Sunday, February 27, 2011

SEO Backlinks: From Basics To Autopilot

So you want backlinks for your SEO eh?

Well done!

Backlinks are key to getting found in the search engines.

Do you know many back links do you want?

Well my answer would be, as many as you can get!


Links back to your website (aka backlinks) are vital because they are the 'popularity contest' on the internet.
Sure you can play around with your website and the keywords density and the meta tags etc, to get the search engines to like you, but optimizing with SEO backlinks can be powerful on its own.
For example, I typed 'click here' into Google. The top results were for Adobe Acrobat Reader and a YouTube video of instant singing sensation, Susan Boyle. Neither of those websites even has the word 'click' or 'here' on them!

The sole reason they come up at the top is because so many people have the words 'click here' on the link to those sites.

So in this case their website code would contain a snippet with a bit like this:
href="http://get.adobe.com/reader/">Click Here!<[Note: this code is deliberately incorrect so you can see it. Do NOT try to use it.]
See the URL for the Adobe Reader site, and then the words "click here". These words in the backlink are what makes the search engines think that those sites are important for that phrase. That is SEO logic for you!
And this is exactly what you want to take advantage of for YOUR websites.

The formula is this: More backlinks that the search engines find for your key words = higher rank.
Of course, not all backlinks are created equal. The better ones are from sites that are relevant to your topic, or from high quality websites, often referred to as high Page Rank (PR) sites.

However as a simple rule of thumb, quantity is enough to get you higher in the search engine rankings.
Higher rankings mean more people will notice your site when they search, and they will click through to you.
You get targeted visitors, and unlike Google AdWords or other Pay Per Click marketing, once you have done the work and are ranking, all these visitors come to you for free!

But you must get those backlinks for your SEO, and creating them can be a real hassle.

Sure you can get your links yourself by commenting in forums or on blogs, or submitting to each of the search engines. It is well worth it, but it can be slow and tedious.

You can also buy links in one massive hit or get them with one of the various tools available, but this can make Google suspicious so they ignore your new website for weeks or even months (this is called being 'Sandboxed'). Or your site will do well but then will fade as the search engines realize you aren't promoting your site after that.

The best strategy is to have your SEO backlinks on autopilot, with both immediate natural backlinking that won't get you Sandboxed, as well as steady ongoing links coming back to your site well into the future.
My own internet marketing blog relies heavily on SEO backlinks for it's success. {There was even a backlink in the previous sentence it is that important!}

You can review complete test results for my favorite backlink builder here.

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