "your keyword"
- inurl:links + "your keyword"
- "useful resources" + "your keyword"
- "helpful links" + "your keyword"
4. Unlinked Brand Mentions
Tracking down unlinked mentions of your brand name, products, and content can be a great way to generate easy wins. If a website has already mentioned you, it likely means they‘re familiar with your work and would be open to adding a link.
To find unlinked mentions, you can use a tool like Google Alerts or BuzzSumo. Just set up alerts for your target keywords and you‘ll get an email notification any time a new mention goes live.
Once you‘ve identified an unlinked mention, send a friendly email to thank the author for the mention and politely ask if they‘d be willing to turn the mention into a link back to your site.
Here‘s a template you can use:
Hey [Name],
Just wanted to reach out and say thanks so much for mentioning [Your Brand] in your recent article on [Topic]. We really appreciate you helping to spread the word!
I noticed that our brand name wasn‘t linked in the mention. By chance, would you be up for adding a quick link? I think it could be really helpful for your readers to be able to click through and learn more. No worries if not, just thought I‘d ask!
Either way, thanks again and keep up the great work!
Cheers,
[Your Name]5. Digital PR
Digital PR is the process of creating newsworthy content and data with the goal of securing coverage (and by extension, backlinks) from relevant journalists and publications.
There are many different types of content you can pitch to journalists – original research, expert commentary, data analyses, emotional stories, etc. The key is to create something that is timely, relevant to a journalist‘s beat, and compelling enough to warrant a story.
To brainstorm potential digital PR ideas, ask yourself:
- What data does my company have access to that we could package into a newsworthy report?
- What newsworthy opinions or contrarian takes do I have about my industry?
- How can I put a new spin on a trending topic relevant to my niche?
- What interesting case studies or success stories could we share?
- Are there any emotional human interest stories related to our brand?
Once you‘ve settled on an angle, package up the key elements into a succinct pitch and reach out to relevant journalists and publications via email. The more personalized and relevant your outreach is, the higher your chances of success.
Measuring Your Link Building Results
As with any SEO strategy, it‘s important to track the results of your link building efforts to understand what‘s working and where you can improve.
Here are a few key metrics you can track:
Number of new referring domains: This metric, easily accessible in tools like Ahrefs, Semrush, and Moz, will tell you how many unique sites are linking to your content. More referring domains = more votes of confidence in Google‘s eyes.
Organic traffic to specific pages: Use Google Analytics and Google Search Console to monitor the organic traffic to individual pages you‘ve built links to. If your link building is having an impact, you should see these pages start to climb in the rankings and drive more search traffic over time.
Domain Authority: Domain Authority (DA) is a metric developed by Moz to predict how likely a site is to rank in the search results. It‘s based on a 0-100 scale. The higher your site‘s DA, the more authoritative it‘s perceived to be. Track your DA over time to get a high-level view of your site‘s growing authority.
Organic keyword rankings: Ultimately, the goal of link building is to drive up your organic keyword rankings (and the organic traffic that goes with it). Use a rank tracking tool like Ahrefs or Semrush to monitor your site‘s rankings for your target keywords. As you build more high-quality links, you should see your rankings steadily improve.
The key to measuring your results is to be consistent. Check in on these key metrics at least once per month to keep a pulse on your progress.
Conclusion
We covered a lot of ground in this guide! Let‘s quickly recap the key takeaways:
- Backlinks are incoming links from other sites to yours. They act as votes of confidence that help search engines gauge your content‘s authority and relevance.
- Backlinks remain one of Google‘s top 3 ranking factors. The sites with the most high-quality, relevant links tend to rank the best.
- To attract more backlinks to your WordPress site, focus on creating link-worthy content, guest posting strategically, building resource page links, reaching out to unlinked mentions, and leveraging digital PR.
- Track metrics like referring domains, organic traffic, Domain Authority, and keyword rankings to measure the impact of your link building efforts.
Building a robust and relevant backlink profile takes consistent effort, but it‘s one of the highest impact levers you can pull to improve your WordPress site‘s organic search performance.
By focusing on producing great content and proactively getting it in front of the right people, you can accelerate your ability to earn quality links that will pay dividends for months and years to come.
Now get out there and start building some links!
