15 Types of Affiliate Marketing Backlinks To Get You Ranking High in SERPs

If you’re running a website, whether a blog, an online store, or a web portal, chances are you want to boost your organic traffic and improve your search engine rankings. It’s a big goal, and there are countless strategies out there, but one of the fundamental tactics is link-building. Now, not all backlinks are created equal. Some make a difference in elevating your search rankings and landing a prime spot in search engine results.

To determine which backlinks are the real game-changers, you need to dive into the different types, understand how they benefit your affiliate marketing website, and choose the correct quantity to go after. That’s where we come in. This article has compiled a comprehensive list of the various types of backlinks that can supercharge your link-building efforts. It’s all about helping you craft a solid plan to snag those top-notch links for your site.

What Are Backlinks? 

Backlinks, also known as inbound, incoming, or one-way links, emerge when a website links to another. Imagine it as a virtual recommendation – if someone links to your website, you score a backlink, and vice versa. These clickable connections serve as digital pathways, allowing users to seamlessly navigate from one affiliate marketing site to another.

Backlinks aren’t just superficial nods; they reflect your website’s popularity. Consequently, integrating, overseeing, and evaluating their performance becomes a pivotal element in search engine optimization (SEO) and overall SEO strategies. The quality and quantity of your backlinks play a crucial role in elevating your ranking on search engines.

In essence, backlinks serve as a digital reputation, determining how widely recognized and respected your website is in the vast online landscape. Managing these connections is the key to boosting your website’s prominence and relevance in the ever-evolving digital sphere.

Besides ranking, backlinks can increase organic traffic and help you get noticed by search engines. For example, if many sites link your webpage or website severally, search engines can conclude that content is worth linking to and surfacing on search engine results pages (SERP).

However, if you are learning to create a link-building campaign, you must know that not all backlinks are valued similarly. Some types of backlinks will help improve your search rankings, while others are low-quality and can negatively impact your website’s organic search performance.

We have listed some backlinks you need to know to help you determine the best types for your affiliate marketing site.

Types of Backlinks To Get You Ranking High in SERPs

1. Editorial Backlinks

Editorial or contextual links are acquired from purely having a site that produces high-quality content and applies white hat SEO. Where the acquired link has been paid for or requested, editorial links are earned organically by providing valuable content.

These links don’t come cheap; they only come from highly authoritative sites with higher rankings. Additionally, you can acquire these outbound links from news agency sites or extensive publications like the New York Post, Forbes, or The Guardian. Generally, an editorial link comes from a trustworthy source with high domain authority.

The most effective way to earn editorial links is to focus on writing high-quality, engaging, shareable, original content on prevalent topics that most people find attractive. When your affiliate marketing content can sell itself, your content marketing strategy becomes much more manageable.

2. Guest Blogging Backlinks

Guest blogging backlinks are among the highest-valued backlinks that digital marketers should target as part of their link-building strategies. It involves creating content as a guest author on another person’s site with a link to your affiliate marketing website.

A guest link can be free or paid, but usually, it’s an arrangement between one website and another. You can write a guest post for another site and get a link within the article to the writer’s site.

Practicing guest blogging outreach to request more valuable sites for these opportunities should be vital to any SEO strategy. Undoubtedly, this backlink can be beneficial and boost your affiliate marketing rankings tremendously.

Read Also: SEO Tips to Help Your Rank Higher

3. Acknowledgment Backlinks

You can issue this backlink if your label or brand sponsors an industry event, has representatives speaking, or does other similar activities. You can use backlink checkers to get this type of backlink.

The best way to form acknowledgment backlinks to your site is to constantly monitor your competitors regarding the events they participate in and then make a wise move that conveys benefits for your company.

4. Authority Links

Authority backlinks deliver raw ranking power, authority, and relevance to promote your site’s ranking in a SERP. Due to their age, quality, and size, these website links have established significant trust and authority with search engines.

Authority sites are market-leading sites representing established government and educational institutions, large corporations, or leading websites. Authority links can bring massive ranking power to an affiliate marketing site if you can obtain one or more.

These backlinks are extremely difficult; the best approach to authority links is to be watchful for opportunities to obtain them.

5. Image / Infographic Backlinks

Infographics are educational or informative images showing data or research. You can attain these links by creating a well-designed image and sharing it with others on their sites.

Infographic links can help people apprehend complex concepts using visual aids such as images, charts, graphs, or diagrams. They can use images and text in a visual format to demonstrate concepts. They are often used for marketing purposes but can be helpful when writing articles or sharing research.

You are credited as the creator each time someone shares the image, whether via social media, blogs, or sites. This attribution correlates to a backlink to your affiliate marketing site.

6. Pillow Links

Pillow backlinks are like the supportive backbone of your website’s link strategy, adding diversity to your link profile. While they might not skyrocket your rankings in highly competitive affiliate marketing niches, they support your link-building efforts. These links act as a protective layer, offering insulation for your main page.

The beauty of pillow backlinks lies in their flexibility. You can incorporate them before, during, or after your dedicated link-building campaign, signaling to Google and establishing a foundation for further activities. Their ease of attraction sets them apart, requiring minimal cost and effort.

Consistency is critical here; integrate them gradually into the ranking process, using them as the foundational steps for building your website’s authority. These links contribute to initial rankings and play an ongoing role in constructing your affiliate marketing site’s credibility and influence.

7. Private Blog Network (PBN) Links

 Private Blog Network or PBN links is a powerful link-building strategy that can help you rank in competitive affiliate marketing niches. PBNs are confidential and, ideally, leave no digital footprint, achieved with several manipulative and deceitful measures.

These contextual and authority backlinks are typically on a blog’s homepage to manipulate search engines. That said, it is necessary to note that PBN link building is entirely a black hat practice and goes against Google’s guidelines. Suppose an affiliate marketing site is found to indulge in this practice. In that case, Google reserves the right to penalize or remove it from its search results based on the intensity of spam involved.

8. Social Bookmarking Links

Social bookmarking is simple, accessible, and natural to obtain links that allow users to post high-quality content and share links to web pages. These bookmarks are public on bookmarking sites, with groups, networks, or private domains.

Social bookmarking links could be more effective than other recent types of backlinks. However, if you still want to get involved with communities relevant to your affiliate marketing industry, you can engage with your audience on forums with relevant content and sharing.

9. Niche Edits or Curated Links

SEO professionals often leverage curated links or niche edits as potent tools in digital marketing to enhance website rankings. Instead of creating new blog posts, contextual backlinks can be seamlessly integrated into existing, relevant blog posts. These targeted posts have already aged, indicating that Google has indexed their content, and their backlink profiles continue to resonate actively.

Acquiring niche edits or curated links involves various approaches. One method is contacting webmasters and authors through payment for link opportunities or securing them for free. Success in this endeavor requires dedicated efforts to identify content that closely aligns with your own.

Search for similar topics and locate content that would benefit from including your outbound link. For example, if your affiliate marketing blog focuses on pet care, your content could significantly enhance the value of any site that has previously covered pet-related topics.

The second involves hiring a professional agency to help you do the hard work. Most companies that offer SEO services will provide link-building. The best will manage your outreach and build a contacts database for appropriate white hat opportunities.

10. Article Directory Types of Backlinks

Article or blog directories are websites that contain collections of articles written on different subjects. Also referred to as content farms, article directories allow an author to present an article and syndicate it across various websites. Other site owners can then reuse these articles for their websites.

Article directories are links placed in content that are reproduced every time the original article is syndicated. This type of link-building is an outdated tactic that will not advance search engine rankings. Marketers should focus on attaining more qualified and trustworthy website links than those obtained from article directories.

11. Blog Comments Backlinks

Blog commenting is one of the most straightforward ways to get backlinks. Go to the sites that have enabled the comments feature. Then, comment with your website URL; you will get a backlink after the comment is approved.

That said, you should not exploit blog comments to attain links. Once blog comments become spammy, they contribute to a link scheme that violates Google’s guidelines.

If you want to leave an organic and meaningful comment on a post, then do so. If you’re engaging with authoritative websites, blog commenting can bring organic traffic to your affiliate marketing site if your comment is particularly insightful or relevant. However, several factors must be considered when commenting to avoid participating in manipulative link schemes.

12. Auto-Generated Types of Backlinks

When you generate links automatically, you’re creating programmatic links. This means these links are generated without a clear indication of intent. Tools like WebEffector and SEO Hammer allow you to automate posting links in comments and online posts, targeting specific website anchor keywords. However, it’s worth noting that these automated links may provide short-term benefits, but they often come with risks.

The practice of auto-generated link-building goes against Google’s guidelines. Authors shouldn’t have to take specific actions to generate links automatically. Moreover, this method is considered aggressive and manipulative in link-building. It contributes to the degradation of the web by introducing spammy and low-quality practices. Knowing that these shortcuts may lead to short-lived gains before Google detects and penalizes such activities on your affiliate marketing site is essential.

13. Links From Press Releases (PR Links)

PR Link Building uses public relations techniques such as press releases and media pitching to secure useful editorial links to your site. This SEO backlink-building practice is a critical component of a Digital PR strategy.

You can increase your PR backlinks by increasing social shares with visual content. Gaining more social shares will help you rank higher in Google search results. However, you should note that PR is not a link-building tactic that will advance search engine visibility.

14. Widget Backlinks Types

A widget is a web-based app with a link to your website, which can be taken and added to a web page or article on another website. By giving a widget to another website, they can display your links on their page, providing a backlink to your affiliate marketing website.

Most of the time, widget backlinks are in the form of tools, resources, or additions like calculators or weather widgets to a page. The primary goal of widgets is their viral effect in boosting traffic to your site.

15. Testimonial & Review Types of Backlinks

Testimonial and review link building is the process of getting positive comments or reviews about a product or service featured on your website. At its essence, the testimonial link-building strategy is about providing a lot of value to the owner in exchange for a link from their site. 

These types of backlinks work in two ways. The first is when you write a review on someone else site. You can add it as a testimonial and include a link to your affiliate marketing website. The second is a review a customer leaves for your service on a platform, including a link to your site.

Unlike other backlink strategies, like the guest post strategy, you will not need to write long articles to build links. Instead, you only need to write a paragraph to get a testimonial link. In some cases, you can record your video testimonial and send it to the brand you’re working with. In addition, testimonial link-building efforts will have a higher success rate than other strategies.

Wrapping Up on Types of Backlinks

Getting websites to appear higher on search engine results is a big deal, and one key factor is backlinks or inbound links. It’s like the online world giving your affiliate marketing site a thumbs-up. But here’s the thing – not all thumbs-ups are created equal. Many of these links are out there; some are more valuable than others.

So, to make your affiliate marketing website shine, you’ve got to put in some serious effort to create an intelligent strategy for building the best possible collection of these links. It’s all about making your website friends with the right crowd on the internet!

We hope this guide helps you avoid low-quality tactics and focus on the best link-building approaches for high-quality backlinks in your next digital marketing campaign.