The importance of backlinks in medical and healthcare SEO to boost your authority
Backlinks serve as crucial pillars supporting a website's visibility in search engines. But how do they work, and how can you build them?What are backlinks? Backlinks are essentially links from a third-party website back to yours. They serve as crucial pillars in supporting a website's visibility in search engines. When reputable sites link to your pages, search engines interpret this as a vote of confidence, boosting your site's authority and enhancing E.E.A.T. signals. This is particularly critical when your website falls within the Your Money or Your Life (YMYL) category.
Quality over quantity
While racking up a good number of backlinks is essential, the quality of those links matters even more. A few high-quality backlinks from authoritative and relevant sources can have a more significant impact than a multitude of low-quality links.
How to measure authority
Authority can be measured in multiple ways. We prefer using a search engine optimisation (SEO) tool called Ahrefs; it measures authority using domain rating (DA) and URL rating (UR), both out of 100, with 100 being the most authoritative.
![Lightbulb icon](/_next/image?url=%2Finsight27%2Famp-lightbulb.png&w=128&q=75)
NOTE: It's important to recognise that different SEO tools use varying methodologies to determine a website's authority score. These scores are not used by Google as direct ranking factors and do not influence search engine results directly; however, a strong backlink profile is important and does influence rankings. Therefore, these scores should be considered as indicative guides rather than definitive metrics.
Example Ahrefs SEO toolbar:
![Example Ahrefs SEO toolbar](/_next/image?url=%2Finsight27%2Fahrefs-seo-toolbar.jpg&w=1920&q=75)
![Example Ahrefs SEO toolbar](/_next/image?url=%2Finsight27%2Fahrefs-seo-toolbar-mobile.jpg&w=3840&q=75)
Good vs bad authority
Assessing authority isn't always straightforward. For healthcare and medical content, a score below 50/100 suggests room for improvement through link-building. If your site scores above 50/100, congratulations! That indicates that your site is naturally attracting backlinks, making additional efforts less critical (but still worthwhile!).
When it comes to brand sites, targeting your brand as a keyword can be less competitive. Consequently, a lower authority score may suffice to effectively rank and drive traffic for this word. The decision to focus on building backlinks should ultimately hinge on the competitiveness of your topic or keyword.
To get started, head over to Ahrefs, enter your keyword, and take note of the difficulty score.
![Keyword analysis on ahrefs](/_next/image?url=%2Finsight27%2Fahrefs-keyword-analysis.jpg&w=1920&q=75)
![Keyword analysis on ahrefs](/_next/image?url=%2Finsight27%2Fahrefs-keyword-analysis-mobile.jpg&w=3840&q=75)
NOTE: The Ahrefs Keyword Difficulty (KD) score is intended as a general guide to assess a keyword's potential competitiveness. Numerous factors can influence keyword difficulty; therefore, it is recommended to use the KD score as an indicative guide rather than a definitive metric.
How pharmaceutical marketers can build backlinks
Naturally
Although time-consuming, the preferred method in the eyes of Google involves having other websites link to your content without any external influence. To naturally earn links, focus on creating content that is not only helpful and user-focused, but also offers a unique perspective, enhancing the overall user experience.
Incorporating various media formats such as videos, animations, podcasts, and webinars into your webpage can significantly contribute to the success of this strategy. The more you promote your website, the more you’ll naturally receive backlinks. Don’t forget, the most effective marketing strategies are holistic. Your ads and campaigns will feed into the success of your backlink plan and vice versa.
Low-hanging fruit
Owned websites: A strategic starting point for pharmaceutical or healthcare companies seeking valuable backlinks is to explore their portfolio of owned websites. Identify relevant platforms that could potentially provide backlinks. For example, if you operate a disease awareness site in need of links, consider reaching out to your corporate site. Write an article highlighting the new disease awareness site and include a backlink in the latest news section. This initial step involves identifying all owned websites and formulating a comprehensive plan.
Your network: Tap into your network of partners, and charitable connections that are appropriate for your content and site audience. If your new disease site focuses on respiratory diseases, leverage close relationships with charities in this therapeutic area. Reach out and enquire about the possibility of them linking to your content. Clearly communicate the value your content brings to their audience or charity. Establishing these connections can yield mutually beneficial backlink opportunities.
Outreach
Considering the time involved in the ‘natural’ method outlined above, outreach can be a valuable alternative. Establish relationships with reputable websites within your industry by following these steps:
1. Identify relevant websites: Utilise tools like Ahrefs for this process. Start by typing your keyword in Google.
![Keyword typed into Google](/_next/image?url=%2Finsight27%2Fkeyword-google.jpg&w=1920&q=75)
![Keyword typed into Google](/_next/image?url=%2Finsight27%2Fkeyword-google-mobile.jpg&w=3840&q=75)
Then note the websites on the first page. These are your search engine results page competitors.
![Serp result](/_next/image?url=%2Finsight27%2Fserp-result.jpg&w=1920&q=75)
![Serp result](/_next/image?url=%2Finsight27%2Fserp-result-mobile.jpg&w=3840&q=75)
Then use Ahrefs to find websites linking to these competitors.
![Ahrefs competitor analysis](/_next/image?url=%2Finsight27%2Fahrefs-competitor-analysis.jpg&w=1920&q=75)
![Ahrefs competitor analysis](/_next/image?url=%2Finsight27%2Fahrefs-competitor-analysis-mobile.jpg&w=3840&q=75)
2. Initiate outreach: Reach out, emphasising the value of your content! For a free outreach template or backlink outreach email, drop us a line.
While there are numerous techniques for building links, these steps serve as a simple guide to building backlinks.
Conclusion
Backlinks are the backbone of a robust SEO strategy. By developing a relevant and high-quality backlink profile, you not only enhance your website’s authority and trustworthiness, but can also increase referral traffic.
At AMP27, we are experts in healthcare and medical SEO. If you're eager to explore how AMP27 can help you build your outreach plan and increase your sites visibility in search engines, let's start the conversation. Contact us here.