SEO - Link Building and Backlinks
The information below is presented by Terri Pattio.
Link building is one of the critical factors for boosting your search engine rankings in Google. Since Google is
the top dog search engine, this is a guide on how to get those important backlinks for SEO purposes.
The words you choose for linking out and into your site matters greatly. Those words are called anchor text, and
Google’s algorithms pay more attention to them than newbies (and even some marketing veterans) realize.
In the early days, you used to be able to game the Google system by keyword stuffing anchors. Well, Google
noticed and now carefully watches not only which words you choose to link, but also how often you use them and
the surrounding text.
Yes, the technical details are a little complicated, but the basics are easy enough for everyone to understand
and apply.
By optimizing—but not over-optimizing—your anchor words and learning the best practices, you can fine-tune your
SEO and watch your rankings climb. If you break the rules, Google can penalize your site. (That's NO good.)
In this post I'll explain what is an anchor text, and why is is important?
An anchor is the text you click to move from one internet destination to another; it literally anchors two
different locations on the internet together.
While anchors typically link webpages, they can also initiate downloads and link to documents like PDFs or files
in Google Drive. That is why you should only click anchors from sites you trust, and hover over the link with
your mouse – but don’t click! – to make sure the URL looks legit.
Here is an example:
MLM Training is my site for MLM/Network, Affiliate and Internet Marketing Training website.
In that sentence, the word “MLM Training” is the anchor text. By hovering our mouse over the anchor, we can rest
assured knowing it links to the MLM Training homepage and not a mysterious malicious file.
The text you choose for anchors are important for a few reasons:
They tell your readers what to expect before they click the link. A link is a promise. Anchor words are THE
promise about what is on the other side of the link, so they must be highly relevant.
They tell the Google algorithms what your content is about. Google’s algorithms use your anchor choices to make
sure you are not engaging in spammy practices AND to understand the topics you are linking to in your copy.
Go here to read my article titled "What are the Types of Anchor Text?" to learn more on Link Building and Backlinks.
The information below is presented by Dennis Thorgesen. Many thanks to you on sharing your knowledge about Backlinks.
Backlinks are an important part of being found on the internet. The search engines have made it very clear that
they are important. Since you want your website or blog to be found, it is important to understand what search
engines want.
What backlinks are most important. According to Matt Cutts a former employee of Google the first 25 are the most
important. I have never seen any newer information where this has changed. This means you want to use a lot of
forethought when creating those first 25. If possible at least one should be a .edu link. This shows search
engines you have at least some expertise in your field. As many of the others as possible should be high ranking
sites that somehow relate to your keywords.
People who are searching are looking for something. The words they type into the search bar mean something to
them. In most cases people are searching for information before they buy. This doesn't include some local
searches. Local searches are more likely to be aimed at something a person wants to buy either at their
destination, or on the way there.
This means to search engines that a person had better find information leading them to what they are considering
buying. With backlinks you are just adding value. The way to think of it is this. If a person buys a certain
product could they possibly be interested in mine as well? Links that don't fit this should not be used.
Did you ever wonder why you see and hear about rel/no follow links? Are you aware that search engines actually
expect to see some (links to your website that you don't expect to be followed)? Something you should consider is
search engine bots follow them anyway. They also expect about 35% of the links you create to be rel/no follow.
The information above is an required and the purpose of this post is to help you reap the benefits from the
Google and get indexed and ranked in the search engines so you can get free targeted traffic.
Terri Pattio
Founder Syndication Express
Social Media Strategist
Comments
ATTN SE MEMBERS: Please take time to read this blog post to learn about link building and backlinks. It's beneficial to know this so your content will get indexed in the search engines. It's a must to do this every time. SE does the rest for you - Syndication for exposure and branding.