#1: Using BackLinks to Boost Your Site’s Performance
“Build It And They Will Come” That old addage is no longer true. So I’ve been asked this question a bazillione times in the past 3 months: What else can I do to help my site rank on searches? Starting with this week we will address a few major items that will affect your site’s performance:
- Using Backlinks
- Fresh, Relavent Content
- Search Engine Optimization
- Social Media
- Ads
For the first segment, we’re going to talk about backlinks. Backlinks are links to your website from other websites. Contrary to popular belief, these can be good AND bad. So what makes a good backlink good? And a bad backlink bad?
Good Backlinks
Good backlinks will boost your site’s performance and reputation. The quality of the links are determined by how relevant the other site it to your site, where the link is placed on their page, and how many other links are on the page.
The best way to encourage people to link to your site is to provide information that is useful to your visitors. You can do this by adding pages with FAQ’s, Tips, or even a blog that provides useful information that can be shared online.
Look for websites relevant to yours but have a different focus, i.e., submit to a power washing supplier if you offer power washing services. Another way to get good backlinks is to search for your major keyword(s) and take note of where your competition has backlinks and submit your site there also.
Directory Listings:
Directory listings are a great way to get backlinks, just make sure you can get a focused niche, and not just listed in a general listing.
Forums:
Find forums related to your focus and post often so that you will get noticed and build trust so people will click on your links.
Bad Backlinks
Bad backlinks will drag down your site’s performance by causing your site to be penalized or even blacklisted. Traded links or triangular linking schemes (“I’ll link to your site if you link to mine”) are a great way to get penalized. Just use common sense when listing your site for a backlink. Here’s some questions to ask:
- Is this site and it’s content relevant to mine?
- Is it framed in?
- Was it easy to find?
- Is there any questionable material on the site?
- Can you list a focused link? (A page within your site that will lead to more targeted information)
How Many Backlinks Do I Have?
You can find out about your backlinks by using Google Webmaster Tools, Yahoo Site Explorer and Optimum7’s Link Velocity Tool to track and analyze your backlinks. The most important thing to remember is, stay disciplined in terms of new content generation, it’s the fuel of SEO and without it you will only be monitoring poor results.
Next Week: Creating Fresh, Relevant Content To Drive Traffic & Search Results
