Backlinks, or links from other sites that point to your site, are a very valuable currency on the Internet. The search engines treat sites with many links pointing back to them favorably.
Why do search engines care how many websites link back to you? This is because it’s the best way for a robot to determine the quality of a site. If more people are linking to the site, it is perceived that the site has valuable information and will be ranked highly in an Internet search. Less links to the site seem to indicate less value.
So how do you get more Backlinks to your site so that you can rank higher in search engine rankings? Here are four ideas you can begin using today:
Post in forums related to your website.
You can get Backlinks to your site easily and get your new sites indexed faster by posting in forums related to your site. Search Google for “topic” forum and you’ll find places to post that Google likes. When you put a link to your site in your signature, your posts will often count as Backlinks and increase your page rank.
Comment on blogs.
Search in Google for “topic” blog and you’ll easily find many places to post comments on blogs related to your site. Make sure the comments are appropriate to the topic being discussed on the blog, or your comment is likely to get deleted. Bloggers hate spam as much as their readers do. Many blogs will allow you to add your site’s link when posting comments, which is a great free way to add Backlinks.
Start your own blog.
You can set up a free blog with a service such as Blogger (www.blogger.com) and post about topics in your area of expertise. You can blog about anything that’s on your mind and link back to your site. The drawback is that this can be very time consuming (unless you outsource your writing). The benefit to you is that you can blog as often as you wish, and you control the content on your blog.
Use social media.
For another easy source of Backlinks, try sites such as Digg (www.digg.com) and social bookmarking sites like Delicious (formerly del.icio.us at www.delicious.com). Digg is a site that allows you to post articles and have its visitors vote for (or ‘digg’) their favorites. Posting a link back to an article you’ve posted on your site is a great source of backlinks.
With social bookmarking sites like delicious.com, you store bookmarks, or links to your favorite sites. The bookmarks on these sites that point back to your site are backlinks that will help your page rank in the search engines.
Getting valuable links back to your site can be a very time consuming process. It can take a lot of work to see measurable improvement in your search engine rankings. But if you’re willing to put in the time and effort, it can greatly improve the chances that your website will receive the traffic it needs to be successful.
