Backlinks are the Wild West.

A reputable website linking to your website in a relevant context (also known as a high quality backlink) can do wonders for your SEO. So, every website owner should simply reach out to trustworthy companies, and politely ask them to link to their own website. Right? Sure! Sort of.

The reality of backlinks is complicated, for a number of reasons. Below, we’ve broken down some of the challenges of getting high quality backlinks in 2024, things to avoid at all costs when acquiring backlinks, and finally, how to get backlinks the right way.

The challenges of getting high quality backlinks

Hypothetically, the companies that will be most inclined to link to your website are the companies that are most relevant to your website. The primary paradox of backlinks, however, is that if a company is directly relevant to your own, that means they’re probably in some way a competitor… and will therefore have little to no reason to link to your site.

Another issue that tends to crop up, at least for domains that have been around for a while, is the toxic backlink. This is when an unreputable website (a spammy one, essentially, typically a dodgy directory) links to your website.

At Designtastic, we’re regularly running backlink reports for our clients, and they’re often stunned at just how many toxic websites are linking to their own site. These ‘bad’ backlinks can be about as negative for your SEO as ‘good’ backlinks can be positive for your SEO. Google has strict guidelines when it comes to spammy links; if they suspect a website of gaming the system in this way, they might end up suppressing it, or deindexing it from SERP (search engine results pages) altogether.

Don’t panic, though; most spammy links are simply ignored by Google. But if you suspect toxic backlinks might be harming your chances on SERP, there are ways to address the issue.

How NOT to get backlinks

So, before we get into the right way to go about getting backlinks, it’s equally important to know what not to do. We recommend you avoid the following:

• Paying for backlinks. This also includes demanding backlinks in a contract (in exchange for your services). Google is vehemently against this tactic. Reportedly, most link builders take the risk anyway (as much as 74.3%), but if Google catches you doing this, the penalty could be permanent.
• Exchanging links with another website. A backlink for a backlink might seem like a reasonable trade, but Google frowns upon the tactic.
• PBN (private blog networks). A form of black hat SEO, this is when one entity owns several blogs and links to you from all of them. Big no-no.
• Link building bots.

Basically, if the link’s not organic, Google may penalise your website. But when the world of backlinks is such a minefield, how are you supposed to go organic?

How to get backlinks in 2024: 4 tips

Believe it or not, it’s definitely possible to get backlinks the right way:

Tip 1: Request links on sites where your company has been mentioned
Set up Google Alerts for mentions of your company on other websites. If any of those sites haven’t linked to your site, ask them to remedy this. You can use platforms like Ahrefs to check the domain authority of the sites in question.

Tip 2: Request to be featured on a (reputable) resource page
Not all link lists are spam. There are some perfectly legitimate resource pages out there that would be happy to link to your site if your content is relevant.

Tip 3: Sign up for Connectively
Formerly Help a Reporter Out, the Connectively community is full of journalists and content creators looking for authoritative sources to link to. There’s typically a lot of competition, but it’s worth signing up, especially if you’re an expert in a niche field.

Tip 4: Publish linkable content
Easier said than done, perhaps. But if you’re regularly publishing comprehensive resources on your website and sharing it via social media and other digital channels, then in time the links should come.

Looking to build up your website’s backlinks? Get started now by messaging Fiona!