Backlinks are one of the best-known parts of SEO, but they are also one of the most misunderstood. Many creators hear that they “need backlinks” and immediately think of buying them, swapping them, or chasing random websites for mentions. That is usually the wrong approach.
The truth is simpler: backlinks matter because they can help search engines discover your content, understand its relevance, and treat your site as more trustworthy when good websites genuinely choose to link to you. Google still uses links as a ranking signal, but it is equally clear that manipulative link schemes, paid ranking links, excessive exchanges, and automated link-building can violate its spam policies.
For S.M.A.C.C. members, especially social media and content creators, backlinks should be understood as part of a wider digital visibility strategy. They are not a magic trick. They are not a shortcut. They are one element of SEO alongside content quality, site structure, crawlability, page experience, internal linking, search intent alignment, and brand signals. Google’s own SEO guidance emphasises that SEO is about helping search engines understand content and helping users decide whether your page is worth visiting.
What is a backlink?
A backlink is simply a link from another website to your website. If an online magazine links to your article, that is a backlink. If a podcast website links to your creator profile, that is a backlink. If a university, business directory, trade association, or news site mentions your work and links to you, that is also a backlink.
In practical terms, a backlink acts like a reference. It tells both people and search engines that another site considered your page worth pointing to.
Why backlinks matter
Backlinks matter for three main reasons.
First, they can help discovery. Search engines use links to find pages and understand how pages connect across the web.
Second, they can help credibility. A relevant, editorial link from a respected site can act as a signal that your content is useful, authoritative, or worth citing. Ahrefs’ guidance also notes that editorially placed, in-content links are generally more valuable than low-visibility links in footers or sidebars.
Third, they can help referral traffic. Not every backlink improves rankings in a dramatic way, but the right backlink can send real visitors, enquiries, subscribers, and customers directly to your site.
For creators, this is especially important. A backlink from a brand partner, press feature, podcast guest page, event listing, creator directory, or industry article can support both SEO and direct audience growth.
When backlinks should be used
Backlinks should not be “used” in the sense of manufactured tricks. They should be earned or placed in legitimate contexts where a link genuinely helps the reader.
Good backlink opportunities include:
- press coverage
- guest articles on relevant sites
- podcast or event speaker pages
- creator portfolios and professional profiles
- business associations and memberships
- collaborations with brands or other creators
- resource pages, guides, and original research
- interviews, case studies, and testimonials
A backlink should exist because it adds value, cites a source, credits original work, or helps the audience find something useful. That aligns with both user value and Google’s principles.
How backlinks should be used
Backlinks should be approached with relevance, restraint, and realism.
A good backlink is usually:
- topically relevant to your niche
- placed naturally within useful content
- from a real website with real readers
- editorial rather than forced
- pointing to a page worth visiting
This matters more than raw volume. One relevant link from a respected publication in your industry can be worth far more than dozens of weak links from unrelated or low-quality sites.
Anchor text matters too. Google recommends descriptive anchor text because it helps users and search engines understand what the linked page is about. That does not mean stuffing keywords into every link. It means using natural language that fits the sentence and accurately describes the destination.
The pros of backlinks
The benefits of backlinks are real when they are earned properly.
They can improve visibility in search by supporting authority and discoverability.
They can strengthen your reputation when respected websites mention your work.
They can send direct traffic from audiences already interested in your topic.
They can help your brand appear more established, especially when links come from known publications, professional bodies, or trusted industry websites.
They can compound over time. A strong article, useful tool, original resource, or memorable campaign can continue earning links long after publication.
The cons of backlinks
Backlinks also have downsides, especially when people chase them carelessly.
They are slow to earn. Good backlinks usually come from good work, good relationships, or good PR.
They are hard to control. You cannot force reputable sites to link to you.
They can be expensive if outsourced.
They can become risky if you start paying for manipulative ranking links, using automated services, joining link schemes, or overdoing reciprocal linking. Google explicitly lists buying or selling links for ranking purposes, exchanging goods or services for links, excessive link exchanges, and automated link creation as examples of link spam.
They can distract from more important SEO work. Many websites do not have a backlink problem first. They have a content problem, technical problem, or conversion problem.
The reality of getting backlinks
This is the part many articles skip.
Backlinks are difficult because the web is crowded. People are not usually waiting to link to another generic article saying the same thing as everyone else. If your content is average, backlinks will be average or non-existent.
The reality is that backlinks are most often earned when you publish something that is one of the following:
- genuinely useful
- genuinely original
- genuinely newsworthy
- genuinely easier to reference than other pages
That could be a creator guide, a data-led post, a legal explainer, a template, a checklist, a case study, a location guide, a press-worthy campaign, or a well-positioned opinion piece.
For S.M.A.C.C. members, this is good news. Creators often have a built-in advantage: they can produce real-world examples, visual content, first-hand experience, trend commentary, and community-led resources that are more link-worthy than generic corporate pages.
How to get backlinks the right way
The best link-building is usually a mixture of content, relationships, and visibility.
1. Create pages worth linking to
Start here. Make something useful enough that another site would naturally cite it.
Examples include:
- ultimate guides
- research roundups
- industry explainers
- creator checklists
- templates and downloadable tools
- original surveys
- trend analysis
- local resource pages
- case studies
A weak page is hard to build links to. A strong page makes outreach easier.
2. Get featured, not just linked
Think beyond “SEO links.” Think PR, media, podcasts, communities, events, memberships, directories, and partnerships.
If you are interviewed on a podcast, speak at an event, appear in a roundup, collaborate on a campaign, or contribute expert comment to an article, links often follow naturally.
3. Use digital PR
Digital PR is one of the most legitimate ways to earn stronger backlinks. That can include:
- expert commentary on creator issues
- survey data
- trend reports
- campaign launches
- community statements
- creator safety guidance
- professional standards pieces
This is particularly relevant for S.M.A.C.C. because the organisation already sits in a space where ethics, standards, creator professionalism, trust, and policy are naturally newsworthy.
4. Guest post selectively
Guest posting can still work when it is done for audience relevance and value, not for spammy mass link placement. Write for websites your target audience actually reads. Contribute something genuinely useful. Avoid low-quality sites that publish anything for a fee.
5. Build linkable assets around your expertise
Creators often overlook their strongest asset: lived experience.
A creator who has run campaigns, worked with brands, handled platform changes, learned compliance lessons, or built a monetisation strategy can often publish more link-worthy content than a generalist marketer.
6. Reclaim unlinked mentions
Sometimes people mention your brand, project, name, or campaign without linking. In those cases, a polite request for a link can work well because the mention already exists.
7. Strengthen your profiles and references
Make sure your site is linked from your professional bios, membership listings, speaker pages, company profiles, and creator directories where appropriate. These may not always be your strongest links, but they help establish consistency and visibility.
Should you do backlinks yourself or hire an agency?
Both routes can work, but they suit different situations.
Doing it yourself
Doing it yourself is often better when:
- you are early-stage
- your budget is limited
- your niche is personal or specialist
- relationships matter
- your brand voice matters
- you want to understand SEO properly
The advantage is authenticity. You know your work, your story, your positioning, and your audience better than an agency usually will.
The downside is time. Proper link-building takes planning, research, outreach, follow-up, and content development.
Hiring an agency
An agency can help when:
- you already have strong pages worth promoting
- you need scale
- you have a budget
- you want PR and outreach handled professionally
- you need prospecting, media lists, and process
A good agency should help with strategy, prospecting, outreach, positioning, digital PR, content recommendations, and backlink monitoring.
A bad agency will promise large numbers of links, quick rankings, “guaranteed DA,” private blog network links, paid placements disguised as organic outreach, or suspiciously easy packages.
Google is very clear that buying or manipulating links for ranking purposes is against policy, and it also states that nobody can pay Google to crawl more often or rank higher. That alone should make members cautious of exaggerated SEO sales claims.
What a backlink agency should actually do
If you do use an agency, they should be doing real strategic work, not just selling links.
That usually includes:
- auditing your current backlink profile
- identifying your best linkable pages
- finding relevant publications, sites, and communities
- creating outreach angles
- helping produce content that deserves coverage
- reclaiming lost links or unlinked mentions
- monitoring new and broken backlinks
- advising on risky links and cleanup where necessary
Their job should not be to dump hundreds of random links on your domain.
How backlinks should be maintained
Backlinks are not a one-time job. They need periodic maintenance.
You should monitor:
- new backlinks
- lost backlinks
- broken target pages
- redirected pages
- brand mentions without links
- suspicious patterns or spammy influxes
You should also keep linked pages alive and useful. If a good website links to a guide you published, do not let that guide become outdated, thin, or broken. Refresh it. Improve it. Protect the asset.
Google’s spam documentation and past guidance make clear that manipulative link practices can create problems, while changes after spam issues may take time to be reflected as systems reassess the site.
Backlinks are only one part of SEO
This is the key message for creators.
Backlinks matter, but they sit inside a much bigger SEO picture.
A sensible SEO strategy also includes:
- strong keyword and topic targeting
- helpful content that matches search intent
- technically crawlable pages
- clear site structure
- internal linking
- descriptive titles and metadata
- mobile usability
- page speed and user experience
- trust signals and brand clarity
- regular content updates
- good media formatting and accessibility
Google’s own guidance repeatedly points creators back to the fundamentals: make content for people, make it easy to understand, and make it easy for search engines to crawl and interpret.
What this means for S.M.A.C.C. members
For social media and content creators, backlinks should be treated as a credibility layer, not a shortcut.
The best approach is to build a website and content ecosystem that deserves references:
- a clear about page
- creator portfolio or media kit
- useful articles
- policy and standards content
- brand collaboration case studies
- original insights
- well-written evergreen resources
When that is in place, backlinks become easier to earn because you are no longer chasing links for their own sake. You are giving people something worth citing.
Final thought
A backlink is not just a technical SEO signal. It is a digital vote of confidence.
The best backlinks are earned through relevance, usefulness, trust, and visibility. The worst backlinks are usually the ones bought in haste, automated at scale, or built with no audience value behind them.
For S.M.A.C.C. members, the smartest path is clear: create quality content, build real relationships, earn meaningful mentions, and treat backlinks as one important part of a broader professional SEO strategy.
That approach is slower than shortcuts, but it is safer, stronger, and far more sustainable.
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