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Beginner’s Guide to Backlinks And Best Backlink Methods

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1. What is a backlink?

examples of a backlink

A backlink is nothing but the opposite of an external link, linking our website URL to another. However, in professional SEO, backlinks “highlight our website’s quality and experience.” Whenever we get a backlink from a high-authority site like The New York Times or a niche-specific leader like HubSpot that links to your content, they are essentially telling Google, “We trust this website and send our audience there.” In 2026, Google’s E-E-A-T (Experience, Expertise, Authoritativeness, and Trustworthiness) guidelines treat these endorsements as the primary signal for ranking. These backlinks play a major role in pushing our website’s domain value, additionally boosting our rankings.

2. Why Backlinks are Essential: 4 Pillars of Website Success

Without backlinks, even the best content can remain ranked on page 10. Here is why they are non-negotiable:

1.(Ranking Power)

Search engines use backlinks to determine the domain authority of a site.

  • The Reality: Websites with a strong backlink profile rank 3.8x higher than those without. Every quality link passes “Link Equity” (or “Link Juice”), which acts like high-octane fuel for your rankings.
  • Faster Indexing & Discovery

Google’s bots (crawlers) navigate the internet via links.

  • The Reality: If you have zero backlinks, Google might only visit your site once a month. If you have links from active news sites, Google will crawl your site daily, meaning your new articles can rank within minutes of hitting “Publish.”

    2. Qualified Referral Traffic

Backlinks are bridges. When a reader is on a site they already trust and sees a link to your resource, they arrive at your site with “pre-installed” trust.

  • The Reality: Referral traffic from high-authority sites often has a 20-30% higher conversion rate than cold organic search traffic.

    3. AI Visibility (SGE & Gemini)

In 2026, AI search engines (like Google SGE) generate answers based on “Trusted Sources.”

  • The Reality: If your site is frequently linked by authoritative domains, AI models are much more likely to cite your brand in their generated summaries.

3. How to Get Backlink: 10 Best SEO Techniques for 2026

  1. Digital PR & Original Data

This is the most powerful way to get from high-authority sites for free.

  • The Method: Conduct a survey of 500 people in your niche. Publish the “State of the Industry 2026” report.
  • Why it works: Journalists are under pressure to provide “data proof” in their articles. If you provide the data, they provide the link.
  1. Gov & Edu Resource Pitching

Links from government and university sites are the “Holy Grail” because they cannot be bought.

  • How to get: Create a “Student Career Guide” or a “Public Safety Tool.”
  • The Pitch: Contact the “Resources” editor of a local university. Since your content provides a free service to their students, they are often happy to link to it.
  1. The “Skyscraper” Technique 2.0
  • Step 1: Find a piece of content based on your niche that has hundreds of links but is outdated (e.g., from 2023).
  • Step 2: Create a version that is 10x better—add 2026 data, better visuals, and a video summary.
  • Step 3: Reach out to the people who are linked to the old version and offer them your new update.
  1. Blog Commenting 
  • The Method: These are techniques to get backlinks by commenting on others’ blogs or sites based on the niche. Ex: digital marketing + “leave aeply.”
  • The Value: It helps to get backlinks based on the niche if website owners approve your comment. There is also a chance for more traffic from that website to your site.
  1. HARO & Connectively (Expert Commentary)
  • The Method: Sign up for Connectively. Reporters post questions like “How will AI affect real estate in 2026?” and give answers, or ask your questions, so that those who are visiting the website can check and help. Additionally, you will get traffic and expert tips.
  • The Win: If they use your quote, you get a backlink from a high-PR site like Forbes or Business Insider.
  1. Guest Posting on “Tier 1” Sites

Forget low-quality “guest post farms.” Guest posting sites are highly powerful sites with more value. These are high-quality backlinks.

  • The Strategy: Pitch a unique, high-level opinion piece to a site like Search Engine Journal or Fast Company. One link from a site of this caliber is worth 1,000 links from random blogs.
  1. Web 2.0 Backlink Method
  • The Platforms: Medium, LinkedIn Pulse, and Blogger.
  • The Technique: Don’t just “re-post.” Write a summary of your main article and link to your site for the “Full Case Study Data.” This passes high-authority traffic.
  1. Infographic  and image off-page seo Techniques
  • The Method: Just search on Google for free image submission sites” and “free infographic submission websites,” and you will see the number of lists. select best working image sites, and get backlinks
  • The Pitch: “I see you used my chart on [Topic]! I’m glad it helped. Could you please add a small source link so your readers can see the full study?”
  1. Niche Directories (E-E-A-T Builders)
  • The Targets: Only use moderated, industry-specific directories like Clutch.co (for agencies) or G2.
  • The Benefit: These links verify your “Business Entity” to Google, helping with local and brand SEO.
  1. Forum Backlink Submissions
  • The Platforms: Reddit, Quora, and niche-specific forums. These are highly trusted and recommended sites to get backlinks for our site. If we get 1 link also from these, it gives so much value and is very useful compared to other off-page SEO techniques.
  • The Rule: Be a “helpful human” first. Answer 10 questions perfectly. Only link to your site if your tool or article is the absolute best answer to that person’s problem.

4. How Backlinks Are Helpful to Our Website

When you start building backlinks, you create a “snowball effect.”

  1. Rankings Rise: Your pages move from page 10 or older pages to page 1.
  2. Traffic Increases: More people see your content, which increases organic traffic
  3. Passive Links: Because your content is now at the top of Google, other bloggers will find it while doing research and link to you naturally without you even asking. It boosts getting more links without hard work.

5. Conclusion: Quality Over Quantity

In 2026, the biggest mistake you can make is getting more backlinks.” This is not the right approach to get backlinks.

  • The Gold Rule: One link from a relevant, high-authority site is better than 10,000 spammy links. Google gives priority to quantity over quality. Quality backlinks are more important than quantity backlinks.

Building a backlink profile is a marathon. It requires patience, original content, and a “value-first” mindset. But once the foundation is built, your website becomes an immovable authority in your niche.

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