Backlinks for Web Designers: A Beginner’s Guide to SEO Success
For web designers looking to attract more clients and grow their businesses, understanding and using backlinks is essential. Backlinks are incoming hyperlinks from one website to another and serve as digital nods of approval from other sites. They signal to search engines the value and credibility of your content. This, in turn, can significantly boost your site's domain authority and organic ranking, making it more visible in search results. A higher domain authority increases the likelihood of your site ranking well and drives targeted traffic, enhancing customer engagement and lead generation.
So, what’s the best way to acquire backlinks for web designers?
This guide explores how you can ethically acquire backlinks, a crucial component of search engine optimization (SEO). Even though your focus may be on aesthetics and user experience, incorporating a robust backlink strategy is just as critical for you as it is for any digital professional working on client sites. By doing so, you ensure that your site—and your clients’ sites—gains visibility, trust, and traffic.
To skip ahead, click one of the sections below.
Why backlinks matter for web designers
The concept of backlinking may confuse most digital professionals who aren't directly involved in website SEO. After all, many web designers are focused on designing the website and making it usable for visitors. However, the digital space goes well beyond designing beautiful websites. There’s a need to ensure people see and visit your creations, especially if it’s your own business site.
If your website isn’t hitting the mark on search engine rankings for target keywords, even when you’re nailing other SEO tactics, it's time to look at backlinks to the website from other websites. These powerful search engine indicators may be the missing piece in your optimization puzzle.
Below, we dive deeper into why securing backlinks is an essential step for elevating your website's SEO performance.
1. Credibility and authority
Backlinks pass domain authority from one website to another, and the more authority a site has, the higher it ranks in search engines. As a web designer, having other websites backlink to your site—or your client’s—establishes you as a credible expert in your field. If you’re working on a client’s site, suggest backlinks to give their website more authority and get their content ranking higher in search results.
2. Better rankings
The number and quality of backlinks that point to a website influence how search engines determine site rankings. The more high-quality backlinks you can secure to a site, the better it has a chance to rank on the first page of search engines for relevant keywords. A high-quality backlink is a link from a reputable and authoritative website that's relevant to the content it's linking to, directing valuable referral traffic.
3. Increased traffic
Higher search rankings mean increased visibility, which translates to more traffic. Building backlinks to your website drives more visitors from search engines and other websites. More traffic means more potential clients, creating more opportunities to increase your revenue.
4. Future-proofing
Search engine algorithms are constantly changing, and there’s no way to know exactly what factors will impact rankings in the future. However, backlinks have been and will likely continue to be an important ranking signal. Building a healthy, diverse backlink profile helps future-proof your website against changes to the algorithm. The links you build today will continue benefiting the site for a long time to come.
While backlink building can seem complicated, it’s a crucial skill for anyone working in the web design industry. Make it a priority to strengthen your backlink profile. The benefits are worth the effort.
How to conduct a backlink audit
The first step toward acquiring backlinks is to audit and understand your current backlink profile. This is the collection of all backlinks pointing to your website, providing insights into its overall link quality, diversity, and authority. To understand your website’s backlink profile, you need to conduct an audit. This requires identifying and evaluating all the backlinks directed toward your site.
You'll need to use a tool to conduct this audit. You can find one by searching “backlink audit tools” on your preferred search engine.
Your chosen auditing tool may feature jargon that you’re not familiar with. Here are some terms you’ll likely see:
Referring domains
These are the number of unique domains linking to your site. A higher number indicates a wider reach and authority.
Domain rating/authority
This refers to the authority and credibility of sites linking to your site. Links from authoritative sites in your niche carry more weight.
Anchor text
This is the clickable text within a hyperlink. Monitor the anchor text of your incoming links and aim for a natural mix of your target keywords, brand terms, and generic phrases.
Dofollow vs. nofollow
Dofollow links are hyperlinks that help search engines follow and pass authority (a.k.a. “juice”) from one website to another, while nofollow links do not. Nofollow links are hyperlinks that include a rel="nofollow" attribute, instructing search engines not to pass authority from one website to another, thus limiting their impact on search engine rankings and organic traffic. Most of your links should be dofollow.
Link location
This refers to the specific placement of a backlink within a webpage, such as being embedded within the main content, header, footer, or sidebar. Link location can influence its visibility, relevance, and impact on search engine optimization. The most valuable links are embedded in relevant content on other websites, especially from authoritative sources.
Now that you understand these terms, follow the steps to audit your website:
1. Identify toxic backlinks
Some links can negatively impact your search rankings. These are known as “toxic” or “spammy” backlinks. They typically come from low-quality websites and link farms. Link farms are networks of websites created solely to generate excessive and low-quality backlinks, often resulting in penalties from search engines. Check your backlinks for signs of spam, like unrelated anchor text, lots of links on one page, or links from sites with little original content. If found, you’ll want to remove these links to avoid a search engine penalty.
2. Remove toxic backlinks
Once you identify a damaging backlink, you should contact the source of the website. Request removal or ask them to add a “rel” attribute of “nofollow.” A "rel" attribute is typically written as part of an HTML link tag and appears as follows:
<a href="https://example.com" rel="nofollow">Anchor Text</a>
If you can’t reach the source or they refuse to comply, you can use Google’s Disavow Tool, which you can find in your Google Search Console. This is a last-resort measure that signals search engines to disregard the toxic links when assessing your site. With these precautions, you can ensure your site only receives link juice from reputable websites.
3. Check your anchor text distribution
Having a good balance of anchor text (the clickable text in the backlink) is important for natural-looking links. Too much of the same anchor text looks unnatural and can hurt your organic search rankings. Aim for a mix of your target keywords, brand name, and descriptive terms such as “...this guide explains [YOUR TARGET KEYWORD].”
4. Analyze your competitors’ referring domains
The websites linking to your site are known as referring domains. A good way to identify reputable referring domains is by assessing your competitors’ backlink profiles. Check for high domain ratings to get an idea of good link sources in your niche. Focus on acquiring high-quality backlinks from authoritative domains with an organic link profile.
Once you remove toxic links and identify high-authority websites to gain backlinks, you can proceed with building links for your website. But before websites are willing to provide backlinks, you need to lay the groundwork with ethical link-building strategies.
Backlink-building strategies for web designers
The real work lies in enticing other websites to link to yours. While this may sound challenging, knowing the right strategy can make it relatively straightforward.
The following are five strategies for acquiring backlinks for your website. If you offer SEO as a service, you’ll also want to use these tactics to optimize your client’s site:
1. List your website on business directories
A starting point to earning quality backlinks is through business directories and citations. Business directories, like tourism or chamber of commerce sites, provide an accessible way to get quality backlinks. These directories usually have a verification process to ensure listings are for legitimate businesses.
Listing your business in these directories shows search engines that your site is credible and authoritative. This is especially helpful for local businesses.
2. Create link-worthy content
Remember those days in college or university when you relied on external sources to back up your points? This is exactly how backlinks work. Bloggers, reporters, and other authorities need supporting sources to cite in their reports and research, and you can be that source by creating quality content and assets.
Creating quality content is great for SEO as a whole, as covered during a previous episode of Circle Learn. With case studies, expert guides, and data-rich blog posts, you can turn your site into a backlink magnet.
When you create content that stands out and sparks conversation, it’ll likely motivate others to share and link to it.
3. Build a social media presence
Establish a strong social media presence, especially on platforms frequented by your target audience. Share your content, engage with others, and work toward becoming a thought leader in your industry. When you do, others may feel inspired to link to your site to tap into your expertise.
Be active in your industry by writing guest posts and linking to your site in signatures and bios. Contributing to platforms like the Squarespace Forum or members-only Circle Forum is great for getting high-value backlinks because you can link your website in your forum signature. In short: using social media can showcase your expertise while securing reputable backlinks to your website.
4. Diversify link types
Instead of solely relying on directory listings or forum profiles, try to obtain links from various sources to your website. Pursue links from industry blogs, news sites, and influencers. Do outreach to sites and bloggers in your niche to build relationships. Offer to contribute to podcasts or participate in interviews. When collaborators link back to your site, it builds authority and referral traffic.
Another way to find sites in your niche that accept backlinks is to type “[Your Industry] accepts guest posts” into a search engine. This will show you sites in your niche that accept guest posts on their websites. From there, pitch articles where you can share your expertise, contribute thought leadership, and ultimately link to your website.
Pro tip: Always vet each result to weed out low-quality websites. We’ll discuss this in more detail later in the guide.
5. Optimize content for search engines
One of the common SEO mistakes Squarespace designers make is lacking a clear keyword and content strategy. To optimize your content for search engines, introduce keywords and phrases that your target audience is searching for. You can place important keywords in your page title, URL, headings, and body content.
Well-optimized content improves your visibility in search results, meaning more people can see your site and link to it, earning you backlinks without needing to do any outreach. Search engines favor fast-loading, mobile-friendly pages, so keep your content concise while remaining helpful.
Remember: acquiring a robust backlink profile isn’t an overnight feat. It’s about nurturing relationships, adding value for customers, and evolving with each search engine’s best practices. With patience and strategy, you can boost your organic search ranking and draw in the clientele your digital business desires.
Best practices for backlinks acquisition
Adhering to some best practices can speed up the backlinking process while preventing penalization from search engines.
Here are some helpful practices:
1. Personalize and tailor your outreach for backlinks
Building relationships with industry influencers and relevant websites is key to acquiring high-quality backlinks. Start by identifying sites you can link to that’ll equally benefit from linking to you. Look for sites with authority in your niche that accept guest posts, share link roundups, or have collaborated with others before.
Once you’ve identified strong prospects, contact them. Craft a compelling email sharing your website and explaining who you are and why your content is valuable to both parties. Mention the specific content you’d like to contribute, like a blog post, video, or guide.
The following is an example email you can adapt:
Hi [First Name],
It’s [Your Name]. I’m a Squarespace website designer who found you [how you found them].
I really liked [add some information to show you’ve done your research, such as a blog they wrote that you like or a video they shared].It got me thinking: I’m writing a blog on [a topic you’ll both benefit from], and I’d love to feature you there to share your expertise.
I’m sure the article could benefit your audience, too. Would you be open to collaborating on it?
Please let me know at your earliest convenience.
Speak soon,
[Your Name]
[Your Title]
[Your Website]
Once a site agrees to accept your content, deliver what you promised and aim to become a trusted ongoing contributor and resource for them. Over time, as your relationship and authority grow, you’ll find that high-quality backlinks and new opportunities come more naturally.
2. Prioritize quality over quantity
Not all backlinks are valued equally. Focus on acquiring backlinks from authoritative sites with a high domain authority and page authority. These links carry more weight with search engines and can have a bigger impact on your search rankings. While the number of backlinks matters, the quality of those links is even more important.
3. Create linkable assets
Develop resources that others will naturally want to link to. Data studies, statistics, infographics, blogs, and toolkits are all highly linkable. Publish ultimate guides, cheat sheets, and roundups on topics that are relevant to your audience.
4. Use ethical methods
Search engines have strong policies against unethical link-building practices. Unethical SEO methods, also referred to as black-hat tactics, aim to trick search engine bots by using shortcuts to achieve a high ranking on search engine results pages (SERPs), rather than producing quality and relevant content. This can negatively affect your site’s rankings if detected. Avoid buying links or participating in link schemes with websites unrelated to your niche, or sites that give links out freely to anyone who asks. Focus on building links through relationships, outreach, business directories, and creating linkable assets.
Building a successful link profile requires time and consistent effort. It’s an ongoing practice, so you’ll need to continue tracking backlink success over time.
Tracking and measuring your backlinks for web design SEO
To ensure your website is SEO-friendly, regularly measuring and analyzing results is critical to identifying successful strategies and areas for improvement. Certain tools can help you determine if your backlinking efforts are effective and closely monitor the inbound links pointing to your website. Use one of the many backlink analysis tools available online to continue auditing your website's backlink profile.
The key metrics to track include:
Total backlinks
New links
Lost links
Referring domains
Harmful/toxic links
When necessary, remove or disavow toxic links, as explained earlier. If you notice your link count is slowing, strategize to ensure your website continues receiving high-quality backlinks.
If you get overwhelmed with the process or aren't confident about building links yourself, consider employing an SEO expert or freelancer to help you build and continuously monitor your site’s backlinks.
The more effort you're willing to put into improving your website’s SEO through backlinking and other strategies, the better equipped you’ll be to boost your website’s authority and supercharge your business growth.
Final considerations for obtaining backlinks
As a web professional, you know that SEO is important to improving your credibility and building a quality backlink profile is just one of the many SEO best practices. By taking the time to thoughtfully and ethically build your backlink profile, you can dramatically improve your site’s ranking and visibility. The strategies outlined in this article can help you get started, but don’t stop there. Continuously experiment with new link-building techniques, monitor your progress, and learn from other successful industry professionals.
Want more?
Check out Squarespace Circle, Squarespace’s program for professional web designers, developers, digital entrepreneurs, and creatives. Along with exclusive content, discounts, and other perks, Circle brings professionals together from across the globe to exchange advice while connecting with new clients and collaborators.
