Backlinks: Why they are important and how to get them
For any web page to be ‘ranked’ in the search engines and attract visitors it’s essential it has backlinks. Backlinks have three key properties, the web page from which the backlinks originate, the anchor text of the backlinks and what’s on the page to which the backlinks directs the visitor to.
The quantity of backlinks
The number of backlinks to a page is one of the factors the search engines consider when deciding how to position the page in the results displayed to the searcher.
The source of the backlinks
Backlinks are very similar to votes with different ‘rights’ that relate to where they originate from So it follows that pages with backlinks from authoritative pages will receive fairer consideration from the search engines. Government (.gov) and educational (.edu) sites are prime examples of sites that are authoritative and trustworthy.
Google Page Rank
Google has the concept of ‘page rank’, this is the value indicator it attributes to a page it considers to have accumulated authority over time from backlinks pointing towards it.
The ‘anchor text’
Similar to a label, the backlink anchor text has influence over the search engines classification of the backlink. If the content of the page is about ‘parenting’ and the backlink on the page is labeled or given the ‘anchor’ text ‘parenting’ then the search engines consider this to be of more value to the searcher looking for results related to ‘parenting’ than if the backlink was labeled ‘babycare’.
Common problems
It’s not unheard of for novices to confuse the quantity with the quality of backlinks and easily be frustrated by their lack of progress For example if the volume of your backlinks to your ‘parenting’ page come from pages not related to ‘parenting’ then whilst you have backlinks they will almost certainly bring you the wrong visitors.
How to create backlinks
So here is my tried and tested guidance for getting backlinks to your pages, high rankings in the search engine results pages and the right type of traffic to your site.
- It is critical you select the right keywords before you expend any effort whatsoever.
- I like to build a keyword ‘cloud’.
- I most often start with a single ‘top’ level keyword or key phrase which has significant visitor traffic.
- The fastest and cheapest method to find out how much traffic a keyword or key phrase is getting is to use the Google keywords discovery tool.
- I carefully consider words and search phrases related to my primary phrase and create my ‘cloud’.
- Using this cloud I generate a library of content containing articles, videos and blog posts each with backlinks labeled with the appropriate anchor text and then utilize a portfolio of content distribution tools to push my content to a wide range of directories.
- When I write my content I do so with the reader in mind so as each piece of content attracts backlinks to itself as well as sends backlinks to my target pages.
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