from Anthony Kristovich Iii

I hear this question constantly on the internet recently. Since backlinks play a huge, huge part of how you rank in Google, MSN, etc, then people naturally want to find a fast, easy, and effective way to build backlinks. It has to be a legit way so you don’t find yourself banned one way, so you need to trade like a normal exchange, but in an automated way so you’re continually hunting down trading partners and changing html code all the time.

Despite what you may hear on the internet, backlinks are still very much alive and highly valued by search engines. The internet is sometimes called the Web because, like in a spider web, one point ( a website) connects to many others. Web sites linking to each other is not only usual, but essential.

The deal with Google and backlinks is that they too agree that backlinks are natural. On-topic backlinks that is. Sites naturally, if there were no incentive due to search engines, link to other websites their visitors would also like. This is an on-topic backlink, and is valued by search engines much more than random backlinks for the sake of having a link.

So, what does this teach us as webmasters?

What it means to us is that while we should keep search engines in our mind when working on websites and designing them, the focus should be users. Provide good material and a good website, and you’ll naturally get backlinks and build a relationship with your users. Word of mouth is a very powerful friend indeed.

So, what CAN you can do to build your backlinks?

There are many options you can use to build natural-type backlinks.

1. Write articles. Writing articles(like I am doing now) and having them get out to article directories and other websites means you get free backlinks from good sources. This really helps out, and the more you write, the more gain and traffic you’ll see. Write an article a day and you’re in great shape.

2. Join an on-the-level link exchange site. This means join one in which every exchange is manually approved, and not one where 10,000 links show up to your site overnight. You can see where that is not a natural curve, so stick with link exchange sites that you choose who you link to/from and stay safe. Another positive note is that the other websites are there looking to exchange also, so it’s much faster than searching down websites and waiting weeks for a response.

3. Link directories. This is where you submit your site link, and in return give the directory site a backlink(usually mandatory). Though these aren’t too valueable to Google, they still may get you some visitors here and there which is always a good thing.

So, in conclusion, let’s come back to the initial question. Do link exchanges work? Absolutely. There are many ways to get legit backlinks (much safer) and that’s what you need to concentrate on. The trick is to keep your link partners as close to your topic as you can. The more relevant, the more it weighs.

from John Kline


Getting Backlinks Naturally

Many backlinks are achieved the natural way. When your website provides users with useful content, webmasters and website owners will often link to these useful web pages (on your site) for their website visitors to use. Most often then not, these sites that link to yours naturally are relevant to your sites content. Also known as “targeted backlinks”, these types of backlinks are the most beneficial when generating quality traffic from them. Getting natural backlinks, however, is a slow process. These are built mostly on trust and gaining trust takes time.

Building Backlinks

One of the acceptable ways of building quality backlinks is listing your site in directories, posting in forums, and submitting to article directories. What you want to avoid is link farms, spam sites or sites that host illegal content, purchasing links in bulk, etc. An easy way to find sites that except these “one-way” link submissions is by using a backlinks finder.

Getting Listed in Directories

Getting listed in directories like DMOZ and Yahoo is a must because this is a way to get some quality backlinks for free and your site is easily noticed by search engines and potential visitors. Generally inclusion in these directories is free but the drawback is that sometimes you have to wait months before you get listed…or not listed at all. Top directories like DMOZ and Yahoo have strict guidlines when submitting, so follow the rules carefully. Yahoo also has a “pay for review” option that is costly and does not mean you will get listed. I would suggest submitting the free listing first, then wait a few months to see if your site is listed before considering the paid option.

Article Directories and Forums

Generally search engines index forums so posting in forums is way great way to get quality backlinks. Join forums with subject matter relevant to your site, add your URL (link) with anchor text of your choice to your forum signature, then contribute to the discussions. Be sure that you abide by the forum rules before you post anything…and do not post just for the backlinks. Forum administrators are not stupid. If your are truly contributing, your posts will not get deleted and you won’t get banned. Also, sometimes administrators do not allow links in posts, unless they are relevant ones, so it is best to leave your link in your signature.

Submitting articles to directories can be more time-consuming then posting in forums. If you can write good articles on subjects related to your site, it’s well worth the backlinks.

Feed them with RSS

Offer free content through RSS feeds to interested sites. When the other site publishes your RSS feeds, you will not only get backlinks to your site, but potentially a lot of visitors. Publishers of the feeds in return get to add relevant content to their site. It’s a “win-win situation”.

Press Releases

Submitting press releases to news sites is another great way to buil backlinks and generate traffic. Write professional press releases about “what’s new” on your site. The dificult part is that you cannot release press releases if there is nothing “newsworthy”.

What to Avoid

Avoid link exchange programs, which offer to “swap” links with unsuspecting website owners. First off, these programs spider email addresses and “spam” website owners with requests. the more you get involved, the more outbound links you have to place on your site that link to pages that link to yours. Search engines frown on this. They are much “smarter” today then they ever were in the past…especially Google. This practice can also get your site banned. It is not natural linking, and search engines know it.

from Jonathan Marino


Backlinks are one of the most important aspects you need to consider when you’re trying to build a higher ranking in the search engines. The search engines can perhaps find and index your site without backlinks, but without backing backlinks the search engines will never suggest your site to any of their visitors. Backlinks are essential for Search Engine Optimization (SEO) because they help to judge the popularity and importance of the website based on their backlinks to other sites. Search engines use a number of standard criteria to rate sites on the web and backlinking is high on the list. Backlinks are links that are directed towards your website. The number of backlinks is an indication of the popularity or importance of that website.

Backlinks are really just links to your site from another website. These links will direct users to your site whenever they click on it. Backlinks are not as of important as keyword sphere in MSN’s point of perspective. Backlinks are basically incoming links to a particular website or web page. The more the number of backlinks a website or a web page possess, the more popular or important the website is.

Search engines consider one link on your site as one vote for you. Thus, with increased number of links, you get high number of votes and with more number of votes, your site rises in importance. Search engines, particularly Google use the number of incoming links as one measurement of the importance or ranking of the page. Other search engines tend to place less emphasis on the backlinks and more on other factors such as page content. Search engines can recognize quality link when they see one.

Google only updates PR every three months at best and during this time millions of new web pages are born that start off without any PR at all. When assessing your backlinks and you come across a page that appears to have a PR0 that has linked to you remember to check the PR of the home page because the subpage may have been created after the last Page Rank update and consequently won’t show any numbers on the green PR bar. Google also gives new websites a waiting period of three to four months before giving it any kind of Page Rank. This is referred to as the “sandbox effect”. Google search engine gives a lot of weight to backlinks that your site receives and the keywords that are used as anchor text in that link. Thats why Google’s Page Rank exists, to collect the votes (links) for your site and give a score (the Page Rank score).

Links from other sites would need to be something that is relevant to you site. The absolute best type of links are backlinks or one way links to your website. Linking to suspicious places is something else that you must avoid. While it is true that search engines do not punish you if you have backlinks from such places because it is supposed that you have no control over what bad guys link to, if you enter a link exchange program with the so called bad neighbors and you link to them, this can be disastrous to your SEO efforts. Link building (otherwise known as backlinks) are critical to driving guaranteed website traffic to you. Suddenly, you can get great surges in traffic and hopefully in revenue, if you have monetised your site.