As you are learning about SEO for your website, you will soon come to understand the importance of creating website backlinks. Backlinks are one of the main building blocks for good Search Engine Optimization, and I’ll explain why they are so important; how to obtain them and how to avoid getting a negative reaction from search engines.
Defining Backlinks
Backlinks are links between a website, webpage, top level domain or a directory from another web node of similar content. The number of backlinks affect the popularity of a website and Google will rank that website accordingly to the quality and number of related backlinks. They have become of importance within SEO because search engines, especially Google, will rank you higher when used correctly.
Inbound Links
We are talking about links to your website from another site that is relevant to your website. These relevant backlinks will gain you optimization within the search engines, raising your rank.
Outbound Links
Outbound links are ones going out from your website to another website. Keep these links relevant to your content. Visitors will appreciate your outbound links if you are pointing them in helpful direction, but search engines will punish your site if the outbound link is not of relevance. For instance; if I recommend that you check out Wealthy Affiliate as a great place to learn more about SEO, then this is an example of an Outbound Link.
Interlinking
Interlinking is when you have multiple website of your own and you link one with another. This can get you into trouble with the search engines and I only recommend you do this if you are referring visitors to extra tools or resources that are relevant. Please remember to keep this to a BARE MINIMUM – it can work negatively with SEO.
Reciprocal Links
Reciprocal links are when you link to one website and it links back to you. Be careful with reciprocal linking as you don’t want this link in place if the website your linking to is a bad apple and ranked badly by the search engines – it may effect your ranking in due course. Take time and research before adding any link to your site.
What To Consider When Building Your Backlink Portfolio
Keep track of your backlinks; know what sites are linking back to yours and make sure the keywords they incorporate are related to your site. You can use tools such as Backlinks Xrays and Instant Backlink Magic. Backlinks Xrays can help you discover if your backlinks are still going to live website, and give you detailed information about your links. Instant Backlink Magic assists in finding high quality page-ranked dofollow and EDU backlinks. (I am working on detailed product reviews on both tools, please stay tuned for new posts)
You should get your website listed in directories like DMOZ, Jasmine Directories and Yahoo. This increases your chances of being noticed by potential visitors and search engines.
Posting articles in respected forums or blogs can be a great way to generate inbound links as you build your network and start to gain reputation as a trusted advisor. Again, please make sure any inbound backlinks are relative to your website.
Avoid Link Farms
A link farm is a clique of websites that hyperlink to every other site in the clique. They are usually automated programs, and can be viewed as a way of spamming the search engine index. My recommendation is simply to stay away from this type of farming, as you are likely to get penalised by Google if considered spam.
I hope you have learnt a few new techniques on creating website backlinks, and good luck with your linking! As always, please do not hesitate to pop a question below. I will endeavour to reply as soon as possible.
Cheers,
Nathan
