Natural Backlinks: What They Are and How to Build Them

A healthy link profile consists of natural backlinks coming from a variety of sources, but what does that mean?

Are there types of backlinks that occur in nature?

Whenever SEOs talk about natural backlinks, they’re referring to backlinks they had no part in creating, thus they occurred ‘naturally.’ 

Most of the time, this means another website found your content extremely helpful or interesting and decided to share it with their audience. You didn’t reach out to them to request a backlink, they did it on their own volition due to the strength of your content. 

Therefore, search engines like Google recommend that the only link-building tactic you take part in is creating awesome content that others want to link back to. 

That means things like outreach, digital PR, and buying links are all considered unnatural (although this is hotly debated, but more on this later). 

While this is undoubtedly a fantastic way to generate high-quality links, it’s not always feasible – especially if you’re facing a sizable backlink gap from one of your competitors. 

At the same time, there are other ways to generate natural backlinks besides just creating outstanding content (although that’s always part of the equation). 

Also, while Google’s algorithms have become quite sophisticated at detecting unnatural links, they aren’t 100% infallible. As a result, there are ways to build backlinks that appear natural to Google and other search engines, which is really all that matters. 

How do you do that?

Stick around to learn how to build natural backlinks, including unnatural practices to avoid at all costs. 

Understanding Natural Backlinks 

For a backlink to fall under the ‘natural’ category, a site owner has to decide to link to your website by themselves, without any outside influence. 

Email outreach, even when not offering money for a backlink, is technically still a way of influencing site owners to link to your content. 

Here are the primary qualifying factors for a natural backlink:

• Spontaneous. This means you didn’t ask for the backlink, pay for it, or participate in a link exchange to get it. Instead, you obtained the backlink purely because another person found your content valuable/relevant enough to share. It could be that a free tool you provide on your website genuinely provides value to their audience, or they could simply be fans of the content you produce. Whatever the reason may be, spontaneity is a key aspect of natural backlinks. 

• Relevant. If you want a backlink to positively impact your search rankings, it has to hold contextual or topical relevance to the linking content. Irrelevant links are devalued by Google’s algorithms, and they aren’t helpful to users. Natural backlinks are always relevant and serve a real purpose. 

• Diverse anchor text. Anchor text is the text that masks a naked URL in a hyperlink. Google likes to see anchor text that’s varied and natural instead of the same target keywords over and over again (which signals spam). Diverse anchor text is a sign that lots of websites link to your content without any influence on your behalf, which is why it’s important. 

We’ll clue you in on a little insider secret. 

As long as your backlinks check the last two boxes (relevance and diverse anchor text) and come from authoritative websites (NOT spam sites), Google really has no way of knowing how you acquired the link. 

This is good news because it’s not always possible to strictly build 100% natural backlinks, especially if you’re in need of lots of links to get on par with the competition. 

Besides those three factors, the following characteristics will also make your backlinks more attractive to Google:

• Domain authority. Your backlinks should always come from authentic, reputable websites that provide value to users. Checking a domain’s authority score is a good way to gauge its credibility and ranking power. You can use our free domain authority checker tool to vet websites before pursuing backlinks from them. A good rule of thumb is to only pursue backlinks from sites with authority scores at or over 20. 

• Backlink placement. Where a backlink appears on a web page is also an important factor. This is because links in the footer and sidebar are notorious areas for irrelevant, spammy links. Ideally, all your backlinks should appear in the body of a web page’s content. This signals to Google that the backlink is relevant and holds some type of significance to users. 

To recap, as long as your backlinks are relevant, appear on trusted websites, and show up in the body of the content – they will appear natural to Google. 

Why is Natural Link-Building so Important?

Next, let’s explore why natural link-building is a necessary practice. 

After all, can’t you find success by building unnatural backlinks?

While some websites are able to obtain short-term success with ‘black-hat’ (i.e., tactics that violate search guidelines) techniques, their success is fleeting. 

It’s only a matter of time before Google’s algorithms catch onto their link schemes, which will cause their online visibility to come crashing down in a matter of minutes. Google’s infamous 2024 March Core Update heavily cracked down on AI-generated content and website spam, which caused scores of websites to experience severe drop-offs in traffic. 

Constantly looking over your shoulder to see if Google’s caught you yet is no way to live, which is why natural link-building is a must (trust us; you’ll sleep much better). 

Here’s a look at some other reasons why natural link-building is a practice worth adopting if you haven’t already. 

Reason #1: Google values natural backlinks the most 

First and foremost, you should engage in natural link-building because it yields the most powerful type of backlinks. 

According to Andrey Lipattsev, a Search Quality Senior Strategist at Google “the algorithm prioritizes natural backlinks as a key ranking factor. These links are seen as genuine endorsements of your content’s quality and relevance, signaling to Google that your website is a trusted source of information.”

Translation: backlinks that appear natural will have the strongest impact on your search rankings. 

If you obtain unnatural backlinks from spammy websites that add no value to users, Google’s algorithm will devalue them, making building them a total waste of time. 

As proof that natural backlinks matter more, look to Backlinko’s study that found the #1-ranked organic position on Google has 3.8x more backlinks than positions 2 – 10. 

So, if you want to reach the top of Google’s SERPs, natural backlinks are a must-have. 

Reason #2: Natural backlinks raise brand awareness 

Natural backlinks won’t just improve your search rankings; they’ll also get the word out about your brand. 

How so?

It’s due to the nature (pun intended) of natural backlinks. 

Since other respected websites are linking to your content, it exposes your brand to their audience, who may be totally different from yours.

This is great because you may find new audiences who enjoy your content and want to consume your products and services, and you may not have found them otherwise. 

As a real-world example, here’s an instance where SaaS SEO juggernaut Semrush gave us a shout-out for the renowned quality of our white-label services:

They’re one of the biggest SaaS platforms in the world, hence their ridiculously high domain-rating (DR) score of 91 (the scale is out of 100). As you can see, they linked back to one of our case studies (they also linked to several other pages, but we’re keeping things brief), passing a truckload of link juice back to our site. 

Besides the SEO benefit, we also generate tons of referral traffic through our backlinks on Semrush’s site. This also exposes our content to an extremely wide audience since websites from all industries use Semrush’s platform. 

Reason #3: Sustainable backlink growth 

Natural link-building is a necessity because it provides much-needed sustainability to link-building campaigns. 

By creating high-quality content that attracts shares due to its usefulness and entertainment value – you’ll keep the links coming in. 

Without creating outstanding content, you’ll have to rely on coercive, manipulative tactics to keep generating backlinks, which can land you in trouble with Google. For example, some site owners try to skirt content creation responsibilities by setting up private blog networks (PBNs). 

What’s that?

A PBN is a network of dummy websites that only exist to link back to a central website. The websites on the network are just thin facades meant to give the appearance of a functioning website, but there’s no depth to them at all. 

Clicking around on a PBN site will soon shatter the illusion since they won’t have any new content or external links (and the content they do have is either extremely thin or plagiarized). 

Google has become extremely adept at identifying PBNs, so you’re much better off directing that time and energy toward creating helpful content. 

Take it from us; we’re a living testament to the power of natural link-building. 

Here’s a look at our referring domains and organic traffic:

As we continue to build our referring domains, our organic traffic follows (with some minor spikes and dips here and there in accordance with trends and other factors). 

The main reason why our referring domains continue to rise is the free tools and in-depth guides that we offer users. 

After all, we’re not just writing this guide out of the goodness of our hearts (although that’s part of it); it helps us continue to build our authority and grow our link profile. 

Reason #4: Diversify your backlink profile 

As stated in the intro, a healthy link profile contains links from a wide variety of sources. 

This means that if you only build backlinks via guest posts on top-tier websites, it could raise suspicions about link schemes to Google’s algorithms. The same is true if you use the same anchor text over and over again, especially if you use target keywords. 

Instead, you need to build a diverse link profile containing backlinks from:

1. Websites with varying degrees of quality (only including high-quality links screams manipulation) 
2. Relevant business directory links 
3. Forum backlinks (like Reddit and Quora) 
4. Links from social media platforms 

It’s equally as important that these links contain diverse anchor text, such as naked URLs, branded anchors, and natural anchors (hyperlinking neutral text that isn’t meant to advertise anything). 

The great part about natural link-building is that it handles all this for you, naturally (pun intended again). 

Whenever others link back to your content, the links are bound to A) come from a wide range of sources and B) contain diverse anchor text. 

Imagine that you create an extremely helpful video teaching others how to do something important to your niche audience. As word gets out and you promote it, others will most likely share it by:

• Linking to it on their social media profiles 
• Sharing it through their blogs 
• Including it on news websites and media outlets 

Google knows this, which is why it places so much importance on building diverse backlink profiles.  

What are Unnatural Backlinks?

Now, it’s time to look at the other side of the coin and analyze unnatural backlinks. In a nutshell, these are backlinks that you had a hand in generating, either through outreach, paying money, participating in a link exchange, or something more nefarious. 

It’s important to note here that Google’s rules about link-building are intentionally vague. If taken literally, virtually every link-building practice would fall under the unnatural umbrella. 

As a result, what qualifies as an unnatural backlink is a fierce source of debate for many SEOs. 

For instance, Search Engine Journal columnist Julie Joyce notes that “putting a link in a place where it adds value as a relevant resource. I don’t care if you pay for it, ask for it, tweet a link to it, or get it any other way. If it’s a good addition to someone’s work, it’s a natural link to me.”

While many marketers share this take, it’s undeniable that Google cracks down on practices like buying backlinks and link exchanges, so it’s still best to err on the side of caution when using such tactics. Buying backlinks, when done right, will benefit your search rankings and add value to users – and they won’t raise suspicion – but you’ve got to do it the right way. 

In our experience, we tend to agree with Joyce, because most link-building tactics are totally fine as long as they are relevant and add value to users. 

Other types of backlinks, though, are definitely unnatural and should be avoided whenever possible. Things like link farms and PBNs aren’t worth the trouble they take to set up and will land you in serious hot water if you’re caught.   

Here’s a list of unnatural link-building practices to steer clear of:

1. Using the same type of anchor text for every backlink
2. Cheap backlink offers (i.e., 1,000 links for $10) 
3. Beware of general directories (a few are okay, but don’t go crazy) – stick with niche directories instead 
4. Don’t spam forum comments with backlinks 
5. Do not buy links in bulk and publish them all at once 

As long as you avoid these spammy link-building practices, you’ll have a far lower chance of receiving a manual penalty from Google. 

In reference to buying links in bulk, publishing all of them at once will signal spam to Google. The smart way to buy links is to only publish a few at a time, which will appear far more natural. 

How to Earn Natural Backlinks 

Okay, now it’s time to learn the most reliable ways to generate natural backlinks, or at least backlinks that appear natural to Google and other search engines. 

The most reliable tactics include:

• Creating thought leader-worthy content 
• Building relationships with other websites in your field 
• Promoting your content through various channels 
• Interview industry experts 

Let’s take an in-depth look at each technique. 

Tactic #1: Create outstanding content that attracts shares 

Not only is creating great content the best natural link-building technique, but it also serves as the foundation for any successful link-building strategy. 

If you create content that’s original, entertaining, compelling, and genuinely helpful – it will ‘naturally’ attract backlinks from a wide variety of sources, granting you a diverse backlink profile, which is what Google wants to see. 

But what types of content should you focus on creating?

That’s a fantastic question, as certain types of content attract more shares than others. 

If you want to start generating backlinks like mad, try creating the following types of content:

• Free tools. A huge reason why our website generates so many natural backlinks is the strength of our suite of free SEO tools. We have tools for everything from keyword research to checking a website’s domain authority, all of which are incredibly useful for digital marketers. Regardless of your industry, try to brainstorm helpful free tools you can create to build natural backlinks. 

• Original research. Bloggers love statistics, and they’re always on the hunt for relevant studies, surveys, and other forms of research to back up their claims. Therefore, creating original research in your field is a surefire way to generate lots of quality backlinks. 

• Visual content like videos and infographics. Research has shown time and time again that visual content attracts more shares than static content. In particular, videos and infographics are two backlink-generating powerhouses, so utilize them whenever possible. 

• Guides and tutorials. Users take to search engines to answer pressing questions and learn new skills, which is why ultimate guides are so popular. You should carefully research topics beforehand to ensure you create guides for topics that your audience truly cares about. Master this, and you’ll start generating natural backlinks in large quantities. 

Tactic #2: Build relationships with relevant sites in your niche 

Relationship-building is an excellent way to build up your backlink profile. It involves sparking relationships with other site owners in your industry to create long-lasting backlink opportunities. 

You should create relationships with sites that:

• Accept guest posts and link insertions 
• Genuinely appreciate your content (and share it often) 
• Have a similar target audience but don’t compete for the same business 
• Share press releases and syndicate articles 

Building relationships with sites like these will lead to numerous backlink opportunities in the future, not just one. 

The best part?

When done correctly, relationship-building leads to natural backlinks. For example, if you’re buddy-buddy with a blog in your industry, they’ll be twice as likely to link back to your website without you even asking (of course, you would return the favor by regularly linking to their content, too). 

It’s definitely a long-term technique, but the benefits that relationship-building yields are undoubtedly worth the effort. 

Tactic #3: Promote your content like crazy 

While Google frowns upon intentionally building backlinks, they don’t have any qualms about websites promoting their own content. 

This means it’s perfectly okay to promote your new blogs, videos, and infographics through as many channels as possible. Whenever you release something new, promote it through:

• All your social media profiles 
• Industry forums 
• Relevant online communities
• Your newsletter (if you have one) 
• Email marketing 

The more attention you generate for your content, the more likely others are to share it of their own volition, providing you with natural backlinks. 

Tactic #4: Interview industry experts and get featured on podcasts 

Lastly, interviewing experts and going on a ‘media tour’ of sorts will help you generate natural backlinks. 

There are bound to be countless experts and influencers in your field, so see if you can track some of them down for an interview. It’s up to you how to format the interview (i.e., a blog post, video, or podcast), but ensure that you promote it to the high heavens. 

If the industry experts you speak with have large followings, you should be able to pick up lots of natural backlinks by interviewing them. 

Also, you can find relevant podcasts in your industry and see if you can snag a spot as a featured guest. Whenever you land a spot, request that the podcast owner provide a link back to your site in the episode’s description. 

Harness the Power of Natural Backlinks for Your Website 

Natural backlinks occur due to the sheer strength and quality of your website’s content, and they’re extremely important for ranking high on Google and other search engines. 

Unnatural backlink tactics like link farms and PBNs are best avoided altogether to avoid landing in hot water with Google. 

By creating outstanding content, building relationships with other sites, and promoting the heck out of your content, you can start generating natural backlinks for your website. 

Do you need help with your SEO and link-building?

HOTH X, our fully managed SEO service, is the solution to all your problems. Our team will handle every aspect of your SEO, and we know how to achieve outstanding results, so don’t wait to get in touch with us!