Why are links important for SEO?

SEO is one of the most trend-setting words of this century

With the advent of search engine optimization (SEO), everything has changed on the internet. Websites are constantly looking for more visitors, so they use different marketing strategies to increase their numbers. Many people ask: why are links important for SEO? In this article we will seek to explain their role and how they make a difference, and explore whether they are as important as keywords.

A decade or so ago, the prevailing strategy involved simply exploiting key words, including them several times on a given web page in order for it rank faster and appear among the first Google search result pages. But this approach was unnatural, and the text appeared forced as a result.

As search engine algorithms become ever more sophisticated – especially in the case of Google, the world’s leading search engine – other criteria must now be taken into account in order to stand out organically. One of these criteria is the inclusion of links – both internal, inbound and outbound.

In 2021, Google made several changes to its algorithm that included titles in search engines. Six months later it instigated a Core Update. Modifications like these mean it’s necessary to update web pages from time to time, to stay in line with search engine requirements.

Some people are still sceptical as to whether external links help with SEO. Our experience at Sherlock Communications shows us that they absolutely do, as we will explain here. But first, let’s review some key concepts.

When you browse a web page, you will invariably come across a sentence which is underlined and in a different colour (usually blue, black or red). This is a link, which will take you to another website.

The idea is that, while reading the article, users can navigate away to learn more about the subject in question. This function has now become an important ranking factor for Google and search engines in general.

The different types of links make your page gain authority.

There are several different types of links: those which are internal, and send you to another page within the website itself, and those which are referred to as Inbound and Outbound. Let’s look at these concepts in detail.

These are links to a site available within other pages of the same website. Search engines can identify these links as they share the same domain. They are useful for navigating within the site, and finding out more about the topic being discussed, or a related topic.

The idea is that people will stay longer on the website, which helps to improve your site retention statistics. In addition, internal links help to distribute the authority of the website at the page level, so each page will build its own authority and relevance for certain terms.

These are links that come from other websites and point to your site. They may have been added by news portals or blogs, and they have a major effect on the relevance of your site for search engines.

This strategy, also known as link building, is so important that it has become a service in its own right. The quantity and quality of these links is one of the most important factors towards how a website ranks on search engine results pages.

This type of link helps to increase the volume of traffic to the website, and also increases the site’s authority. However, not all backlinks will help SEO. Some are considered spam, which is not healthy for the website. Therefore, care should be taken when putting this strategy together.

Are external links good for SEO? The answer is yes. Although sending your readers to another website may sound like a bad idea on paper, it can actually bring you many benefits. The important thing to realise is that the key is the user and their experience, so revising your page to provide more information on the topic from another source is also considered valuable.

These links are important for customers and also have a positive effect on the domain authority of the website. If a research, study or news item is cited, that may be the right place to include an outbound link.

Good content on its own is not enough to optimally position a page. A proper SEO strategy is also required, from implementing internal links to inbound and outbound links. These are just some of the factors that currently help to position a website in search engines.

Having read this article, you may no longer be asking yourself: why are links important for SEO? But if you are still looking for a marketing agency in Latin America, we at Sherlock Communications have a team of experts in digital marketing strategies such as SEO, Link Building and SEM. Contact us to request your customised proposal. Also, if you want to review more content about PR and marketing, you can visit our blog for more tips on these topics.