What is the main purpose of building external links in website SEO optimization?

　　From the moment we first got into SEO optimization, we knew the saying "content is king, and backlinks are not the emperor." At the beginning, frantically building backlinks worked extremely well for a site's SEO, but later a series of search engine algorithm updates cracked down on that practice. So today, is it still necessary to build backlinks for website SEO optimization? Now that we're on the subject, we should first understand what the main function of backlink building in website SEO optimization actually is.

　　At the very start, it could boost a site's authority and rankings—backlinks from high-authority sites in particular act as votes of support for our website. To a certain extent, backlinks do a good job of luring spiders, which is especially useful for new websites. Of course, search engines are now fairly friendly to new sites, and there are plenty of ways to submit a site to them. Backlink building can also drive traffic well, and comparatively speaking this is the function sites care about most today—though most sites dislike traffic being funneled off to external platforms. If we funnel traffic on industry sites or sites of the same niche, we'll naturally be cracked down on, and when funneling traffic on some high-authority sites we also worry about relevance being insufficient. Of course, once we know what backlinks do, it becomes clear whether building them is necessary for our website SEO optimization. If you want to boost authority or rankings and the like, don't overthink it; and luring spiders is completely unnecessary too. So the main function of backlinks is driving traffic.

　　So how do we publish backlinks better? The commonly used backlink techniques are the following:

　　Submitting articles to high-authority sites: if you can write high-quality original articles, or original videos, then platforms generally allow you to add backlinks. At present some self-media platforms have also opened up backlink functions, and the news sources of some portal websites allow links to be added (for a fee).

　　Direct reciprocal友情 links: exchanging friendly links with sites in the same or a related industry is also a good option, and one-way links are feasible as well.

　　Adding links on column/blog-type sites: for column and blog-type websites, backlinks can still be published at present, though it's best not to do so on a large scale, to avoid being muted or even having your account banned.

　　Backlinks are basically equivalent to advertising, so most internet platforms still crack down on them. The best approach is still to build your own brand—as long as your official website and official platform accounts are done well, doing brand marketing across various internet platforms is also a very good approach!

　　That's the full content of "What is the main function of backlink building in website SEO optimization?" It is provided solely for webmasters to interact, exchange ideas and learn together. SEO optimization is a process that requires persistence, and I hope we can all make progress together.