42. Trusted Links

Most sectors have highly trusted links, authority links, and less credible backlinks. Search engine optimisers often spend a lot of time to find those authority sites and might even create unique content that appeals to them in hope of getting a link back. Learn more about what characterise a trusted links, why it’s important and how to get a golden backlink to your own website.

What characterise trusted links?

A trusted link is simply a incoming links from a website considered to be an reliable source of information. These websites are trusted because they have quality material and don’t link out to distrusted websites.

While some trusted links might come from leading directories such as Dmoz, other might come from local authorities and government resources (.gov or .gov.uk), education related websites (.edu or ac.uk) or leading newspapers or niche magazines.

Examples of trusted links varies from sector to sector. Here comes a few examples from the fashion industry.

Trusted fashion links

Some of the highest authority in the fashion industry obviously comes from the some of the leading fashion houses, such as Chanel, Dior, Prada, Gucci and Paul Smith.

However, it might be more than a little bit complicated to receive links from those  ’giants’.

Why not try to get mentioned in some of the most popular fashion magazines and fashion newspapers instead, for instance Vouge, Elle or Guardian Lifestyle.

Further, there is many local and more niche types of fashion authorities, for example authorities in sneakers, coats or some kind of accessory.

Another way of getting trusted links is from the most popular fashion blogs, such as street fashion blog StyleScout or Susanna Lau’s fashion blog called StyleBubble. Basically, there is all kinds of authorities since fashion is such a wide field. You just need to identify targets, offer something new or different to them and communicate in order to succeed with finding authority links.

Why is authority links important?

Without links from authorities in your field, it’s hard for search engines to trust you. Why should your site deserve to be found in top of Google if no trusted source recommend you? Since authorities tend to have a wide range of powerful backlinks, you will get part of that power if you get a link from them.

How to get trusted links?

There are many ways to get highly trusted links. Here comes four simple suggestions how to achieve it:

• First mover advantage: It always helps to be first with something.
• Be different: Stand out and be a bit. Be an original.
• Keep trying: It’s not always you succeed the first time. But try again if you don’t make it the first time.
• Be specific: If you are very specific, you attract people who are looking for exactly that.
• Provide extensive information: Give more information than your competitors. Be a comprehensive resource for the topics you write about.