Links – both into a web site (known as a backlink) and from a web site (known as a forward-link) – are the lifeblood of the Internet. They connect the many millions of web pages to each other to form the world wide web. This linking to and from web pages is used by search engines to ‘crawl’ around the Internet seeking out new or updated content (incidentally, these links are also used by the humans who are also surfing around the Internet!).
Web Site Authority
The linking between sites is also used by the search engines as a way of grading your web site (along with lots of other criteria) – the theory being that if many web sites link to your web site then you must be considered somewhat of an authority in your area of interest. If many of these backlinks into your site are from more authoritative or highly regarded web sites, then this will help boost your overall status even more. Again, the theory being that a highly respected web site will only link to you if you have something of value to offer the community (for their forward-link out to you is also a reflection on them just as much as it is on you).
Low Value Reciprocal Backlinks
In my last post, “A Rusty Backlink vs a Gold-plated One? You Pick“, I spoke about a technique used by many small business owners whereby they try to gather as many backlinks as possible by setting up reciprocal links with other web sites (regardless of the relationship between the two businesses). They do this in the mistaken belief that these backlinks will greatly improve their authority in the eyes of Google and the other search engines thus improving their rankings.
High Value Backlink Creation
So, if a scatter-gun approach to generating backlinks won’t work how does a small business owner go about getting these highly sought after, focused, and relevant backlinks? And, assuming you have control over how the backlink is created, what is the best way to create one of these backlinks?
Over the next few weeks I will post three more articles that describe some of the more common ways that small business owners can generate backlinks as well as presenting some more creative approaches that you may like to consider. I will also discuss the format that use should use when creating these backlinks.
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Photo by Mykl Roventine http://www.flickr.com/photos/myklroventine/ / CC BY 2.0
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