Welcome to the first in a series of posts designed to teach
you all you need to know about backlinks and link popularity. How this works:
each week there will be a new post giving you greater insight into the
importance of backlinks along with the resources you need to get started on
your own link building campaign.
The Definition of Backlinks
Backlinks are defined as links on other sites throughout the
web that link back to your site.
An example: Aaron Wall is considered to be an authority on
SEO (Search Engine Optimization) and following his advice can help your site
rank well in the search engines. Visit seobook.com
to learn more about his SEO strategies. The link to seobook.com that I placed
in the previous sentence is a backlink to Aaron Wall's site.
Having a number of sites that link to your site creates link
popularity. Basically, the more sites that link to your site, the better your
site's link popularity. Link popularity is of particular interest to the search
engines-it tells the engines whether or not your site is considered by others
to be an authority on your particular subject, product, or service.
The Importance of Backlinks
Backlinks are a key component in achieving your desired
placement in the SERPs (Search Engine Results Pages). The success of your link
building campaign can make or break your site. It really makes the difference
when trying to place in the search engines for particular keyword terms. For
example: Site A and Site B are in first and second place on the first page of
Google for the term "Palm Beach Real Estate". The sites are similar in every
way with the exception that Site A has 1,000 other sites linking to it and Site
B only has 750. Site A is going to be #1 in Google for that term just because
it has better link popularity.
Don't be Site B!
Consider yourself lucky if you are #2 in Google for your
keyword terms and are vying for the top spot. If you are just getting started,
here are a few simple rules to get you on your way:
-
Have
Content, Will Travel-Make sure your site has a solid amount of content
before beginning to build backlinks. If you have a blog, 30 days worth of
content is recommended. If you begin before you have good content, you may be
wasting your time.
-
Slow and
Steady Wins the Race-When you begin your link building campaign, you want
to be careful not to obtain too many links too quickly. That can seem spammy to
the search engines and won't be nearly as effective as creating backlinks
steadily over time. 5 to 10 links per day is a good rule of thumb to follow to
achieve solid results.
-
Patience
Is A Virtue-It can take time for the search engines, especially Google, to
register the backlinks you have created. Search engine spiders crawl the entire
web and that takes time! You can check your progress in Google by typing "links:www.yourdomainhere.com"
into the search field. Check in often to see the fruits of your labor.
Recommended Reading
The
following are links to some great material that will give you an overview of
link building as well as ideas of how to create links. We will get into the
various ways to build links in future posts but these articles will get your
brain's link building juices flowing!
Searchengineworkshops.com's
125 (Legitimate) Link Building Strategies-This article provides an overview
of ways to create links and will be a useful resource in your link building
campaign
The Blogger's
Guide To SEO by Aaron and Giovanna Wall-Written by one of the best in the
SEO business, Aaron Wall, this guide covers not only link building but all
aspects of proper SEO for a blog site
LinkBuildingWiki.com-A
great resource that compiles the greatest articles on link building ever
written
Check in next week
for the next post in this series-Basic Backlinking Methods That Get Results
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