What Makes For a Quality Backlink?

Things are shifting radically across the SEO landscape these days, but one thing that hasn’t changed is the potential value of the backlink. Of course, not all backlinks are worth having in place and some could even see your site stripped of value – it’s no longer a game of simple quantity winning the day.Nowadays, it’s crucial to make sure that each and every link diverting traffic back to your website is of the utmost quality and brings only good tidings. In terms of what it is that makes a backlink a positive example or otherwise is something that all SEO experts have slightly different opinions on, but there are some elements that remain constant across the board.    So whether it’s your job to tackle link building duties or you outsource SEO to third-parties, here’s a look at a few concrete examples of what makes for good quality backlinks:From Sources of RelevanceThis is getting to be the most important consideration of all as search engines up their efforts to keep their listings as relevant as possible. Being relevant doesn’t mean that the host site has to be 99.9% identical to your own, but it must at least be relevant in one way or another. A catering site would receive credit for a link posted with a manufacturer of crockery for example, but a fishing site wouldn’t gain much from another offering advice on retirement options.Sources You TrustThere are certain sites that you just know you can automatically trust without having to evaluate them – and the same goes for Google. Common examples include the BBC, CNN, Wikipedia, the Wall Street Journal and so many more besides – the name alone is enough to tell you how trustworthy they are. And of course, if any sites of such a nature are willing to place a link to your own site on their pages, it speaks volumes for your own operations and the credit comes flowing.A Traffic SourcePeople seem to have forgotten what it is the backlink actually exists for – as in bringing traffic to a site by clicking on it. The right link in the right place can bring a site so much more benefit than a few SEO points alone – it can directly refer traffic that can mean more conversions and a huge jump in revenues. As such, don’t forget when placing backlinks to try at all costs to get them in places where folk will actually use them…the busier the site, the better!In the Thick of ItLast but not least, it is always of greater benefit to have a backlink appear right in the middle of the text the page contains than in some kind of reference box at the bottom…or on another page. This kind of prominence is not only great for SEO points, but is also proven to be far more attractive when it comes to readers clicking through and heading directly to your site. These aren’t always the easier links to get out in the wild, but are always worth the effort when you manage it.