Backlinks have always been a key player in SEO. In the past, lots of backlinks mattered, but context didn't. But today, search engines like Google value contextual backlinks.
These high-quality links within relevant content significantly impact your site's SEO performance.
But what exactly are contextual backlinks, and how can you get them? Here's the complete guide.
What Are Contextual Backlinks?
Contextual backlinks are found within relevant content (e.g., a blog article or press release) rather than a business directory.
Here's what a contextual backlink looks like:
Contextual backlinks are one of the most powerful backlinks there are.
Let’s use the previous sentence as an example. We naturally inserted a backlink to an article about the most powerful backlinks in the text. We also provided a clear anchor text with the target keywords so you know where the link points to.
Doing this is important for two reasons:
Better User Experience
You give readers a better user experience when you tell them what to expect when they click a link on a page.
Website owners, bloggers, journalists, and the like use contextual links to make sure users know what sites they're going to.
More Relevance
Search engines like Google have realized that including the context of a backlink in their algorithms helps filter out misleading backlinks with low importance and relevance.
This is because search engines always factor in user experience since they want to display the best and most relevant pages in their results.
Why Are Contextual Backlinks Important?
Back in the early days (and relatively simpler) of SEO, you only had to worry about optimizing your on-page content and getting as many backlinks as possible. The context and source of those links didn't matter.
But SEO has changed a lot since then. Search engines like Google now consider hundreds of factors when determining your rankings. As a result, it's harder to rank without quality backlinks. And the truth about high-quality backlinks is they're hard to get.
Today, contextual links are one of the strongest ways to get ranked and generate more traffic for your site.
The main reason contextual links are crucial is that search engines give them more weight than non-contextual links. In their eyes, one gets a contextual link within relevant content because their page adds value to the article.
This also lets search engines determine that the backlink was genuinely earned—not a paid link that manipulates rankings.
Plus, contextual backlinks always have better quality and more relevance than other types of links, so you must include them in your SEO arsenal.
How to Get Contextual Backlinks
Here’s how to build contextual backlinks the right way:
1. Reach out to content curators.
Speed up the process of getting contextual backlinks by reaching out to content curators.
Content curators refer to people who find information relevant to a specific audience from different sources.
They then share it strategically through various communication channels.
Content curators use search engines and social media to find content worth curating. So, if you connect with them, you increase your chances of being seen.
The main way to connect to them is through email. Do the following to write emails to content curators, especially those you don't already have a relationship with:
Keep the subject lines in sentence case: Emails that look casual (those you send to family and friends) work best for email outreach.
Personalize: Prevent your emails from looking spammy by including the recipient's name in the email. You can also include something unique to them (e.g., their company's vision, product selling point).
Be creative: Create emails that encourage people to respond to you. Remember, boring emails usually don't get responses or are read at all.
2. Ask website owners to replace broken backlinks.
Build contextual backlinks by looking for broken links on websites with high DR (Domain Rating). These websites must be in your niche. That way, you can more easily replace it with an equivalent or better page from your site.
Start by analyzing your competitors' backlinks using SEO tools like Ahrefs and Moz to look for broken links. Then, contact the site owner with the broken link and inform them about the issue.
Let them know that having a broken link equates to a poor user experience that'll hurt their site in the long run.
You can then ask them to replace it with your page, which covers the same, if not better, information. If you don't have something to replace it with, create one and make the pitch.
3. Interview high-DR site owners and get interviewed.
Interviews are some of the most linked-to content on the web because they offer an authentic, behind-the-scenes glimpse into people's minds. Plus, it's hard for people to be dishonest during interviews.
You can get contextual backlinks from expert interviews published on high-DR sites. But you have to plan and be strategic about it.
Remember, you don't always have to be on a video to interview someone. While video interviews are more popular, text-based interviews can deliver fantastic results, too. Brand mentions and co-citations are also crucial in determining the quality and usefulness of a page.
Here's the great news: the brand mention and the actual link are surrounded by contextual content in an interview article. In addition, a well-written interview article doesn't include overly optimized anchor text and stuffed keywords.
Don't be scared to contact industry experts. In our experience, they're one of the easiest people to talk to. Plus, most are fun to talk with and would be happy to help you succeed.
Conclusion
Contextual backlinks are the powerhouse of SEO. They improve user experience and make your content shine in search engines' eyes.
But just like any white hat link building technique, they're hard to come by. So if you need help creating contextual backlinks without spending tons of your time and energy, we're here for you.
Tribu LinkBuilding is an experienced link building outsourcing agency helping business owners get backlinks through white-hat strategies that Google won't penalize. Plus, you only have to pay after we get live links. Contact us to jumpstart your link building success now!