Top Genuine And Free’ Do Follow Backlinks Sites [2024 …
Backlinks are inbound links that point to your website from another website. In essence, backlinks are like “votes” for your website’s authority and relevance on a particular topic from other sites.
The Key Reasons Why Backlinks Matter For Seo Include:
Definition of backlinks- Backlinks are any links pointing to your website from an external page. Search engines like Google use backlinks as one of the top ranking factors, as backlinks indicate trust, authority and relevance. Sites with more qualitative backlinks tend to rank higher.
Why backlinks matter for SEO – Google’s algorithm views backlinks as “votes” for a website. The more backlinks you have from authoritative, relevant sites to your pages, the more it signals to Google that your content is useful, and trustworthy and should rank high.
How backlinks indicate authority and trust– Not all backlinks are equal. Backlinks from authoritative, popular and relevant sites “carry more weight” and pass more authority and trust signals to your own site. If an industry-leading website links to you, it’s a strong endorsement and indicates your content is highly authoritative on the topic.
Backlinks remain one of the strongest ranking factors used by Google and other search engines. By generating high-quality backlinks from reputable sources, you can steadily improve your site’s authority and rankings for important keywords over time.
Types of Backlinks
There are several different types of backlinks that can be used when building links to a website. Two of the main types are:
Dofollow vs Nofollow Links
Dofollow links pass link juice and equity from the source page to the destination page. Search engines “follow” these links and count them towards a site’s ranking and authority.
Nofollow links do not pass on link equity because search engines are instructed not to follow them. However, nofollow links can still drive referral traffic.
Editorial vs Sponsored Links
Editorial links also called organic links, occur naturally when other sites link to your content. These happen when your content provides value to others who reference it.
Sponsored links are created through paid placements, guest posts, giveaways, or other marketing tactics. They can help acquire backlinks but may be seen as less valuable by search engines than editorial links.
Internal vs External Links
Internal links point from one page to another on the same domain. These help with site navigation and crawling.
External links also called backlinks, are links from an outside domain pointing back to pages on your site. These are key for increasing domain authority and search engine rankings.
The best link building strategy utilizes a mix of dofollow/nofollow, editorial/sponsored, and internal/external links. Each serves a different purpose for SEO and driving traffic.
How to Get High-Quality Backlinks
Getting high-quality backlinks that help with search engine optimization (SEO) requires effort and strategy. Here are some of the best practices for earning trustworthy backlinks:
Create Great Content
Focus on creating excellent content that provides value for your target audience. Useful, informative content that solves people’s problems is more likely to attract links naturally. Promote your content through social media, your email list, and other channels to encourage links.
Do Outreach and Guest Posting
Contact websites in your industry and offer to create a high-quality guest post for them. When the content is a good fit for their audience, webmasters are often happy to publish posts from credible experts. Include links back to your website in the author bio.
Leverage Social Media
Engage on social networks by sharing useful content and interacting. Platforms like LinkedIn, Twitter, Facebook groups, and Reddit allow you to connect with influencers, join conversations, and potentially earn links.
Use Influencer Marketing
Identify key influencers in your niche and build relationships. Offer to produce custom content assets or sponsor their content. In return they may link back to your website from blog posts, videos, podcasts or social media updates. Start with micro-influencers with engaged, targeted followers.
The key is to focus on building relationships and delivering value. Useful content, guest posts, sponsorships, and influencer collaborations are all powerful strategies for acquiring reputable backlinks over time. Measure your link building efforts and focus on quality over quantity.
Avoid Low-Quality Backlinks
While getting backlinks is important for SEO, not all links are created equal. Many low-quality backlink sources should be avoided, as they can harm your site’s reputation and rankings.
Stay Away from Link Schemes and Farms
Link schemes refer to networks of sites that exchange links or sell links solely to manipulate search engine rankings. Google and other search engines can identify these types of artificial links and may penalize sites participating in them. Steer clear of link-building strategies focused entirely on numbers rather than relevance.
Link farms are networks of sites created specifically to cross-link to manipulate SEO. They often contain poor quality or scraped content just aimed at hosting links. Participating in link farms could lead to manual or algorithmic penalties.
Avoid Too Many Affiliate Links
While affiliate links from high-quality sites can be beneficial, having a site overloaded with affiliate links rather than original content can be seen as manipulative. Moderation is key – don’t let affiliate links dominate.
Don’t Buy Links
Buying links or participating in paid link networks again crosses into artificial manipulation territory. Google’s guidelines clearly state that buying or selling links that pass PageRank is against their quality guidelines. Avoid any paid link-building services offering large link packages or guaranteed rankings.
The best practice is to focus on earning links naturally through high-quality content and outreach. Quality over quantity is the way to build a sustainable, white-hat link profile.
Using Link-Building Tools
Link-building tools can automate and streamline parts of the link-building process. Here are some of the main types of tools and how they can help:
Automation to Find Link Opportunities
Link prospecting tools like Ahrefs, Majestic, and Buzzstream can find potential websites to request links from by analyzing competitors’ backlink profiles.
Content discovery tools like Buzzsumo and Frase can identify popular content to guest post on or get links from by analyzing social shares and search volume.
Email finders like Voila Norbert can generate contact information for link prospects to allow direct outreach.
Pitching and Outreach Tools
Email platforms like Mailshake, Pitchbox, and Lemlist can automate sending customized emails to prospects at scale.
LinkedIn automation tools like Dux-Soup and UpLead can connect with prospects and send messages.
Outreach templates and workflows in tools like SurferSEO and Pitchify can optimize sending many personalized link requests.
Link Tracking
Link tracking software like Linkody and Raven Tools can monitor new backlinks pointing to your site and notify you.
Link tracking helps measure the results of outreach campaigns by showing which prospects linked to your content.
UTM parameters can be added to prospect URLs to monitor clicks and conversions from specific outreach.
Link tracking and redirect tools like Bitly and Rebrandly provide click analytics on shortened URLs.
Using the right tools strategically can expand the reach of link-building campaigns and gather data on what’s working to optimize efforts. The key is balancing automation with manual personalization.
Link Building Best Practices
When building links, it’s important to follow best practices to ensure your efforts are effective and avoid penalties. Here are some key link-building tips:
Focus on Relevance
The most valuable links come from websites relevant to your niche and content. Target websites and resources that would naturally link to your content or site based on topical relevance. Avoid spammy, paid links from unrelated sites.
Balance Anchor Text
Anchor text refers to the linked text used for the hyperlink. A best practice is to use varied, natural anchor text and avoid over-optimizing with your target keywords. Stick to mostly branded and generic anchors like your domain name, “click here”, etc.
Get Creative with Assets
Develop assets like infographics, guides, tools, and resources that publishers want to share on their sites. Then reach out to get a link in return for sharing your quality asset. Assets provide value and can get high-quality links.
Prioritize Editorial Links
Links published as part of a website’s editorial content, like blog posts and articles, are seen as the most valuable. Strive for organic integration of your links within relevant, informational content.
Be Transparent
Be upfront with websites about your outreach goals. Follow guidelines and make it easy for them to learn about you. Transparency builds trust and credibility.
Vary Your Anchor Text
Using the same anchor text repeatedly looks unnatural. Vary your anchor text, mixing branded, generic, partial match, etc. Avoid overuse of commercial terms.
Think Long-Term
The best relationships take time to develop. With link building, focus on building connections that continue to pay dividends over the long haul. Don’t take shortcuts.
Monitor New Opportunities
Stay on top of link opportunities by monitoring link-building tactics, news in your industry, trending topics, and website changes from potential partners.
Add Value
Provide real value to linking sites through your outreach efforts. Send traffic to their content, promote their brand, or create custom assets they can use. Reciprocal value builds loyalty.
Follow Ethical Standards
Avoid manipulative tactics, buying links, or making fake blog comments. Build links ethically through outreach, promotion, and providing value. Unethical link practices can cause penalties.
Measuring Backlink Success
Backlinks are an important ranking factor, but how do you know if your link-building efforts are successful? There are a few key metrics to monitor:
Monitor Overall Quantity
Keep track of how many backlinks you acquire over time, and from which sites. Use a backlink tracking tool to get a snapshot of your overall backlink profile. Are you steadily gaining new links? Rapid growth may look unnatural to Google. Aim for gradual, steady progress.
Check Domain Authority
Pay attention to the authority of sites linking to you, not just the total number of links. Getting links from high-authority sites like NYTimes.com or Wikipedia has more impact than lots of links from low-quality sites. Use a tool like Moz’s Domain Authority metric.
Analyze Anchor Text
Check the anchor text of your backlinks. “Click here” or over-optimized anchor text can be red flags. Most of your anchor text should use your brand name, or generic terms like “website”, rather than exact-match keywords.
Track Rankings Impact
Monitor your keyword rankings in search to see if rankings improve after a link-building campaign. Look for a steady upward trend over time. If a campaign doesn’t impact rankings, those links may not be sending the right signals to Google.
Top Free Backlink Sources
It’s possible to obtain quality backlinks at no cost through these methods:
Top 7 Business Listing Sites
1 Free Ads Time
2 FinderMaster
3 Wall Classifieds
4 ADVERTISEERA
5 H1Ad
6 Gigantic List
7 Classifieds Factor
Top 3 Dofollow Article Submission Sites
1 HF-news
2 ArticleBiz
3 TechDirt
Top 3 Dofollow Infographic Submission Sites [Free]
1 NewsiLike
2 Infographic Directory
3 Infographics Zone
Top 8 High PR Dofollow Social Bookmarking Websites [100% Free]
1 Reddit
2 Diigo
3 Bookmax
4 Folkd
5 Whitelinks
6 Instapaper
7 Viesearch
8 Slashdot
Business Directories
Business directories like Yelp, BBB, and Foursquare allow you to create a free listing for your company. This provides a backlink opportunity, helps your local SEO, and exposes your business to new potential customers. Complete your profile fully for maximum impact.
Local Citations
Citations on sites like Google My Business, Apple Maps, and Bing Places also generate backlinks while confirming the legitimacy of your business. Register your company anywhere you can be listed online for greater visibility and trust signals.
Non-Profits
Consider guest posting on non-profit sites like volunteer organizations, community groups, and educational institutions. Write relevant content that helps their cause while linking back to your site. Always get permission first and ensure your post fits their guidelines.
Online Forums
Participate constructively in discussions on forums and Q&A sites like Quora and Reddit. Share your expertise, answer questions, and link to your content when relevant without being promotional. Active community involvement helps build relationships.
Paid Backlink Options
There are a few different paid backlink options to consider as part of an overall link-building strategy:
Sponsored Guest Posts
Sponsored guest posting involves paying a site owner to publish a post you have written on their site. This can be effective for getting links from authoritative sites in your niche. However, make sure the site is a good fit for your brand and the post provides value for its audience. Avoid low-quality guest posts just for links.
Private Blog Networks (PBNs)
PBNs involve creating a network of sites you own and control to build links between them. While this can build many backlinks quickly, Google may penalize sites using manipulative PBN links. Tread carefully and build PBN links sparingly from quality sites.
Giveaways and Contests
Running a giveaway or contest and having people link to you to enter can generate many backlinks quickly. Make sure your campaign provides real value and does not require links just to manipulate rankings. Disclose when links are part of giveaways.
Paid Directories
There are directories you can pay to be listed on, which will give your site a backlink. Focus only on quality, reputable directories closely aligned with your niche. Avoid low-quality paid directories meant entirely to generate links.
In general, paid backlink options can be higher risk and lower quality than organic link-building tactics. Use paid backlinks sparingly and focus more on earning links naturally through great content and outreach. Monitor paid links closely to avoid penalties.
The Future of Links for SEO
Links remain an important ranking factor, but their role in search engine optimization is evolving. Google and other search engines are cracking down on manipulative link-building tactics and focusing more on link quality over quantity. Here are some trends to expect in the future of links for SEO:
Google will continue penalizing sites engaged in link schemes, buying links, or manipulating anchor text. Tactics like excessive guest posting, link networks, and private blog networks are high-risk.
The focus will shift towards earning links naturally through high-quality content and outreach. Context and relevance of links will become more important.
Overall link acquisition volume will decrease, as the quality and diversity of links become a bigger priority. Sites should aim for a smaller number of high-quality backlinks from reputable sites.
Google may rely more on internal links and user engagement signals. External links alone will not guarantee high rankings.
Link-building efforts will align closer with the overall content and digital PR strategies. Brand mentions, press coverage, social shares, and influencer partnerships will help build awareness and authority.
No-follow links may gain more weight, as search engines get better at assessing the contextual relevance of links.
Technical link metrics like domain authority and PageRank will decline in importance. Unique referring domains and spam scores will still matter.
Penguin updates will continue demoting poor-quality sites with unnatural link profiles. Maintaining a clean link profile will be crucial.
The future of SEO lies in building authority through high-quality content and relationships rather than tactical manipulation. Earning genuine editorial links remains important, but the context and relevance of those links will matter more going forward.
