Moon Buzz Media

When people talk blindly about backlinks, most of us in the SEO field perk up our ears. If what follows is a diffident assertion that the individual or company in question simply needs to buy backlinks, you may catch a few eye rolls.

Why?

Because saying you need backlinks is like saying you need tools. The fact is there are as many types of backlinks as their are tools in a general contractor's toolbox. Each of them is used for something entirely different. Backlinks may all have the same general goal (to increase your organic traffic), but understanding how they go about doing it is paramount.

Just as you wouldn't use a saw to tighten a pipe, you wouldn't use media syndication for increasing traffic to your YouTube channel.

There are also multiple layers of SEO possible that few people consider. If you're trying to boost the traffic to your site, boosting traffic to videos on your YouTube channel that are embedded within your site can actually provide you with a nice bump in numbers.

Confused yet? It's more complicated than most people realize. The nuances are important.

Details matter.

Everything is contextual. Everything is related. Everything is possible. But understanding the landscape, as well as what different types of backlinks do, is paramount to the success of any SEO campaign.

We'll do our best here to define the different types of backlinks and their intended use. Please read through each carefully before making a purchase, as you may find you are able to complete the backlink creation all on your own! The best possible situation, from our perspective, is that you'll walk away from reading through these resources with a renewed confidence in your ability to create SEO campaigns.

If you're busy, or simply don't want to deal with the headache of SEO, we're here to help. But we sincerely hope you make an effort as it will make you a better digital marketer.

Here's a tried and true list of the most important backlink types that you should be aware of.

Editorial Backlinks - Editorial backlinks are the holy grail you should constantly be aspiring towards. These are backlinks that, because of your incredible content, have come about naturally. People are linking to your website because they dig what you're saying.

They're picking up what you're laying down.

That means you didn't pay for it, didn't ask for it, and are simply receiving it as a peripheral benefit of having excellent content that provides unique answers to people's questions.

All we can do here is suggest you focus on your content. If you haven't already gone through the process, conduct a full Keyword & Topic analysis to ascertain what niche topics you can actually get noticed for online.

Guest Blogging - If you're on a budget, this is worth looking into. Guest blogging is an excellent way to provide value for related sites in the form of content while you link back to your own site as payment for that content.

Find other websites with blog content related to your own, and approach the site owners to see if you can guest blog in return for links. The more trusted the site, the stronger your backlinks.

No time to deal with this? No worries!

If you want access to websites with 50+ domain authority, and have a built-in SEO budget, let's talk. We'll take care of everything, from finding appropriate niches for your industry to writing the content, submitting and linking back to your site. It's a bit on the pricey side, but high domain authority guest blog opportunities are hard to come by in a pinch.

Learn more about Guest Blogging >>

Local SEO-If everything is new to you, you're just starting out, or you have no idea what Local SEO is, you should continue reading. More than that, you should seriously consider a Local SEO Citation Audit.

Business listings that provide your company's Name, Address, and Phone Number are oftentimes referred to as NAP accounts.

It is inherently easy to overlook the importance of these. Do yourself a solid: don't write these off. They're crucial for local search results.

Everything from Google My Business, to Yelp and your various social media accounts can make or break your regional signal online. If you have listings with slightly different names, or (as is often the case) have listings you don't even know about with false information, search engines will drop your ranking. We have had many customers over the years who come to us scratching their heads over why their Google search results ranking is so poor, only to find out a previous business name or outdated details are getting in the way of proper indexation. The small stuff really does matter here.

Learn more about Local SEO >>

Sitewide Links- Sitewide links are the most ubiquitous, and hence are not given as much relevance as other sorts of contextual links.

BUT...if you are a digital agency, or have some reason for crediting yourself or your business across a site outside of your own, you should take advantage of this low hanging fruit.

Add your company's name to the header or footer so it displays sitewide (hence the name). Remember to provide a link to your website :).

Acknowledgement Links - These are just as it sounds. If you have provided something of value for an institution or individual, don't be afraid to ask them for acknowledgement.

Badges- If you run a business that in some way provides accreditation or opportunities for accomplishment, strongly consider creating a badge that recipients can place on their website for proof. This is a completely viable backlink that many qualified organizations overlook.

Forum/Comment Links- We're actually here going to diverge from many SEO companies and suggest that you use incredible discretion when it comes to submitting backlinks through comments and/or forums.

Why? It's obnoxious.

Except when it's not. If there is a legitimate reason for linking back to your website, because it will help explain or elaborate upon a topic of interest, then by all means provide a backlink.

Just don't be that online user who floods every comment with their affiliate links to raybans on Amazon. There's a special place in internet hell reserved for those people.