25 Benefits of Link Building That No One Is Talking About

If you’re new to the world of SEO, then you must have heard that link building is a big part of it.

They say it's vital for ranking, but what does that even mean?

Why are backlinks important?

If you’re looking for an answer to these questions, then you’re just in the right place.

In this article, we’ll explore some of the most important benefits of link building.

So without further ado, let’s dive in.

Key Takeaways

• The main benefit of building backlinks is that it’ll help your page rank higher on the SERPs.
• Being in the top position can nab nearly 40% of the total search traffic. This not only helps in brand exposure but also leads to higher conversion rates.
• Link building is about creating genuine connections within your niche and investing in digital assets that generate income for years.

What Is Link Building?

Link building is the process of acquiring hyperlinks to your website.

In other words, it’s the process of getting other webmasters to mention you in their article with a link back to your website, so visitors can check your post or service page for extra information.

There are many different link-building strategies, such as guest posting, broken link building, the skyscraper technique, infographic outreach, free tools, and many more.

But this is out of this article’s scope.

This post is about the benefits of link-building, so let’s get right into them.

What Are The Benefits of Link Building?

1. Higher Ranking

Backlinks are one of the top Google ranking factors — if not the top.

In fact, at the most basic level, Search Engine Optimization is nothing but content and links.

Write decent content that matches the search intent and build high-quality links, and you’ll find yourself on the first page of Google.

Topical maps, EEAT, TF-IDF, and all the other search engine ranking factors will just give you an edge over your competitors.

In reality, if you just focus on content and links, you’ll do better than 90% of SEOs.

Don’t believe me?

Well, let’s take a look at the SEO phenomenon called Forbes.

After a quick Google search, you’ll find that they rank for keywords like best web hosting services, best mattress, best protein powders, best credit cards, and so on.

Forbes is supposed to be a finance magazine — why on earth are they ranking for best mattresses?

They must have hired super expert sleeping coaches to write this type of content, right?

No, they don’t.

I know for a fact that most of the content is written by freelancers who just research and write the content based on their findings — the same way you write content for your website.

Maybe because they have a strict review policy, and proudly claim that money doesn’t influence their product selection, search engines like Google decided to reward them?

Don’t make me laugh!

Just look at their best web hosting providers' article.

They’re recommending BlueHost and GoDaddy.

Anyone worth their salt knows that these are horrible hosting providers that just happen to have very rewarding affiliate commissions.

Whoever recommended these services either knows absolutely nothing about web hosting or their decision was swayed by money — more likely the latter.

So what’s their secret sauce? Why does the search engine love them so much?

It’s simply because they have lots of backlinks. Hundreds of thousands of them.

They have a very high domain authority that it makes it impossible to compete against them even if you built the perfect topical map, paid experts to write your content, and did all the fancy SEO best practices.

I’ll end this section by mentioning 3 studies to support my claims.

The first one is from Backlinko.

They analyzed 11.8 million search engine results pages, and they found that a site’s overall domain authority strongly correlates with higher website rankings.

They also found that the #1 result in Google has an average of 3.8x more backlinks than positions #2-#10.

The second study is by ahrefs.

Basically, they wanted to test whether backlinks matter for rankings.

So they chose a few test pages, and they disavowed all the backlinks going to them.

Unsurprisingly, their rankings dropped.

Finally, a 2021 study by MOZ found a high correlation between relevant links and rankings.

2. More Traffic

According to FirstPageSage, the #1 Google result gets about 39.8% of the total search traffic.

Right after it is the #2 result with 18.7%.

Now, do you know how much traffic the #4 result gets?

Only 7.4%.

To put that into perspective, if you’re trying to rank for a keyword with 2,000 search volume, and you ranked 4th — which is considered pretty good — you’re only getting 150 clicks per month.

Now, is the #1 article 5 times better than the #4? 

Because that’s how much more traffic the #1 result gets.

Probably not — right?

In most cases, the article ranking 4th is just as good as the #1 result.

It just needs an extra SEO boost to help it get to the money-making positions.

How can you get that boost?

By building links.

I can’t tell you how many clients we had lurking at the bottom of page 1, and by just building a few quality backlinks, they shoot up to the top 3 search engine results.

Sometimes, all that is stopping you from making money with SEO is one quality backlink, so don't hesitate to assign a budget for effective link-building strategies.

3. Brand Exposure

In the TikTok age where the average person's attention span is 8.25 seconds, you must constantly remind your clients that you exist.

You want your product or service to be the first thing they think of whenever they need a solution for their problem.

And what better way to achieve that than having huge billboards with your brand name over it?

Ranking at the top of Google is the digital equivalent of billboards.

And not any type of billboards — they are special billboards that only appear to individuals who are interested in your solution.

By building links, you’ll rank higher for more keywords.

As a result, you’ll have more digital real estate to always stay at the top of your target audience's mind.

4. Bigger Market Share

Every customer that goes into your store or website is one less customer going to your competitors.

If you’re serious about your business, your goal is to dominate the market.

You want to be the Google of search engines — a pure monopoly.

5. Higher Conversion Rate

Imagine this: Your roof is leaking.

If it’s the 80s, you’d open your phonebook and call the first roof-repairing company you find.

Today, things are a little different.

Instead of manually searching a physical phonebook, you type the roof repairing company near me and you click on the first result.

How do you get to the first result?

You are absolutely right! 

By building backlinks from relevant sites.

6. More Digital Assets

If I asked you what are the assets of brick-and-mortar stores, you’d answer with things like cash, inventory, machinery, etc.

Now, what are the assets of an online business?

This question is a bit trickier because most online assets are intangible.

We could, however, say that an online business’s assets are the things that help it get web traffic.

That’s the website if you’re doing SEO and social profiles if you’re doing social media marketing.

And what are the main pillars of a website?

They’re content and links.

By building links, you’re not just getting mentions on other websites, you’re basically investing in assets that will help you generate income for years to come.

7. Increase Your Website Trust & Domain Authority

Google's algorithm largely depends on links.

They see backlinks as votes of trust.

The more people linking to you — trusting you — the more Google will be willing to trust you with their top search positions.

8. Referral Traffic

Think of your favorite coffee shop or restaurant. You went there the first time maybe because a friend told you about it.

That word-of-mouth moment, when translated to the online world, becomes what we call referral traffic.

Think of it this way: When an author links to you, it basically means that they’re recommending your business to their readers.

Now, the magic part? Those visitors are usually already interested in your product or service.

They've clicked on that link because something sparked their interest.

This means they're not just wandering through your site; they're potential customers.

9. Build More Relationships Within Your Niche

The link-building game isn't simply a march toward Google's good graces.

It's about creating genuine connections with folks who share your passions and pursuits.

When you build relationships in your niche, you're not just gathering backlinks.

You're, in fact, forging bonds that could lead to fruitful collaborations, partnerships, or even friendships down the line.

Picture this: You're reaching out to a blog owner, not to get something, but to offer value.

You admire their work, resonate with their message, and want to collaborate.

It's not about you; it's about creating something awesome together.

Maybe they'll link to your site, or perhaps not.

Either way, you're growing your network, spreading goodwill, and strengthening your position within your niche.

10. Get Natural Backlinks

You know, there's a peculiar thing about SEO that reminds me of the old saying "The rich get richer."

In the world of SEO, the top-ranking pages often seem to get more natural backlinks, and that only helps them stay at the top.

Imagine you've got a blog post ranking well for a popular keyword.

People start to notice your content. They read, like, and even link back to your article from their own websites.

Since you’re gaining more natural backlinks, you rise higher in the SERPs, thus, more folks find your content.

With more eyes on your page, more people link to it.

It's a self-perpetuating cycle, like a snowball rolling down a hill, growing larger with each turn.

11. Gets Your Page Indexed Fast

Imagine putting a lot of effort into a piece of artwork, but no one can see it because it's hidden in your garage.

That's how your web page feels if it's not indexed by search engines.

It's there, and it might be great, but no one can find it.

There have been a lot of issues regarding page indexing lately.

Google and other search engines are struggling to cope with the sheer volume of new content constantly being generated — especially with advancements in AI.

This makes it a lot harder for search crawlers to find your page.

Well, unless an indexed page led the crawlers directly to it.

That’s one of the most important link-building benefits.

Your link-building efforts won't only get your page to rank higher but also faster.

13. Lower Bounce Rate with Internal Links

When we talk about link building, we often mean acquiring links on websites other than ours.

However, placing internal links on your pages is also considered a type of link-building strategy.

Internal links have many benefits.

First, it can help pass link juice, which can help your pages rank higher on the SERPs.

Second, it helps search crawlers find your pages and index them faster.

Finally, it can help reduce the bounce rate — which is a measure of the percentage of visitors who visit only one page on your website and then leave.

Carefully placing internal links within your article can guide your visitors down the funnel — resulting in more conversions and brand recognition.

So, make sure to make a proper internal linking structure.

14. More Social Media Followers

Link building has more benefits beyond SEO.

One of them is growing your social media followers.

Unlike ads, link building can help you get consistent organic traffic over a long period of time without any additional cost.

You just need to put in the initial work of building these links, and the followers will keep coming.

Just make sure to have strong CTAs to guide your visitors to your social media accounts.

15. More Email Subscribers

One thing that I absolutely love about SEO is that it gets you relevant traffic.

You get visitors who are actually interested in your service or solution.

This makes it a lot easier for you to convert them into email subscribers — which is the most effective digital marketing channel.

16. Find New Opportunities

Link building is all about creating relationships with other bloggers, influencers, and businesses in your market.

This can help you find more opportunities in your niche.

Think of things like product collaborations, lead sharing, bringing diverse perspectives, etc.

17. Improve Your SEO Score & Metrics

This might not be a real white-hat link-building benefit, but it’s worth mentioning for all of our number-oriented readers.

Link-building strategies can help you improve third-party SEO metrics, such as Domain Rating (DR), Domain Authority (DA), Authority Score, and many more.

18. Create More Valuable Content

People won’t link to poorly written pieces of content that don’t offer any value.

Your article must be really good for your outreach campaign to work.

This means that link-building strategies indirectly force you to create more quality content, which in return, benefits the readers, and improves your domain authority and credibility in your niche.

19. Higher ROI

Investing in link building enhances your site's visibility in search results. More visibility leads to more clicks and consequently, more sales.

Building quality backlinks targets audiences actively looking for your products or services.

This targeted approach doesn't just drive more visitors — it targets those with a genuine interest in your products or services, who are more likely to make a purchase.

Therefore, the cost of gaining each new customer decreases, increasing the overall return.

20. Boost EEAT

EEAT stands for expertise, experience, authority, and trust.

Basically, it’s a way for Google to evaluate how helpful your content is.

I won’t get too technical here.

I’ll just tell you that according to Gary Illyes, a Google Webmaster Trends Analyst, EEAT is largely based on links from high authority sites.

So the more links you build, the more Google will think your content is helpful and that you’re an expert in this niche.

21. It Helps Search Engines Understand Your Content

Search engines don’t understand words the same way humans do.

Instead, they rely on clues, such as the words in the title, keyword frequency, etc.

One of the most important factors that Google relies on is inbound links.

Think of it this way: If a page is talking about cars, pointed to another page using the anchor text “buy used cars”, then there is a high chance that this linked page is also about cars.

Other Link-Building Strategies Benefits

22. Increase Your Website Credibility

23. Increase Your Revenue

24. Strengthen Your Position As a Thought Leader In Your Niche

25. Higher Income

FAQs

Is Link Building Safe?

Link building is safe when done right. To avoid getting any penalties, you must build links on high-quality websites and avoid engaging in any link-building schemes.

What Are the Benefits of Backlink Building?

The benefits of backlink building include more website traffic, higher search engine rankings, more website trust and credibility, and higher conversion rates.

How Important Is Link Building In SEO?

Link building is extremely important for SEO, as it gives you a ranking boost and helps your pages get more organic traffic.

What Is the Purpose of Backlinks?

Backlinks help search engines understand what your page is about and improve your Trust score — resulting in higher rankings.

Conclusion

When someone links to you, search engines interpret that as a vote of trust.

And if real humans trust your content, this means only one thing — your article is high quality, and it deserves the top spot.

That’s basically why Google and other search engines love backlinks.

However, not all backlinks are equal.

Some give more trust signals than others.

And some can do more harm than good.

That’s why it’s important to be extra careful when building links because if you do it wrong, you could end up with a manual Google penalty.

If you need to learn more about the right link-building approach for your business, feel free to book a consultation call with one of our experienced link builders free of charge.