Nick Fitzgerald
Updated: June 12, 2024
When we talk about backlinks, we are referring to the links that lead to a webpage. Any link that goes to your page from anywhere else on the internet is considered a backlink. In the early days of SEO, getting as many backlinks as possible was the primary way to improve your business’s ranking on search engines, which influenced how high your website is shown in search results. Although changes to search engine algorithms have meant that the influence of backlinks has waned slightly, they are still very important to any SEO strategy today.
Any backlink needs to be high quality to have a positive effect. Search engines determine the quality of an inbound link by looking at the content of the website. The site which links to yours needs to have content that is relevant to your site. The more relevant it is, the higher the quality rating that search engines give it. So it’s no use for your hearing practice to get backlinks from a website about German Shepherds!
How can backlinks help my hearing website?
There are many benefits to your hearing practice if you make the most of your backlinks.
- Backlinks improve your site’s ranking
We’ll start with the most obvious benefit. Having more high-quality links help you rank higher on search engines. It is far better to be the website being linked to, rather than the website doing the linking, which is why backlinking is so important in determining ranking.
It’s not just the quality of the backlink, but the number of times a website has been linked by others that can have an effect. The more times your hearing practice’s content page is linked by other relevant websites, the higher the quality of that page link. That particular page of content on your website gets more ‘link juice’ which helps it to rank higher.
- Backlinks allow for faster indexing
Search engine algorithms find new webpages by investigating backlinks from pages that already exist out there. When they find your site, then they can ‘crawl’ it – that is, store the information of your website on their databases to be found by search engine users. The more times they find your website out there in the form of backlinks, the easier it is for them to crawl your website. This is especially important if you have a new website that quickly needs to be discovered to build awareness.
- Backlinks drive people to your website
Backlinks help greatly in getting referral traffic. Somebody reading an article online will likely click on the other links in the post to learn more about the subject they are reading about, one of which could be yours. Since individuals willingly click on these links, they are less likely to leave the site quickly are more likely to stick around and see what your site is about.
In digital marketing terms, if your website is linked to, it is more likely to enjoy a lower ‘bounce’ rate. These rates help a website to rise higher in search engines and improves the chances of generating new leads.
- Backlinks help build your brand
Content creation is a great way to show potential customers your knowledge of hearing healthcare. Even though they may not need a hearing test or hearing aid right now, they are left with the impression that you are a professional, knowledgeable company that could provide a good service to them or anyone they know in the future.
Remember: Your content needs to be high-quality
Before building links, you need something worth linking to. This means that it needs to be high quality. Link-building goes much better when the content is high quality in the first place. This is because when you publish something truly relevant and useful, people are more likely to share it, and this starts a snowball effect that goes a long way toward you enjoying the benefits mentioned above.
2024 Update
With the recent Google Leak we have confirmed that backlinks are still a major ranking factor. Backlinks are still one of the strongest ranking factors in 2024, however brand mentions can also be helpful. Make sure to do both!
AuDSEO
For those who are unsure of where to start with backlinking, publishing good-quality blog content on hearing-related issues is a good first step. We offer content creation and SEO services which will help increase both the quality and quantity of your hearing practice website’s backlinks. Contact us today for more information.