Backlinking is a great way to add value to your blog content and webpages. Search engines will reward you for having enhanced content like this, but only if you link to quality information on the web. Listed below are signs of good online resources for backlinking so you can sort the good from the bad.
Government And University Websites
Any website whose domain ends in .gov or .edu is run by the government or a school (usually a university). Most of these are high quality, reliable resources that you can use in your posts. The only exception to this rule is when a college or university has a blog where students can post their opinions about current events, scientific studies, etc. Opinion-based blog articles are not always strong enough to support your statements on your website. You will need it look into the resource further to see if it is worth backlinking to.
News Sites
You have to be careful when looking into news sites because some of them are full of spam or fake content that you do not want to be associated with. For instance, The Onion is a popular and fake news site that provides story that sound like they could be real but are just far-fetched enough to know that they are not. If you back link to a site like The Onion and project the information as fact, you run the risk of hurting your search engine ranking in the end.
To be on the safe side, stick with mainstream news sites like Huffington Post, The Wall Street Journal, and the New York Times. You may also reference industry-specific news sites, like TechCrunch, PYMNTS.com, etc. Just make sure that the articles on the site are well written, informative, and fairly up to date.
Articles Written By Experts
Doctors, lawyers, and other specialists in their field typically produce quality content that is worth backlinking to. You may want to stay away from back linking resources related to popular TV shows, like an article written by Dr. Oz. While he is still a licensed physician, his information may not seem quite as valuable in a mind of a search engine because of his celebrity status.
Whatever you do, make sure that the expert you are trying to link to has a sense of authority for the specific information you are referencing. Chef Gordon Ramsay’s opinion would not hold up well in an article about roofing materials.
The Takeaway: How To Pick A Good Online Resource For Backlinking
At the end of the day, you need to look for backlinking resources that you would trust information from. If you feel like the information is vague, poorly researched, inappropriate, or flat out wrong, do not backlink to it on your website. Use outbound links to enhance your authority and improve your search engine ranking, and people will soon be back to you.
Be sure to check out tomorrow’s post where we will go over signs of bad online resources for backlinking.
