Backlinks and search engines

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Backlinks commonly referred to as ‘page links’ are key to the visibility of your web pages in the search engines and attracting visitor traffic. When thinking about backlinks there are three elements you need to consider, the source from which the backlinks originate, the anchor text of the backlinks and the content of the page to which the backlinks directs the visitor to.

The quantity of backlinks

All search engines appraise the quantity of backlinks to a web page when deciding where this page should be displayed in the search results.

The source of the backlinks

Backlinks are like votes – the higher the quantity of votes (backlinks) the more authoritative the page is considered by the search engine. But ‘votes’ passed via backlinks from trusted or authoritative pages to a page have greater influence over the search engines view of this page than backlinks originating from pages with less ‘trust’ or authority. Pages from sources such as educational (.edu) or government (.gov) sites naturally posess more trust and authority.

Google Page Rank

Backlinks from web pages with high page rank (a value given by Google to a 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 often has a label a word or text associated with the content 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. Relevance is the guiding principle for the majority of search engine algorithms and therefore if the content of the page is about ‘drying chillis” then it is from a search engine’s point of view, more valuable for the backlink’s anchor text to this page to contain the word ‘chilli’ as opposed to a related term such as ‘drying spices’.

Common problems

Many people screw up their backlinks strategies because they focus on quantity as opposed to quality of backlinks. Having a large amount of backlinks to your page doesn’t automatically mean the search engines will view your page as relevant.

How to manufacture backlinks

So let me share with you my no nonsense process for getting backlinks that will make the search engines love you and bring quality and appropriate traffic to your web pages:

  • When you start you should focus on selecting the right keywords.
  • I like to create a keyword ‘cloud’.
  • I always 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 look at words and search phrases related to my primary phrase and build my ‘cloud’.
  • From this cloud I create a library of content containing articles, videos and blog posts each with backlinks labeled with the related anchor text and then utilize a portfolio of content distribution systems to send my materials to a wide range of directories.
  • My golden rule is to write content that will attract visitors and persuade them to follow the backlinks to my money pages as well as send backlinks.