back links

Sometimes called off page links, backlinks are the sledgehammer of search engine positioning and traffic generation. To understand backlinks there are three elements you need to consider, the source from which the backlinks come from, the anchor text of the backlinks and the content of the page to which the backlinks sends the visitor to.

The number of backlinks

The amount of backlinks to a page is one of the key properties the search engines take into account when deciding where to position the page in the results displayed to the searcher.

The source of the backlinks

The pages from which backlinks originate pass ‘authority’ and traffic to the page to which the backlinks point. So it follows that pages with backlinks from ‘trusted pages will receive a much higher value consideration from the search engines. Pages from sources such as educational (.edu) or government (.gov) sites naturally carry more trust and authority.

Google Page Rank

Backlinks from web pages with high page rank (a value awarded by Google to each page that it has observed over a period to have attracted, sustained and continued to accumulate relevant backlinks) pass some of their page rank via the backlink to the target page.

The ‘anchor text’

When you see a backlink on a web page it normally has a label a word or text associated with the subject at the page to which this backlink is pointing, what this ‘anchor text’ says has influence upon the value the search engines award to the link. 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 sites related to ‘parenting’ than if the backlink was labeled ‘babycare’.

Common mistakes

Many people screw up their backlinks building activities because they focus on quantity as opposed to quality of backlinks. Having a large volume of backlinks to your page doesn’t necessarily mean the search engines will see your page as relevant.

How to manufacture backlinks

So let me share with you my fail safe method for getting backlinks that will make the search engines love you and bring quality and relevant traffic to your web site.

  1. Choosing the right keywords from the start is critical.
  2. I always set out to put together a keyword cloud.
  3. I always start with a single ‘top’ level keyword or key phrase which has substantial visitor traffic.
  4. 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.
  5. I analyse words and search phrases related to my primary phrase and create my ‘cloud’.
  6. From this cloud I put together a selection of content containing articles, videos and blog posts each with backlinks labeled with the appropriate anchor text and then use a suite of content distribution systems to send my articles and videos to a group of directories.
  7. My guiding principle is to write content that will attract visitors and persuade them to follow the backlinks to my target pages as well as send backlinks.

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