Quality backlinks are vital to your credibility and traffic

One of the most important factors that search engines, especially Google, take into consideration are backlinks. Acquiring quality backlinks to your site must be an integral part of your SEO marketing and methodology. Backlinks, simply, are other sites that offer a link to your site. The higher quality sites you get to link back from, the higher standing you will have with the search engines.

• The first strategy for getting authoritative backlinks is to try the broken links strategy. The idea is to go out to certain sites that are comparable and complimentary to yours and go through the site looking for broken links. You can click on each and every one to see if they work but who has that kind of time? A more efficient way is to install a plug in from Google Chrome called Check My Links. With this installed, any broken links on a page will be immediately identified and highlighted.
• After you have discovered some broken links at a site you want for a backlink, call the company and speak with the webmaster there. Inform the webmaster that there are links at their site that don’t work anymore. Be friendly and business like and offer some other choices for them to use including your own site. Chances are the webmaster will create a link for your site.
• One of the best ways to generate quality backlinks, as well as traffic, is through the use of infographics. Infographics are hugely popular and get shared more often than any other kind of content including video. This should already be a serious part of your social media and SEO marketing. Make it easy to click through to your site and for them to be able to share it with their social network.
• Writing a guest blog or article as well as writing testimonials are, also, great strategies for establishing quality backlinks to increase your SEO. It will allow you to set yourself up as an authority in your field and industry and every site is always looking for fresh and new content from the outside. Of course, a link back to your site will be imbedded in every article and it offers a great opportunity to reach an entirely new audience. Next, choose a site you want to be linked at and write a glowing testimonial on the greatness of that particular company. Again, your backlink will be there. You will gain some traffic and spread some positive goodwill. And, who knows? You may get a testimonial or two for your own site. Nothing drives traffic like a great review.

-Written by Kevin Sawyer