From 42networks: What exactly is a backlink, and why do I require one for my website?
I was recently working with a customer and provided them with a website analysis. “What the hell is a backlink?” my client exclaimed as I was explaining all of the information to them. I had always thought that everyone understood what a backlink was; after all, how could people not understand what they were? I went right to work defining what a backlink was. My client felt much better educated at the end of our talk, but I was concerned that because I had never given this subject any attention, my response to my customer was fairly simple. Backlinks aren't difficult to obtain, but they should be more than just a connection to your website. The goal of this post is to explain what a backlink is, why it's crucial for your site's search engine ranking, and how you can get backlinks without treading on search engines' toes. For your information, you can purchase high quality backlink from 42networks.
To begin, what exactly are backlinks?
Backlinks are just external links pointing to your website. In some quarters, they're also known as inbound links. They can be a direct link from one of your affiliates, a listing directory such as Yahoo Directory or Dex, a blog post or part of a signature when posting on a forum, or a blog post or part of a signature when posting on a forum. What I'm trying to say is that backlinks come in a variety of shapes and sizes. Backlinks are one of the most significant aspects of SEO since most search engines will give sites with a large number of high-quality backlinks greater credit or authority. This means that on a results page for a certain query, websites having more backlinks are frequently deemed more relevant than those without. While almost all backlinks are beneficial to your website and its search engine ranking, some are significantly more useful than others.
When search engines determine a site's ranking for a certain keyword, they take into account a variety of factors, including the amount of high-quality backlinks (or inbound links, if you prefer) to that site. We should not be obsessed with obtaining as many backlinks as possible; instead, we should concentrate our efforts on establishing high-quality inbound connections to our websites, as the quality of the link is more important than the quantity, but quantity can help.
When determining the quality of a link, search engines look at the site's content. They're on the lookout for inbound links from sites that provide similar material. That is to say, if your website provides pet supplies, a link from a Canadian pharmacy is not the type of link you want. You should concentrate on sites that are similar to yours in terms of niche. I tell my clients that I look for companies that are similar but not immediately competitive in terms of products/services, geographic location, cost, and so on. Finding sites that are in a similar bracket but not immediately competitive may appear challenging at first, but it is definitely worth the effort. Concentrate on locating high-quality sites that you'd like to link to or have link to you, and provide them with a monetary incentive for forming this relationship. I'm not recommending a link exchange, but there are other ways to get other sites to link to you; all you have to do is figure out what they are.
One thing to keep in mind is that Search Engines have recently gotten more selective about the types of inbound links that websites have. Years ago, if you wanted to rank number one for a keyword, you went to a link farm, which was just a page full of links, paid them to place a couple thousand links for you, and after a short time, you were ranking extremely well for that specific key word. The times, however, have changed. Search engines want all websites to play by the same rules, therefore they've established strict guidelines for webpages, backlinks, and SEO strategies. External back links from other websites have become increasingly difficult to affect search engines. The reason for this is that a search engine's quality inbound link criteria has become even more stringent. Things like the length of time your website has been online, the rate at which your site generates backlinks (did you have 2 yesterday and 1000 today, for example), and so on all play a role. While this tight condition is inconvenient for us, it is one of the reasons that backlinks are so important in a search engine's algorithm.
Another reason to seek out high-quality backlinks is to draw visitors to your website. Using my previous example of a pet supply company having a link on a website that sells prescriptions from Canada, that site will not receive much traffic. A search engine might discover it, but it won't be very useful. The goal of Search Engine Optimization is to make your website more visible to end users while simultaneously optimizing it for search engines. So you might theoretically get 10,000+ backlinks from low-quality sites but still rank poorly. A lot better option would be to have 50 quality links from 42networks sources that are directly connected to the aim of your website. This would have a far greater impact than the scenario I discussed previously.
This takes me off on a tangent, which is the topic of reciprocal linking. I touched on it briefly earlier in the post, but I believe I need to expand on it. Reciprocal linking appears to be all over the place, and while it is a good way to get your website crawled, it isn't particularly beneficial when it comes to SEO. Reciprocal links have been included to Google's search engine filter. Due to a large number of inbound connections, many webmasters have used link swaps in the past to improve their sites' ranks. A link exchange occurs when one website links to another in exchange for the latter's reciprocation. Numerous of the links filtered by Google were irrelevant, yet outbound links were still tallied, lowering the relevancy score of many websites. As a result, numerous websites became practically impossible to locate on Google.
When it comes to reciprocal connections, be cautious. Because many of them are established by websites that provide a link exchange service, when undertaking this type of link exchange, one must exercise extreme caution and, ideally, avoid using such services. Google is now developing a system that will determine not only a site's popularity, but also the trustworthiness of a site to which your site links. That means that if you link to a site that utilizes dubious methods to boost its search engine rating, you will be guilty by association and Google will penalize you. It's possible that you'll be kicked off Google for a while as a result of this.
A “link-wheel” is another strategy to be on the lookout for. A webmaster may manage many websites at any given time. These can also share the same web server and, as a result, the same IP address. Each site linking to the other in a circular pattern is a frequent tactic used to fool search engines into thinking this isn't reciprocal linking. The link wheel would appear like this if there were four websites: Website A, B, C, and D. Site A would link to Site B, Site B to Site C, Site C to Site D, and Site D to Site A. As a result, a circular linking structure is created, with one link generated for each website. However, if some or all of the websites are on the same or comparable IP ranges, this strategy may fail. These approaches have grown more noticeable to search engines. The best advise I can give you about backlinks is to build them by creating high-quality content and linking to sites that share your aim or purpose via 42networks.
Now that I've covered all of the ways you shouldn't build backlinks and what you should do to upset search engines and be penalized, it's time to show you how to build excellent backlinks. Content. People will want to link to you if you publish high-quality content on a regular basis. In the meantime, you may assist yourself out by submitting your website to sites like Digg, Del.icio.us, and other social bookmarking sites. However, the goal is to build a large enough following that you won't need to employ those approaches in the future. Blogging and engaging in web forums, for example, are quite beneficial in this area, but that is a topic for another essay. For the time being, concentrate on producing high-quality content, and the backlinks will follow. To get the word out in the beginning, use contextual link building 42networks, and your links should start producing themselves in no time.