Backlinks and Search Engine visibility
Often referred to as off page links, backlinks are the sledgehammer of search engine positioning and traffic generation. Backlinks have three key elements, the web page from which the backlinks are derived, the anchor text of the backlinks and what’s on the page to which the backlinks directs the visitor to.
The amount of backlinks
All search engines look at the volume of backlinks to a web page when deciding where this page should be presented in the search results.
The source of the backlinks
The source of a backlink can pass authority and indeed traffic to the page to which it points. But ‘votes’ cast through backlinks from trusted or authoritative pages to a page have greater influence over the search engines consideration of this page than backlinks coming from pages with less ‘trust’ or authority. Government (.gov) and educational (.edu) sites are prime examples of sites that are authoritative and trustworthy.
Google Page Rank
Backlinks from web pages with high page rank (an attribute given by Google to any page that it considers 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’
Just like a label, the backlink anchor text influences the search engines valuation of the backlink. 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 web pages related to ‘parenting’ than if the backlink was labeled ‘babycare’.
Common mistakes
It’s not rare for first timers to confuse the quantity with the quality of backlinks and become quickly frustrated by their lack of progress For instance if the majority of your backlinks to your ‘parenting’ page come from pages not related to ‘parenting’ then whilst you have backlinks they will almost always bring you the wrong visitors.
How to create backlinks
So here is my risk free guidance for getting backlinks to your pages, high rankings in the search engine results pages and the right type of traffic to your site.
- Initially you should focus on selecting the right keywords.
- I always set out to create a keyword cloud.
- You should always start by identifying a key word or phrase which has a good 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.
- The Google tool puts together a list of keywords related to my main keyword and from this list I grow my cloud.
- I then put together content in the form of articles and videos with backlinks with the right ‘anchor text’ to my ‘money’ or ‘target’ page and push these to the various directories.
- My guiding principle is to write content that will attract visitors and persuade them to follow the backlinks to my money pages as well as send backlinks.
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