Not all backlinks are equal. Here are some of the different types you should know about:

Natural backlinks: These are links that happen without any effort on your part. Like, if someone finds your content useful and decides to link to it on their website, that’s a natural backlink.

Manual backlinks: These are links that you create yourself, by reaching out to other website owners and asking them to link to your content.

Editorial backlinks: These are links that you earn because another website has chosen to link to your content without being prompted to do so. These types of backlinks are generally considered to be the most valuable for SEO (note, this is another version of the 'natural backlinks').

No-follow backlinks: These are any links that have a “no-follow” attribute added to them, that piece of code tells search engines not to count them as a factor in ranking your site. So having no-follow links aren't helpful to boost your rankings, but it can be good for brand awareness in general.

Do-follow backlinks: These are links that don’t have the “no-follow” attribute, and so that means they will count as a factor in ranking your site. These are the types of links you want.

Now that you know what backlinks are and the different types that exist, let’s talk about how you can go about getting them. Keep in mind, attaining links can be a tedious and long task but when the organic traffic starts pouring in, it'll all be worth it.

Create high-quality content: The first step to getting backlinks is to create content that is actually worthy of being linked to. Because, having content for the sake of content isn't a good idea, since you'll be wasting a ton of time. It needs to be informative, useful, and relevant to your target audience. 

Reach out to other website owners: Once you’ve created your content, you can reach out to other website owners in your niche and ask them to link to your content.

Guest post on other websites: Another way to get backlinks is to guest post on other websites in your niche. Pitch other blogs and brands with a blog post for them and include a link back to your own website in your author bio. If the particular website doesn't have an author bio, they wouldn't like it if you just placed a link to your website randomly. So, a trick we've found is to create a useful blog on your website that you can link to instead.

Use social media: Social media is one of the easier ways to get backlinks. Share your content on social media, and if it’s valuable, you could end up with users linking to it on their own websites. Also, it's worth noting, having shares and engagement on your social media can act as a form of backlinks. Although not as strong, search engines see this as a positive signal to your website.

Participate in online communities: By joining online communities in your niche, like forums or discussion boards, you'll be able to share your content directly your target audience. Treat it just like the other content on your website, with valuable information and contributions to discussions, you may be able to earn backlinks from other users.

To save to time, instead of creating seperate content for this alone, you can re-purpose content you've already used for your website and socials or even just link to them.

Now that you know how to get backlinks, let’s talk about how you can use them to improve your search engine rankings.

Build a diverse backlink profile: It’s important to have a diverse range of backlinks pointing to your site, from a variety of different sources. This helps to signal to search engines that your site is authoritative and valuable.

Focus on quality, not quantity: While it’s important to have a lot of backlinks pointing to your site, it’s even more important to have high-quality backlinks. A backlink from a highly authoritative website in your niche is worth far more than dozens of low-quality backlinks.

Use anchor text strategically: Anchor text is the clickable text that appears as a hyperlink on a webpage. It’s important to use anchor text strategically when linking to your site, as it can help to signal to search engines what your content is about.

Monitor your backlink profile: Finally, it’s important to regularly monitor your backlink profile to ensure that you’re not being penalised by search engines for low-quality or spammy backlinks. Use tools like Google Search Console or Ahrefs to track your backlinks and make sure they’re adding value to your site.

Backlinks are an essential component of any successful SEO strategy. Remember to always prioritise quality over quantity, and monitor your backlink profile regularly to ensure that you’re not being penalised by search engines. With these tips, you’ll be well on your way to mastering the art of backlinks and boosting your website’s search engine rankings.