The Importance Of Backlinks

More Links Means Your Are More Important

The importance of backlinks cannot be overstated.  The heart of a successful SEO campaign is creating backlinks.  It is a bit like showing the search engines how popular you are, however it is now quantity over quality.

Link building has been used and abused for a long time.  Search engines look at how many websites link to your and how often new links are generated as a way of seeing how popular or how relevant your website is.  SEO companies use link building for their customers, building links each month on websites that have value.

Unfortunately there are also ‘toxic links’ which can cause a negative effect for websites, which need to be removed.

The main thing that SEO companies are seeking to do for any business is to build the portfolio of backlinks to a website.  In particular, getting new links from reputable websites such as the BBC or Wikipedia.

In the early days, link farms were used, to give you lots of links; however now it is now about quality rather than quantity.

But What Is Link Building?

Link building is basically the number of other websites that link to yours.

 If a company has a link on their website to yours, this is considered one backlink. This is basically all it is.  

You will naturally get referrals from sites globally; however in order to climb the search engines for your chosen keywords, a strategy needs to be put in place to help you climb online.

The Perfect And Non Perfect Search Engine World

In the perfect world of the search engines, links are generated naturally, when a user spots your content and wants to link to it from their own website.  However we do not live in a perfect world and this version of the world is a search engines happy dream.

• Link Outreach – You contact a website and ask for a link.  Highly unlikely they will say yes, but miracles do happen.
• Creating websites and linking them is an old tactic and is not considered best practice, but still goes on.
• Trading Links – You link to me and I will link to you.
• Buying Links – This is very popular with SEO companies, to buy links on website directories, news websites etc.  Search engines however can see what a natural link is, and what a paid link is.
• Blogging/Guest Posting – This in some cases is a win win scenario.  You write a great article for someone else, and ask to get a link from it.

Do All Links Count?

There are good links and bad links.  If you have a link to your website from the BBC, or Department of Transport, or another website that carries clout, then search engines will consider this a strong link.

If you have lots of backlinks to your website from small websites, or brand new websites; then these are counted as far as search engines are concerned, but not as highly. Quality vs Quantity.

How Many Links Do I Need?

Generally the more backlinks you can get (from quality websites) the more exposure your website will have.  This means you will appear higher in the search results for your keywords.

One thing to bear in mind is that your competitors will be working hard to create a wide variety of backlinks.  So it is an SEO arms race to get the most and to stay on top.

The answer therefore is the process never ends.  The internet is continually evolving, new websites are opening up and your competitors are continuing their link building programs.

How Do I Do Link Building?

This is what SEO is all about.  It is all about generating links and increasing your websites visibility on the web.  

There are numerous ways to generate backlinks, but here are a few common ones:

• Join networking forums (ensuring your website is in your signature) and participate in topical discussions
• Write unique articles about your field of expertise – and get them published on a range of sites.
• Submit press releases and make use of online PR
• Start a blog
• Submit guest posts to other peoples blogs (in your field)
• Ensure your website has good content as it actively developed and updated
• Engage with other industry blogs and get links from your comments

There are lots of different ways to generate backlinks, some are quick and simple, others take time and effort.  

One thing to remember, is that 1 quality link can be worth thousands of superficial ones.  Looking for high PR (page rank) websites to connect to should help you in creating a community.

How Long Does Link Building Take?

Link building (basically SEO) does take time.  

Depending on your industry and market, it can take weeks, months or even years.  

Search engines take their time in trusting websites.  If you have just started your website then search engines will take note of you and watch.  

Patience is needed but constant work is called for.

Can I Build Backlinks Myself?

Of course, link building can be done by anyone that has some spare time and good ideas.  

It is always good to get some SEO advice before starting on a linking campaign.  As there are do’s and don’ts.  

This article has covered some of the basics, but the world of SEO is a wide and confusing one which is constantly changing.  

Choosing a marketing company to handle your link building needs to be done with care.  If they do it badly, they could earn you toxic links, that cause more harm, and may get you a Google penalty.

Search engines do change the way they rank websites (mainly to ensure that the y prevent people trying to cheat the system).

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