Here at CreateVenue
We offer a backlinking service that is next to none. Our semantically relevant links are coupled with highly sought-after transactional Anchor text. The ability to get the backlinks indexed quickly (2-6 weeks) at a fraction of the cost is one of our best USPs (unique selling points) that sets us apart from any other SEO agency
Why are semantically relevant links important?
In semantic SEO, if one page is not semantically related to another, Google will just ignore the association EVEN if the anchor text on the link is appropriate. This is because marketers used to drop backlinks all over the internet on web pages that were totally unrelated, just to try and trick the Google algorithm. Unfortunately, that method does not work anymore! Semantic SEO is the way to go!
Semantic association topic clusters
Why is it important that your links are indexed very quickly?
This is so that you don’t lose out on traffic right now. There is a concept in marketing called “cost of delay.” The longer you delay, the less money you make. Additionally, if you are known for providing measurable and impactful changes, quickly, you’ll obviously be the favorite. It’s an uncommon ability to get links ranking quickly in SEO, but this is typically because backlinks are a very hard skill to master.
- 65% of digital marketers state that link building is the hardest part of SEO
Why does the Anchor Text have to be a term with high search volume?
This is a common item businesses and agencies forget. The “Anchor Text” is the term the page will be credited for! So why would you want credit for a term that no one uses when searching? Moreover, it’s even more important to rank for terms that are “ low funnel transactional terms. ” — terms people use just before they are about to purchase an item. They have done the research and now know what they want. In the world of content marking, terms with high search volume from users prepared to make a purchase are a golden grail! As such, Anchor text is paramount!
User intent by the same topic clusters
What is a backlink?
Backlinks refer to when another website, web page, or web directory links to your website. Also known as inbound links or one-way links, backlinks are the very foundation of search engine optimization (SEO). Without any backlinks, you are ignoring one of the best ways of rising in the ranks of search engine results pages (SERPs).
The algorithm of Google and other major search engines considers backlinks as an “upvote” for a specific page. As such, pages and websites with a high number of backlinks tend to have a better place on SERPs. This is why SEO experts encourage their clients to invest in link-building strategies.
For context, here are some market statistics to help put into context the importance of backlinking:
- 72% of SEOs agree that link building is the single most significant exercise for ranking higher on search engines.
- 65% of digital marketers state that link building is the hardest part of SEO
- 91% of all pages on the internet get zero organic traffic, mostly because they have zero backlinks pointing to their content.
(More useful stats on backlinks are found here )
Moreover, a fantastic talk by the brand ambassador and former CEO of Majestic, Dixon Jones, can be found here. In that talk, Dixon discusses Google’s EAT (Expertise, authority & trust) algorithm and how improving it through backlinks can help your ranking.
Are backlinks important for SEO?
Backlinks can make or break your ranking. Having backlinks, especially quality links, can influence your website’s popularity, relevance, and overall domain authority.
Backlinks are important because:
- They can help improve your organic traffic
- They help Google index your pages faster
- They help users navigate through a variety of websites
Google has been known to give websites with a decent number of backlinks more credit, which means they rank in higher positions in SERPs. No one really knows exactly how Google looks at backlinks and to what extent links influence a website’s ranking. However, we are very well informed on the benefits.
When you get a higher number of links, that improves your “ citation flow ” rating, according to Majestic. When you get a larger variety of domains, that typically improves your “ trust flow ” rating.
That being said, the quality of backlinks is a decisive factor for rankings. For instance, if you are creating a childcare blog, the links you need should be within the childcare niche. Moreover, the links should come from a related topic to where they are linking. This might seem obvious but, traditionally, SEO backlinking is rife with “ black-hat backlinking ” techniques.
By definition, black hat SEO refers to practices that can increase a site’s ranking through means that violate the search engine’s terms of service. Black hat SEO practices can result in the website being banned from search engines and affiliate sites. A list of banned tactics can be seen on Google’s Webmaster Guidelines.
Different types of backlinks
Not all backlinks are created equally. One high-quality backlink can easily outperform 100 low-quality backlinks. There are many types of backlinks with different levels of importance. We listed the backlinks ranging from the most beneficial to the ones you should avoid.
Best backlinks for SEO
Editorial Backlinks
Editorial backlinks are created when your content has been cited as the source of specific information, when a representative from your company has been quoted in an interview, or when your website is included in a link roundup on a specific topic.
Guest blogging backlinks
Typically, you will be allowed to include an editorial backlink to your own website when you create a guest post for a well-established site. Guest blogging outreach is great for soliciting valuable sites and should be a part of your SEO strategy.
Backlinks in digital business profiles
When you create a digital profile for your brand on business listing websites, social media platforms, and review sites, you will often be given the chance to post a backlink. Search engines often view websites and brands with backlinks on listing sites as well-established companies.
Backlinks from webinars
Webinars often include links to websites with relevant and valuable content on the topic. In some cases, websites you create guest posts for may want to add you in their webinar as a resource.
Free-tool backlinks
When you offer a valuable tool for free, it also gives you the opportunity to both earn attention and backlinks, which can have a long-lasting impact on your SEO. The tool you offer does not have to be a complex tool. Even a cost calculator valuable to those in your industry or a lite version of a paid tool you currently offer can be impactful on your SEO.
To get more backlinks, promote your tool on websites that bring in a similar audience to your own. You can also promote your tools on your guest blogging site targets.
Other types of backlinks to boost your SEO
Acknowledgement backlink
This type of link can be gained when a site publishes an acknowledgment of your donation or when your company representative speaks at or sponsors an industry event, among others.
Guest post bio backlink
In some cases, a website that accepts guest posts does not allow backlinks within the content. However, it will allow links within the author’s bio.
Badge backlink
Some brands establish backlinks by awarding other websites with badges in recognition of their status or achievement. When those brands post the badges on their webpage, it acts as a backlink to your own website.
Maximize this opportunity by making use of SEO tools that allow you to find websites with a similar target audience to yours.
Backlinks from a press release
When your brand has a newsworthy announcement (i.e. a new investment or board member), putting out a press release can allow publications to cover your brand’s latest development and link back to the published release.
10. Comment backlinks
When you include a backlink in a relevant commentary on a piece of content, Google accepts it especially if it adds value to the topic. However, be careful not to spam the content with your commentary to avoid getting a negative impact on your website’s reputation.
Backlinks to avoid
Paid links
Search engines like Google assess the value of a website based on its genuinely earned popularity with other sites online. Search engines have terms that discourage buying or selling backlinks. Doing so may affect your site’s placement in search rankings.
Backlinks from a press release that is not newsworthy
If you release a press release about your company moving to a new building or about you having your site redesigned, search engines see your announcement as spammy content, which can negatively affect your SEO.
13. Low-quality directory links
When you create a business profile in directories that aren’t trustworthy or relevant to your brand, search engines can consider it a spammy practice.
Low-quality links in forums
If you plan to post in forums, especially commentary that includes backlinks, you should make sure that you only post on high-quality forums and relevant discussions. Posting and spamming links on forums can have a more negative effect than what you intend.
How do you earn backlinks?
There are three primary ways you can gain backlinks.
Natural Links
As the name suggests, natural links are created naturally without you having to generate them through guest posting and other link-building strategies.
In simpler terms, natural backlinks happen when other webmasters, writers, bloggers, or website owners link to your content because they believe it is useful for their followers and adds value to their web pages.
Natural links are widely accepted as the best, safest, and fastest ways to promote your website and improve its ranking. That being said, natural links should be avoided if you do not have enough experience with backlinking. While there are programs you can use to automate backlinking, the tools sometimes link to spammy sites and other types of web pages that could negatively impact your business in the long run.
Manual Links
Putting it simply, manual links can be acquired through link earning efforts, such as creating a guest post. For instance, if a health and lifestyle website reached out to a beauty resource and requested a link, the backlink would be considered manual. Guest posting for a website relevant to yours is also another way to earn a manual link.
In contrast with natural backlinks, you have more control over who you choose to build links for you and how the said links are created. This allows you to only give relevant sites permission to link back to your website so it looks more natural when crawled by search engines.
Despite the benefits, more work is involved in the process of building a manual backlinking profile.
Self-created links
Self-created links are non-editorial links created when a site manager adds a backlink into a forum, blog post comment, or online directory. While these are the easiest types of backlinks to get, it is commonly considered a “black hat SEO” strategy.”
How do you determine the value of backlinks?
As indicated above, not all backlinks are valuable to have on your website. Some are advantageous to have while others should definitely be avoided. Understanding the factors that influence your backlink value is crucial for building a backlink profile and ensuring you have high-quality links. We’ve listed down the six factors that influence the value of your backlinks.
Follow or no follow backlinks
Site owners can choose whether their backlink can pass authority or “link juice” to the destination site. A no-follow link does not pass any “juice” to the website it is linking to and specifies that a link does not have to be counted as a vote by a search engine. Overall, no-follow links do not help in terms of SEO upvotes. However, No follows are still valuable in providing context to Google.
Much like an internal link, the Anchor text of a backlink can increase your “expertise” rating in Google’s eyes, even if its a NoFollow, which can increase your EAT ranking. The more semantically-related terms you have linking to your site, the more your expertise rating will increase. Eventually, your domain authority would also increase if you have enough terms of similar nature internally and externally linking to your site.
A good rule of thumb is 20% no follow and 80% follow. This is in fact a recommended ratio of DoFollow/NoFollow according to Google.
Authority of linking domain
Backlinks obtained from websites or webpages with high authority or domain ranking are usually more valuable than links from low-quality or new websites.
Location, where should you place your backlinks?
It is very important where you put the backlink on your page. Website architecture is a significant ranking factor to Google, as is the positioning of your backlink. For instance, a backlink placed in the footer of the page may not pass as much juice as one added in a relevant paragraph of a blog post.
There are three main areas most articles should have a link. Additionally, the framework of the type follows this methodology:
-The Main menu or Header of the page should look for the brand name and link to the site at the first mention of the brand.
-The main body of the content/article should have a non-branded but functional term. This is the most important backlink. The term should hopefully be transactional and have a high search volume.
-Finally, the footer link is lower in value but still should be a link that provides additional information not provided in the article. The link could be a long tail branded or non-branded term < Brand> & <term linking to an article with more information>
Number, how many backlinks should you have on a page?
If you have a backlink listed on a page together with hundreds of other links, it will not be as valuable as a link listed on a page among only a few links. Generally, three is a good number per company. If the article is a case study or long-form investigation then this number will be higher. Additionally, the article should also have more than one site referenced. Therefore, three links for the domain are ideal.
Having said that, remember that when many topics are covered and the anchor texts are all different semantically from one another, the backlinks from that article won’t be as powerful to anyone receiving the links. Anchor text ratio is really important to consider. Normally, an anchor text ratio is meant to describe an entire website but this can also be true for individual pages: 30% to 40% branded anchors, 30% to 40% partial match anchors, and 20% to 40% generic.
Relevance
Search engines can determine if a backlink is irrelevant to your website. If a fashion blog in California links to your automobile company in Canada, the backlink would not be relevant and will likely not pass as much authority or “link juice” to your website.
Anchor Text
An anchor text, also known as link text, refers to the clickable words used to link one page to another. The anchor text is often underlined and colored differently. In this example, the blue words are the anchor text.
Not all anchor texts are deemed SEO-friendly. Backlinks hyperlinked on a relevant key phrase or an exact match anchor text will give your website more juice compared to when it is hyperlinked to a generic anchor text.
For example, hyperlinking “SEO services” to a page about an SEO agency will give more juice than hyperlinking to the words “click here.”
Should I do competitor backlink research?
One of the best ways to get your website to rank on SERPs is to build as many high-quality and relevant backlinks as possible. While building a backlink profile is not hard, acquiring high-value links from authoritative websites is not easy, either. Fortunately, conducting an analysis of competitor backlinks will help you build an effective backlink profile, boost your organic search, and generate more traffic for your website.
There are two types of competitor backlink research that you can perform. Domain-level competitor research requires you to search for the backlink profile of competing domains. In contrast, page-level competitor research only requires you to look at the backlinks of a certain web page.
Competitor backlink analysis can be done manually. However, there are advanced SEO tools online that can help you collect the data you need to determine the best backlinks of your top competitors. Here at CreateVenue, we use the best analysis tools available on the market, including Ahrefs, Majestic, and SEMrush.
How do you build a backlink profile?
A backlink profile is a portfolio of links from all websites that link to your site. Having a backlink profile can significantly boost your credibility, even if it contains no follow and spam links.
There are several backlink strategies you can employ to create a natural-looking profile.
- Use varying anchor texts
Targeting one specific term and building links using the exact match of anchor texts every time will not be beneficial for your SEO. Try to gain backlinks by hyperlinking varied anchor texts.
For instance, if your main target keywords are “comfort food,” you can also target “comfort food list,” “comfort food recipes,” and even “healthy comfort food.”
- Build links across your website
When you are building backlinks, do not focus your efforts solely on optimizing the homepage or a certain piece of content. Choose important inner pages and get backlinks to those as well.
- Get different types of backlinks
Do not focus exclusively on one type of link. Strive to gain links from other sources, such as social media sites, sponsorships, awards, quality directory listings, guest posts, etc.
- Do not bombard your website with links
While it is good to build up your number of backlinks, be wary of the rate at which you are earning links. It is good to remember that the quality of your links matters more than the sheer number you have.
- Generate high-quality content
One great way to improve your backlink profile is by generating high-quality, high-value pieces that your audience will share on social media platforms or forums.
To determine what content to write, use Google Analytics to see which types of your content are getting the most views and clicks. Focus on generating and sharing more content within the same category.
What is Semantic Search?
The word “semantics” refers to the historical and psychological study of the meaning in language or logic. It also means the meaning or relationship of meanings of a sign.
Combined with the word “search,” Semantic Search refers to a search engine’s attempt to generate the most accurate and valuable SERP results possible by understanding user intent, context, and conceptual meanings to match a search query, even when there is no keyword that matches.
Semantic search works by comparing hundreds to thousands of different characteristics that have been learned by machine learning to come to a number that specifies how similar content is to a query.
Semantic search is different from a pure keyword search in that it focuses on natural language processing, machine learning, and deep learning to better understand consumers and context. In contrast, a pure keyword search only focuses on matching query words to keywords on documents.
To give a better idea of how semantic search works, we included a few examples below.
Factors that guide how semantic search works
There are seven factors that guide how semantic search works.
User Intent
The term “user intent” or “search intent” refers to the reason why you are performing a search query or why you are searching for something on a search engine. In most cases, an individual would likely use search engines to buy, find, or learn about something.
For example, if you search for “SEO,” your Google search results will likely feature content about the definition of “search engine optimization.”
The semantic meaning of search terms
As stated in this article, semantic search analyzes the connection between a search query, words related to it, and content on websites. To maximize semantic searches, most SEO experts create a “keyword cluster,” or a group of related keywords. This method ensures your content covers a broader range of a certain topic.
For instance, if you are writing about “wedding dresses,” your keyword cluster may include “wedding,” “bride,” “knee-length dress,” and so on.
Featured snippets
A featured snippet refers to the short text that appears at the top of Google’s search results that answers a query. The content that appears in a snippet is pulled from indexed web pages. The most common type of snippets are definitions, lists, steps, and tables.
Rich results
Rich search results highlight key information that answers a query. It also helps search engines understand the purpose of a page, making it easier for Google to give users more relevant results.
Rich results often appear when queries are related to books, corporate contact, critic review of a film, events, fact checks, and job openings.
Voice search
Voice searches are usually very direct and include natural languages and longer phrases. Voice search is also one of the fastest-growing types of searches. At least 55% of users do voice searches to look for answers to a query, according to Perficient.
RankBrain
RankBrain is a system that Google first rolled out in October 2015. The algorithm helps Google understand the likely user intent of a search query as well as related concepts and phrases.
Hummingbird
Google’s Hummingbird update, put into place in 2013, focused on accuracy and precision. The algorithm was designed to better approximate the true intent of searchers and provide more accurate results for voice searches and conversational language.
For example, Hummingbird made it possible for Google to recommend a set of local Mexican restaurant options for a query about “best place for Mexican” rather than show the locations for people to live in Mexico.
Why is semantic search important?
Many things have changed since 2010 when optimizing your website became more of a concern and people began including as many keywords as possible to rank higher on search engines. Users have also moved away from initiating keyword-focused research to more contextual searches based on concepts.
Semantic Search has allowed Google to improve search accuracy and understand the context of a query, which includes the searcher’s location and device, to give more relevant results. Now, Google can easily interpret your search queries by distinguishing between different things and looking at spelling variations and search history.
How to find semantic keywords
When you talk about semantic keywords in relation to SEO, you are referring to keywords that are conceptually related to the main keyword. For instance, the keyword “education” would be semantically related to the keywords “education loan” and “education qualification.”
When you are building your SEO strategy, it is critical that you conduct keyword research to find semantic keywords and boost your content marketing efforts. Doing keyword research can be difficult and overwhelming. However, there are several keyword research tools that you can use to create a list of semantic keywords.
Google’s “Related Search” Suggestions
When you type a query on Google, the search engine will give you a list of related searches at the bottom of the search results page.
Having said that, the suggestions at the bottom of the SERP may not necessarily be semantic keywords. At times, Google’s Hummingbird feature may just rewrite your queries that better meet your situational or informational needs.
Google’s “People Also Ask” Suggestions
Apart from using Google’s “Related Search” suggestions to find semantic keywords, you can also refer to the “People Also Ask” section, which is designed to pinpoint related questions that the searcher might also ask. The “People Also Ask” section is found toward the middle of the search results page.
Google Ads Tool
Google’s Ads Tool offers the Keyword Planner feature designed to help content developers and marketers build their list of semantically related keywords.
Google’s Keyword Planner is a powerful keyword research tool. Unlike “People Also Ask” and “Related Search,” the keyword planner has the ability to show you the popularity and search rates for the keywords you are considering. Additionally, the tool also offers suggestions that are related to your company’s particular industry.
Google Trends
Google Trends helps content developers not only find semantically related keywords, but the tool also shows users whether a particular term is trending up or down and the locations or regions where they are the most popular.
Additionally, Google Trends will show you other searches and topics related to your keyword. For instance, searching for “exercise equipment” would yield the term “rent exercise equipment” in related searches and “treadmill” in related topics.
Creating content
Once you’ve created a comprehensive list of semantically related keywords, it’s time to put your time and effort into creating well-written content for the topic in question to boost your SEO.
Remember, semantic SEO is not just about finding related keywords. It is also about providing searchers with valuable and factual information that could help solve their queries. Therefore, your content has to be extensive and comprehensive so others would consider it a linkable asset.
How to use Semantic SEO to boost rankings and domain rating
By creating semantically-rich content, website owners can see significant improvements in their rankings and overall SEO performance. There are multiple strategies you can employ or incorporate into your own SEO campaigns.
Optimize for keyword clusters
With its modern advancements, Google is no longer ranking keyword-based content. Now, the search engine ranks content featuring multiple keywords in the same semantic cluster.
Improve content length
In some cases, the simplest strategy to boost your overall SEO performance is to increase the length of your content by offering more topical depth of your topic. While content length is not a ranking factor, longer articles usually display stronger semantic signals.
Having said that, avoid relying on keyword stuffing or content repetition to improve the article’s length.
Answer questions under Google’s “People Also Ask” section
One great way to improve your web content’s SEO score is by answering the common questions that users are asking in relation to your topic’s keyword. By answering the questions, you are ensuring that your web page is giving valuable information to readers and giving your page the opportunity to rank on SERPs.
Use content optimizer tools
Content optimizer tools are designed to do the hard work of researching semantically-related keywords for you. Some content optimizer tools could also scan your web page and determine the terms and structure you need to get your content ranking on the first page.
There are plenty of content optimizer tools available on the internet. The best tools include Surfer SEO, Frase, SearchMetrics, Grammarly, Hemingway Editor, and SEMRush.
Frequently Asked Questions
What is a linkable asset?
Linkable assets are high-quality pieces that attract backlinks and social shares from other content developers. Articles usually become linkable assets if they include elements that people can refer to when looking for factual information. Some examples of linkable assets include research papers, case studies, guides, polls, and statistics.
What is the difference between internal and external links?
The main difference between internal links and external links is the former point to another page on your website, keeping visitors on your site longer. In contrast, external links or outbound links point your visitors to a page on another website, possibly one that supports the information you put in your content. External links also help improve your site’s credibility and value.
What is the difference between a hyperlink and an anchor text?
A hyperlink points to a target domain or page, either within your own website or on another site. An anchor text is the visible characters and words that are displayed when linking to another page online.
How many backlinks do I need to rank on search engines?
The number of backlinks needed by websites to go up higher on search engines depends on the difficulty of a keyword. For example, you’d likely need 0 to 25 backlinks for low competition keywords and 50 to 100 backlinks for high competition keywords.
Having said that, the number of backlinks you need to rank will depend on your website’s domain authority and the rank of the incoming backlinks.
How many backlinks do I need to increase my website’s domain authority?
On average, you would need between 40 and 50 backlinks to your website’s homepage to increase your domain authority. However, you would need fewer links if each one has a high value.
Why should I do link building?
Link building helps search engines discover new web pages and determine which pages should be placed higher in SERPs. A page with a number of high-quality inbound links is considered by Google as a quality resource worthy of citation.
Why is semantic analysis important?
Semantic analysis helps in extracting important information that would allow computers to understand and interpret sentences and whole documents the way a human would. The semantic analysis also provides the search engine with a clear understanding of words in context. For example, semantic analysis would define “apple” as fruit and “Apple” as a tech company.
What is NLP?
Natural language processing (NLP) helps machines understand the human language so they can perform repetitive tasks on their own. In SEO, NLP is the subfield of artificial intelligence (AI) that Google uses to understand the main keywords or phrases on a certain web page.
What is semantic search using NLP?
Semantic search uses NLP techniques to easily process and understand large amounts of sentences, paragraphs, documents, and speech data.