Backlinks are external links that come from another site into yours. They are one way Google uses to establish the trustworthiness and value of a site.

Backlinking is NOT a numbers game. It is not about getting random backlinks from thousands of sites. Bad SEOs with use automated tools like SEO Autopilot or simply buy thousands of spammy backlinks from Russia or other places. Google is smarter than that. Not only do bad backlinks not help your site, they will actually penalize it if you have too many spammy backlinks being built.

Instead, backlinks need to be:

High quality, meaning they come from another trusted website.
Relevant to your field. Backlinks from a large Plumbing website are not going to benefit you as a behavioral health or SUD provider. A backlink from the Chamber of Commerce in New York is not as beneficial as from the Chamber of Commerce in your area.

DoFollow vs. NoFollow

Backlinks come in two types, DoFollow and NoFollow. There are various disputes among SEOs on the value of each, but, for the most part, DoFollow means Google gives you "credit" for the backlink while NoFollow means that it won't.

For example, many Web Masters set a default on their site for all outbound links to be NoFollow, which cuts down on the amount of spam they receive from random people trying to get links on their site.

Also, all major media outlets and press release agencies only include NoFollow links for the same reason. With that said, site traffic is site traffic and, if it's coming from a trusted referral source, that sense of trust will often pass through to anyone visiting your site.

So how do you tell if a site has DoFollow or NoFollow links. The answer is simple: Right-click on the link in the browser and select “Inspect”. This will bring up the HTML code associated with that link. If you see rel=”nofollow”, then the link is a NoFollow link. If you do not see rel=”nofollow”, then the link is a DoFollow link.

How to Get Backlinks?

This is the million-dollar question. The simplest answer is to write great content and share it through social media and paid media posts. The more people that see your content, the more likely they are to reshare it or link to it on their own sites.

Backlink Outreach

A common strategy for obtaining backlinks is to do email outreach. You have most likely seen this spam many times before. Some examples of such emails are:

Hi There, I noticed you wrote a great article on XYZ. We think our article we just wrote would be of great value to your readers. If you could add it as a link, we'd appreciate it.
Hi There, we love your site! Looks like you're doing some great work. We'd like to write an article for you, free of charge. We could writes on topics X, Y, or Z. All that we ask is that you link back to our site as the authors.

Pretty much nobody enjoys these spam messages flooding their inbox. The success rate of such emails is under 1%, so you literally have to send thousands to get even one decent link all while annoying people and undermining their respect for your organization.

Guest Posting

Similar to our second example above, another common method for obtaining backlinks is to do guest posts on others' websites. However, as we just discussed, this can also come across as spammy if you're simply reaching out to random sites.

Also, note that Google is aware of this tactic and frowns upon it if it's overutilized. If Google notices a large uptick in guest posts linking back to a single site, it will devalue those links and you'll lose credit for them or your site may even be penalized.

The main thing with Google and backlink building is that it should occur at a natural rate. Unless you get PR in some national news, most websites don't suddenly get 20 new Guest Posts a month, for example. If you're obtaining them at a normal rate, say 1 a month, then it can be effective.

However, rather than reaching out to random websites, the best way to do Guest Posts is to reach out to organizations or people with whom your organization already has a relationship. Like anything, you want to add value to that relationship. So you could write a Guest Post on their site and they could write a Guest Post on yours. This will help both of you rank on Google.

Quality Content & Outreach

The best backlinks are those obtained through genuine outreach that adds value for those visiting your site. An example would be a list of all places in the city or county where people can obtain Narcan. This is extremely valuabe content.

Users are looking for it, so Google wants to rank it.
It's a locally focused article, so probably little competition and you don't have to worry about some big regional or national brand trying to compete with you for the same content.
Other organizations will find it highly valuable, so they will naturally link to it.

A corollary to quality content is getting input from local leaders or subject matter experts. Continuing with our Narcan example, rather than just create a list, get a quote from a staff member at the organization on how to access the Narcan there or provide additional directions. If you quote somebody or add in relevant content from them directly into your piece, then send them the finished piece, they will be much more likely to link to it.

Anchor Text

The last thing we need to discuss is anchor text. Anchor text are the actual words hyperlinked for the backlink. Once again, Google watches this closely. If every backlink coming into your site has a high-value (sometimes called a "money anchor" or "exact match link") anchor like "addiction treatment in City Name," this will raise flags with Google and your site can get penalized or the links ignored. You should always use a mix of anchor texts and the ones you use most often should be Branded, Generic, Random, or Naked. Use Exact Match sparingly. As a rule of thumb, try to keep Exact Match under 5% of your anchor text profile. Good tools like Ahrefs and SEM Rush will allow you to run scans on your site to determine these percentages.

There are 10 types of Anchor Text as outlined in this great graphic from SEM Rush:

Off-Page SEO (Backlinking)