Rankings and backlinks have a strong correlation. This has always been a fact in internet marketing. Although this field has changed over time this is the only thing that has not changed. Contrary to many predictions backlinks are still important and it seems, today more than ever. They are still at the center of CEO efforts and any results are largely dependent on them. However, their weight and value changed. Today it’s all about their quality and less than about their quantity. But if you have a large number of quality backlinks you are doing SEO right. One of the best and most valuable backlinks is editorial backlinks. As they are more valuable than any others we should focus on them.
What are they?
Simply put these links are naturally occurring and are not asked for, paid for, or traded for. They are simply the result of a website having good, quality content. This content is relevant and fresh, newsworthy, and reliable. Thus it draws attention and generates links naturally, by itself. People link to it because of its trustworthiness. Because it provides value and benefit to the reader, user, or customer.
So, these links are created when the webmaster links their content to your content to provide more information or explanation. They occur naturally and voluntarily because your content is relevant and valuable. So, quality content is usually what creates them affirming the statement that content is, still, king. These editorial links have a large value because they typically come from authoritative websites. In this way, they are indicating that your content and website are also of authority and value.
Usually, these editorial links come from authoritative sites or expert roundups. They may also come from sites referring users for more information. Because you provide valuable infographics, from interviews or link roundups.
Benefits from these backlinks
There are numerous benefits you can have from having many editorial backlinks. Their value is such that having only a few of them can be much valuable that your whole SEO strategy is based on a large number of lower-quality backlinks. Here is what they provide:
- They establish authority – as stated editorial links can establish you as an authoritative source of information as they are from an authoritative website
- They influence the SEO rankings of your website. These backlinks provide value to your website. They are from authoritative websites and links from such sites help your backlink profile. A quality profile helps you rank higher in search results.
- Generate traffic. A higher ranking will generate more traffic to your website. But that’s not the only benefit. More people get to see your content because there is more visibility on your website. This also gets your content referred more which generates even more traffic.
- Build relationships. Reaching out to other websites in hopes of getting an editorial backlink leads to the establishment of business relationships. These, particularly if they are long-term, can generate other positive effects in the long run.
- Build brands. Generating authority editorial links helps promote your brand by establishing you as the authority in the field. It promotes your knowledge, and expertise as well as the services and good you provide.
.. and drawbacks
Getting editorial links demands time and effort. You have to invest a lot of time to acquire editorial backlinks. Getting only a couple of them is not enough. So, get experts like Link Department to be involved in this continually. At the same time striving to get these links may lead you to stray from the purpose of your website. Also trying to buy them can get you penalized as well as lead you to buy low-quality backlinks. In this way, you run the risk of jeopardizing your entire SEO effort. So, keeping your SEO on track is important.
How to get editorial backlinks?
There are numerous ways of acquiring backlinks like these. Some are clear while others might not seem as obvious. So, let’s list just a few:
- Trustworthy domain
- Evergreen Content
- Studies and infographics
- Interviews
Trustworthy domain
Try to use a trustworthy domain as webmasters won’t link to a domain that doesn’t look right. These should consist of a branded domain name rather than a keyword-specific name. It should also have a trusted extension like .org, .com, or .net. Others may seem like spam and won’t be linked to.
Evergreen Content
Content is king so it must be quality content that is relevant and highly linkable. Such valuable content attracts many backlinks. Stay current and relevant for the users. However, you should try to create evergreen content meaning that it must stay relevant for longer. It should be in demand well after publishing. This content must be accurate and trustworthy. This type of content attracts more editorial backlinks than content that is short-termed and short-lived. Also, try to update any content you have with any bigger changes that might occur.
Studies and infographics
Studies and infographics are always a magnet for editorial backlinks. Any good research that is accurate, on point, and relevant can will easily attract the attention of webmasters from authoritative sites. Data like these are then used by webmasters that then link directly to sources of data that they use and reference. Getting backlinks with infographics is also important as they are very popular as visual references to the data. So, they are also very linkable and making them valuable for attracting editorial backlinks.
Interviews
With the increasing popularity of online video content publishing, interviews are a great solution for gathering these backlinks. When you publish the interview webmasters want to use extracts from them in their content. They will even use quotes from them if the person is a noted expert. In these cases, they will then link to a source. Even the person giving the interview will want to link to it from their website. In this way, you can easily generate a lot o editorial backlinks that you need.
Shor recap on editorial backlinks
These types of backlinks today provide the highest value for your SEO effort. They directly increase the visibility of your content, influence the ranking and generate traffic. As such, understanding them and why and how to generate editorial backlinks is important. Short guides like these can certainly start you on the right path.