To maintain good search engine rankings and build a stronger online reputation, you have to understand the importance of referring domains (popularly linking domain) to your website’s efforts towards search engine optimization. However, you must not only focus on the quantity, but also the quality of your domains to improve in your site’s search engine optimization.
You will need to spend a lot of time analyzing the backlinks in your competitors’ profile as well as yours. Fortunately, you have us to guide you through the entire process. In this guide, we will take a closer look at how you can analyze your backlink profiles more efficiently and the various domain metrics you should be aware of. We are going to discuss:
- What a referring domain is
- The difference between a referring domain and a backlink
- How referring domains impact your SEO
- Choosing the best SEO company to grow your brand
Lorem ipsum dolor sit amet, consectetur adipiscing elit. Ut elit tellus, luctus nec ullamcorper mattis, pulvinar dapibus leo.
What is a referring Domain?
Also regarded to as a linking domain, a referring domain is a website that has one or multiple links to another website. Using referring domains on a different site, you could bring in new visitors or clients to your website. The traffic that is sent to your website from several referral domains is known as referral traffic.
There can be several referring domains with one or more backlinks to your main website or targeting specific pages on your website. Your website may be a referring domain to the other domains too; if a visitor links back to your referring domains through your website. For instance if the external website contains a few backlinks to your website, it is a referring domain. However, if your website receives multiple backlinks from the external website, it is still to be referred to as one referring domain for the website. Comparably, ten different websites that link back to your site are ten different referring domains.
Most people confuse referring domains with backlinks. However, they are different SEO factors and have different weight in their SEO value.
Referring Domain vs. Backlink: What’s the Difference?
Referring domains, as discussed earlier, are websites that have one or many backlinks to a specific website. Your website could contain multiple backlinks pointing to a different website and still have referring domains with multiple backlinks to your website.
Furthermore, backlinks are the links that come from a referring domain to your site. Backlinks are usually embedded in text, videos, images, buttons and other page content. The value of backlinks depends on domain authority, relevance, link location, site diversity and more. While most SEO marketers will advise you to have multiple backlinks from each referring domain, too many backlinks from one domain are considered a toxic SEO practice. To avoid penalties from Google, you will need to analyze all your backlink profiles and make sure they are consistent with your SEO goals.
How referring Domains Impact your SEO
Referring domains or linking domains are critical for SEO. The primary goal of any SEO effort is to bring in more organic traffic to your website by boosting your website’s search engine ranking. However, not just any referring domain will positively impact your SEO strategy.
Referring domains signals search engines and your website users that your website is credible and delivers quality content. The Google search engine algorithm takes several factors into perspective when assessing the quality and credibility of backlinks.
These factors include source quality and relevance, linking domain, the page where your backlink is posted, and the context of your backlink placements. To acquire organic traffic from your referring domains, it is critical to get them from top ranking domains.
According to a study from Ahrefs, approximately 90.88% of all the pages without a single referring domain do not enjoy search traffic that is organic from Google. Without a high quality referring domain that links back to your site, you are missing out on organic traffic, potential conversions, and sales.
For your backlink strategy to pay off, you must build unique links. Having a new backlink from a fresh, well-ranked domain can help you build your site’s authority. That’s because a second link from the same website will not do as well in page rankings as the first one.
Referring domains are considered by Google as one of the high-impact SEO ranking factors. It could, therefore, make a huge impact in your search optimization efforts. According to Google, each referring domain is a vote of confidence for your site from other websites. The more reputable the referring domain is, the more value it brings to your SEO efforts.
The goal of a successful link-building SEO strategy should be to acquire top-ranking referring domains that
- Are relevant to your niche industry
- Are authoritative
- Are trustworthy
- Have high quality content
How do you get more high-quality referring domains?
If done correctly, link building can be a critical part of your SEO efforts. However, finding the right referring domain for your site is not a walk in the park. Below are a couple of expert tips on how you can get higher value referring domains for your website:
- Have your Referring Domains Reports monitored
A detailed referring domains report will offer data on every domain that links to the site in question. After exporting or downloading the file, make sure to evaluate every aspect of each backlink for quality. Also, make sure to evaluate the quantity of your backlinks to determine which of them provides a strong backlink profile. The more high-quality links you have, the more high-quality links that you have the better for your SEO efforts.
A good and consistent analysis of your referring domains reports will also offer you more link building opportunities. Do it as often as every week if possible. After all it is an easy process that will only take up a small fraction of your time.
- Identify the best-performing web pages and look for content gaps
One of the first and best steps in mapping out your content marketing strategy is identifying the best-performing pages on your website. The best performing pages in your backlink campaign are those pages that got the highest number of visitors through backlinks. Getting high traffic from backlinks on a specific page means the content on that page is popular among online users and other websites.
By identifying the pages that are performing exceptionally well, you can better decide how to improve other pages and which referring domains are best for your website. This will guide your SEO strategy to obtain backlinks from high quality websites and content. You could also use this data to create more web pages and blog posts that boost your SEO and link building efforts.
- Create Outstanding Content
To get more backlinks from reputable and authoritative referring domains in your field, you must be able to create high-quality content for your pages. You can broaden your referral links as well as your target audience by improving your content marketing strategy. With quality content, nothing can stop you from having more conversions from search engine organic results. Unique and quality content will also help your site become more trustworthy and authoritative.
Below are some tips that you could use to boost your content marketing strategy and, as a result, acquire more quality backlinks from special referring domains:
- Leverage your team’s niche expertise: Seek to leverage your team’s knowledge in topics in your industry that you intend to cover in the content. Also, include direct quotes from your team members or reputable guests to further boost your brand’s reputation and authority.
- Publish your case studies: Case studies are the content that is legitimate, data-driven, unique, and can help your website earn links from reputable websites in your niche industry.
- Create infographics from in-depth posts: To expand the visibility of your high-quality posts, you could create high-quality infographics with actionable takeaways. This will not only improve your organic traffic to your site, but also help you acquire backlinks from reputable bloggers and publishers.
You can also explore other types of content to boost your backlink profile. These may include local press releases, eBooks, expert reviews, and whitepapers. Always make sure that the content you market reflects and builds on your brand name. This is critical for small and medium size firms that want to expand on their market share and increase the return on their investment. That way, online users as well as webmasters can easily tell that the content they are interacting with is actually from your brand.
- Review your competitors
To successfully uproot link intersects while creating a true list of possible referring domains to build your backlink strategy with, you must review your competitors first.
Identify the domains you are currently competing against. There are a number of tools available to help you analyze your competitors and know how many competitors have your unique keywords and how many each has. Using such data, you can further build a unique marketing strategy for your brand and stand out from your competitors.
From analyzing your competitors you can also determine the quantity and quality of their referring domains. By analyzing their backlink profile, you can also find out which strategies they are using to get additional links that will be helpful in ranking higher on search engine results. Backlink analysis also enables you to emulate your competitors’ strategy or make yours much better.
- Choose the Most Ideal Destination Pages
Referring domains should contain similar content to what your website advocates. Determine the websites that would love the content on your pages and drive growth to your website by getting these sites to show links to your web pages.
You do not want users landing on a page on your website only to feel lost and cheated. More than simply putting links and guest posts out there, make sure the page your link is placed on in your referring domain and in your website make a lot of sense to the user. This is why it is essential to consider the quality of the content on the referring domain as well as that on your pages.
Before setting up your backlink strategy, you must consider the topics in your referring websites, the quality of their content, their site structure, and their online reputation among a couple of other factors.
- Audience Targeting
- Get the right tools
Choosing the Best SEO Company to Grow Your Business Brand
There are quite a handful of full-service SEO agencies out there. However, selecting the right one for your brand is not a walk in the park. It is really a tough assignment to find a company that you can trust with a service as valuable as web presence. If you are wondering how to go by searching and hiring the right SEO Company for your website, we have got you handled. We have already carried out research on the best firms out there and we can guide you through how you can get the right SEO Company for your brand.
You can also explore how organizations like yours went about choosing search engine optimization agencies and get advice on which factors to look out for when looking for an SEO company below. To make the research process even easier, you could browse the tips we have compiled below on how to find the best SEO agency for your brand that will boost your online presence.
Look at past performance
Performance is not only essential to SEO agencies. However, it is also critical to small and medium enterprises like yours. People will be looking out for what your company can deliver and that will by most parts be determined by what your company has been able to do.
When choosing the best SEO Company for your business brand, you should do exactly the same. Look for past performance of the company before you can consult their SEO services. Past performance can easily be denoted by a company’s portfolio examples, industry awards, case studies and client reviews and testimonials.
Proven performance should be top in your list to determine professionalism in your prospected domains. It is quite easy for any company to say nice things about themselves or look like a very reputable site, especially with today’s internet options. However, a truly successful SEO company is going to have a lot of verifiable results for their potential clients.
It is recommended that you look for specific examples of the company’s past work such as a campaign or a website. Make sure that by the time you are making the decision to have them as an SEO partner you have verifiable proof that they are actually good at what they do. That way, your brand can go into the partnership or consultation with no doubts that they will help you achieve your goals and objectives.
Inquire about past client experiences
As mentioned earlier, today’s internet can be enough to convince you that a company is reputable. However, as solid proof of their work, it is advisable to connect with the firm’s past or current clients and inquire about their experience working with the company.
Reading in-depth interviews and testimonials is a good way for your brand to gain insight into the expected client experience. With this information, you will be able to deduce the firm’s positive as well as negative aspects. You will also get to preview their SEO strategy and reporting process.
Make sure to vet at least three current clients of the agency, asking them how much they like working with the company. Try as much as possible to learn most about how the company is run, their SEO process, and their reporting. You could also include a few common questions such as:
- Do the company’s clients have a dedicated contact?
- How fast does the company respond to emails or calls?
- Do they offer their clients enough time to view their strategy decisions and review reports?
Depending on the answers to each of the questions above, you will be at a better position to choose the best SEO agency for your firm. If a company checks off all the questions, they are worth your time and efforts since you will be sure to get value for your hard-earned dollars.
Schedule a meeting with the SEO Company
Once an SEO company has proven to have all the features you are looking for, you now have to meet with their representatives. You could meet them in person or virtually using a video conference tool like Skype. That meeting can help you determine whether they are the right SEO partners for your firm or not.
Do not shy away from asking the hard questions in the meeting. The more questions you can ask about the company’s history and performance, the clearer the image you will get of how they will benefit your brand’s SEO. Furthermore, a well-rounded company will have nothing to hide and instead, they will be eager to share their experiences and may even have a bunch of clients willing to work with them.
Here are a few questions you could ask during the meeting.
- How much experience do you have in the industry?
- How long does it take you to complete specific tasks?
- What is the cost of your SEO services?
It is advisable to brainstorm some questions with your team and firm leaders. Your team may propose questions relating to reporting and strategy while your leaders will have questions on pricing and return on investment.
While we all want to land on the right SEO Company for our brand, even the best businesses make mistakes. Before you begin selecting an SEO company, you should take a look at some of the most common mistake organizations make when looking for an SEO agency.
- Going for the cheapest
When it comes to SEO companies and services, price does matter. It is wise to set a budget and stick to it when finding an SEO company. However, most of the ultra-low rates that you will see on the internet are offered by SEO companies that often under-deliver when it comes to strategy.
With SEO you will need a realistic budget or end up with a gap in your strategy, which will lead in poor customer experience. To begin with, educate your team about SEO pricing and set a feasible monthly budget for your SEO services. The price can be quite different depending on the company size, your strategy, budget and more.
- Going for black-hat SEO agencies
Every company wants to see results and so does yours. However, when it comes to SEO, you will not be getting immediate results. On average, it will take between three and six months to get returns from your SEO efforts. Most companies can be frustrated by the long time it takes to start making conversions and opt for black-hat SEO strategies, which promise fast returns.
While it is possible to use black-hat SEO tactics and rank quickly on search engines, your fall from the top will be just as fast. In fact, Google algorithms might decide to ban your website from appearing in its search results ever again. That means that no one on the world’s largest search engine will be able to view your business.
Focus your efforts and time on established white-hat agencies for your SEO strategy to gain a solid footing in the market. White-hat SEO companies may take longer to have you ranking high in search results. However, their practices will not put your website in harm’s way.
- Browsing Local SEO companies alone
It is much easier to work with a local SEO company. That’s because most of them are not new to you and you can relate on SEO targeting practices. However, when choosing the most appropriate SEO partner for your brand, it is critical that local SEO companies are not in your top priority list.
Instead, your brand should prioritize performance and experience over location. These factors will go a long way in influencing the quality of your SEO strategy. Limiting your choices to your locality may end up holding your brand back from achieving set goals.
Even if the best SEO Company you have found is states away, they will often bridge the gap fast. If it means ranking high on search results pages, then the company does not have to be a local one. That means more sales, revenue, and leads for your brand.
In addition to going through the how-to process of finding the best SEO firm for your brand, it is essential that there is easy and direct communication with the firm. You should also feel comfortable raising questions or voicing concerns. You do not want to be SEO partners with a company that does not respond quickly to questions or makes you feel uncomfortable voicing concerns. If you do not take this into perspective when choosing the right company for your brand’s SEO, you could develop problems in the long run. We hope that so far, we have given you a clear highlight and informed you on all there is to know about referring domains and how they affect your search engine optimization.
READY TO GROW YOUR BUSINESS?
Contact us to work with a results-driven digital marketing agency