Building quality backlinks and promoting your content I know, I know, backlinks are well-trodden ground, we’ve covered them before and we’ll likely cover them again. Because still after all this time, debate rages about whether backlinks really do make a difference to you ability to rank. Google encourages us to earn, not buy links. SEOs tell us to focus on quality not quantity. We dutifully keep our backlink profiles clean, disavowing on a regular basis. But is any of this working? And if the black hat tactics don’t work (PBNs, comment spam and the rest) why do so many SEO types still do them? Today we’re getting back to basics on backlinks and it’s a refresher that’s definitely worth your ear time. Tune in to learn:  Do backlinks matter to Google?  If backlinks from social media have any impact or authority Where to start setting up your first 3 backlinks How to recognise good backlinks How to recognise the red flags How content promotion ties in with link-building Ranking locally - what effect local backlinks will have Alan’s favourite tools to track backlinks Dodgy backlinks - are disavows worth it? Alan’s top backlink tip   Useful resources: Ahrefs Growth Gorilla Email Finding Chrome Extension Pitchbox Hunter.io   Head to episode notes   Freebies: Free webinar: Increase your website traffic (and sales) The Ultimate SEO Checklist Free SEO Nibbles Course Sign up for the Recipe for SEO Success Course