You've been seeing some exciting traffic come through on your site. People are excited about what you are producing, and they're telling their friends. You've started to notice people talking about your services on their OWN site, or on social media.
Not only is this great for your day-to-day operations; this is great for your SEO. You're experiencing the power of BACKLINKS!
What Are Backlinks
Backlinks are links to your website from other places on the internet. Whether its to an article, blog, about page, contact page, or just your index, it provides a few, important things that boost your SEO.
You Become a Source of Truth
A backlink means that someone found your content worthy of being talked about. When a search engine is crawling their site, they will find your link and remember it. That search engine will directly connect your content to the topics on the first page, and boost your authority in those areas.
So, for example, you are a plumbing business with a blog called "3 Ways To Unclog a Sink". A user on Reddit or Facebook gets excited and posts your link and says, "Been fighting this stupid sink for three hours. This article saved my day!"
When the search engine crawler sees this, they know that you are an authority in unclogging sinks. This means, you are probably an expert in other areas that are similar (unclogging toilets, etc.). And when someone searches for "Unclog sink" on that search engine, there's a good chance your article will be higher in their search.
How To Get More Backlinks
Getting backlinks can seem like a daunting task, but it's not terribly difficult. Here are some simple wins to get you started:
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Get people to write testimonials online: Get them to write what they liked about you, and the specific work that you did on your Facebook page, your Google business, Yelp, whatever platforms make the most sense.
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Produce meaningful content: Though content is no longer king when it comes to getting visitors, it still is king in the search world. Put out some blog content and articles that solve problems, and do it consistently. Ask for little or nothing in return (maybe only a small CTA).
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Find resources lists and get on them: Find a list of businesses, and get listed! Get your content on there. Build relationships and do what it takes!