The Importance of Backlinks
Most businesses understand that “Search Engine Optimization” is important to the success of their website. However, few know all of the components that contribute to an effective campaign and even fewer how to leverage components such as backlinking successfully.
Backlinks Drive Traffic to Your Site
Backlinks are useful because they drive a lot of extra traffic to your site. The average person is not looking for “Joe’s auto repair” business, but they might be looking up “auto repair”, “local auto repair shops”, or “brake jobs”. If Joe’s Auto repair has a link on another website about auto repair or local auto repair shops, the average searcher will click on the link and see what makes Joe’s Auto repair so special. The more of those relevant links you have residing on other websites, the greater your chances of the average searcher being redirected to your site and your services.
Backlinks Aid in Branding and PR
A good backlink campaign is sort of like attending important chamber of commerce events. You want your business name to be on sites where it can be seen, remembered, and connected to other recognizable businesses. It is a lot like rubbing elbows with the right people at the right time.
Backlinks are Votes
It is always great to get a vote of confidence, and that is exactly what search engines consider backlinks. Typically, backlinks are used as a reference on sties containing related content. That makes you the authority and says, “If you want to know about auto local auto repair, check out Joe’s”. Think about it—a website can link to any website. When it links to yours, search engines see that as very significant. You can see why search engines give them a lot of weight when determining popularity and page rank.
Relevant Backlinks Add Site Credibility
The internet contains an enormous amount of spam, or internet junk. These are sites that, for any number of reasons, have little or no value. One of the ways search engines determine ranking and weed out the spam is by measuring the site’s trust or credibility. People determine the credibility of a business by looking at those they do business with themselves and whom they use as product and service vendors. It works the same way in determining website credibility. Having a number of high quality backlinks is like having great business contacts and increases your credibility as well as your page ranking.
When building your backlinks, it is important to remember that it is an ongoing effort. New links are like new and dynamic contacts. You want them, and search engines love them.