subject: How to use backlinks for SEO, a beginners guide [print this page] How to use backlinks for SEO, a beginners guide
A good backlink' or off-page SEO strategy is essential to your success in optimizing your website for the search engine results.
So, backlinks what are they? Put simply, they are one way links from one website to another and are often also called incoming links or inbound links. The quality of the link is determined by the quality the website's popularity sending the visitors. Therefore a link from a relevant website with high traffic will always be of more value than any others.
Many people try and "fool" the search engines with what are called black hat SEO strategies, therefore there is a growing trend with search engines putting a stronger emphasis on site popularity, than the amount of sites which are linking back to yours. The challenge many business owners face is that back link building takes time and you must be consistent if you want to get ahead of the competition.
Backlink Strategy #1: Blog Discussions
Join the discussion! Blogs are a great place to build quality backlinks by participating in discussions on subjects which are related to the content of your website. Blogs also usually have a lot of discussion going on and well targeted traffic going to them which means lots of fresh content going up on a consistent basis. When it comes to commenting on blogs, be respectful of the Blog owners website and ensure that your comment is relevant, keyword rich and interesting. Remember, blog owners are often bombarded by spammers and will remove your post if they do not deem it appropriate to their website.
Backlink Strategy #2: Social Media
Links from Social Media such as Twitter and YouTube to your website count so join the conversation and get linking to your web pages!
Be aware that links from Facebook are 'no follow', however they still count for something and the sheer popularity of Facebook will bring you lots of qualified traffic. The main thing with Facebook is to make sure that your links are being seen by the right people. You can start by creating a fan page and inviting people to your friends list who have similar interests, then inviting them to "like" your fan page. You can then make multiple posts on your fan page to generate qualified traffic to your site and build quality back links from one of the most popular sites on the internet.
Follow Cariad Marketing on Twitter, Facebook and Linkedin and see what we are up to.
Backlink Strategy #3: Forum Discussions
Participating in forum discussions is a great way to position yourself as an expert in your professional field, enhance your online reputation and attract targeted visitors to your site and to build quality backlinks all at the same time.
Forums are usually buzzing with traffic and have a lot of fresh content going up every day, which means that they are usually well optimized. By participating in forum discussions, you can build a lot of credibility with the search engines by linking to sites which already have a good reputation. When participating in these discussions however, it's important that you make a worthwhile contribution to the forum.
Backlink Strategy #4: Directory Submissions
Directory sites are a quick win' when it comes to building links back to your website and generate qualified traffic from people who are searching for your content. Directory sites provide web users with listings of sites which pertain to a specific topic, and by submitting your site to the proper category you can get it in front of a lot of interested visitors and build a quality back link from a reputable site. Of course, it's essential that you submit your site to directories which have a good reputation with the search engines.
BEWARE: Some directory sites are nothing more than link farms which will add little or no value to your site when it comes to building back links.How will you be able to spot these? Well, generally speaking they tend charge you to appear on them and they 'promise' hundred or thousands of backlinks to your website, so they are usually easy to spot. If in doubt, Google the name of the company and see what other users have to say about them.
Backlink Strategy #5: Article Marketing & Blogs
Article marketing and Blogs are good ways to attract qualified traffic to your site while positioning yourself as an expert in your niche. Simply by sharing your work on the huge network of article websites or blog syndication websites, you are able to achieve good, measurable results. When building back links with article marketing and blog syndication, be sure that you use your primary keywords within the links at the end or your article.
The fundamental rule for a solid backlinking strategy is little and often. You can never have too many backlinks so what are you waiting for.....
