Links have always been an important factor in how search engines like Google display a site in search results, and they continue to be relevant today.
Search engines actually look at every link to your site as proof of the quality of your content.
After all, if another site wants to link to you as a source or redirect their users from their site to one of your pages, then you offer something of value.
Thus, the more links pointing to your site, the more trustworthy it will look. Therefore, don't forget to use href backlink checker.
Unfortunately, Google doesn't give details about how it assesses the trustworthiness or authority of a site. But there are many tools that can give you an idea of how trustworthy your site is.
Many of these tools focus on domain authority. This metric is based on site link data, age, size and traffic-related metrics.
Essentially, the higher the authority of your domain, the easier it will be for your site to get high rankings in search results.
When you're working on getting links for your site, you can periodically check this metric and see how your efforts are affecting authority.
And as your domain authority increases, the likelihood of getting your site in search results will also increase.
The average domain authority displayed among the first few results from this study is a bit confusing, as sites with lower domain authority appear in the first position than those that were in the second position of any given search query.
Nevertheless, it is clear that ranking sites in the top half of the first page occurred only if the site had a higher average domain authority than those in the bottom half of the page.
When building links to your site, it is important to keep an eye on quality.
You might think that the more links, the better.
And that's true!
But only if your links come from reputable sites.
This is because when it comes to search engine value, link quality is much more important than quantity.
A few honestly earned links from reputable sites will have a much more positive effect on your rankings than dozens of bought links from spam sites.
And it's not just that links from low-quality sites won't help you improve your search results - they can even lower your chances of successfully ranking.
In 2012, Google began penalizing site owners who used link distribution schemes to influence their search algorithm. We're talking about buying or selling links, excessive link exchanges, large-scale "article marketing" campaigns and the use of automated link building software.
The search engine began issuing penalty manuals that included examples of when a human reviewer determined that a site was in violation of Google's quality rules.
These penalties are still being imposed today, but Google's algorithm itself has become more sophisticated and is now able to detect unethical use of links to boost rankings.
This began with the release of their first Penguin update, which was designed to automatically detect spammy links and manipulative linking practices.
Before this update, the total number of links pointing to a site had a much greater impact on a site's score.
But since the update was released, and as more and more updates come out, Google has gotten better at making sure that honest, authoritative and relevant links matter more.
And, on the other hand, these same algorithm updates are designed to make sure that sites with manipulative and spammy links are not rewarded for their dishonest actions.
So if you create links to your site, make sure you do it in a way that does not violate Google's rules for webmasters.
Don't pay for links, don't participate in link exchange schemes, and don't try to outwit the system in any other way.
As search engine algorithms continue to evolve and become more advanced, these tactics are likely to harm your site's ranking rather than improve it.
And even if Google's algorithm doesn't immediately unravel your attempts, you could still suffer a penalty in the future.
So even if these methods will improve your rankings in the short term, they simply aren't worth your time.
Instead, focus on building naturally relevant links that will be valuable to users.
As you may have guessed, gaining a decent number of links of this type is a little more difficult than paying a few other site owners to link to one of your pages.