What is Backlinking?

Plain and simple it is what it sounds like – getting other web sites to link back to your web site.

But the search engines don't just count the number of backlinks you have, they QUALIFY them.

Google and other popular search engines use a ranking algorithm (which is a closely guarded secret that Sergey & Larry probably don't even know) to evaluate the quality of incoming links, page rank of the linking site, the content on the site or blog linking in, the link text, and a whole host of additional criteria, to determine the value of that link to the search engine.

Bottom line? You don't just want anyone linking into your site, you want the right kind of site with the right type of link.

What's The Right Type of Link?

The best backlinks are links that use the keyword you are trying to rank for. For instance if your fictitious online store - eVino.com - sells wine, particularly a Cabernet varietal, you'd want a wine enthusiast to blog about your Cabernet and link to your site and include the word "Cabernet" in the link.

Example:

    For the best Cabernet deals online check out eVino

        or

    In my book, eVino & Cabernet are synonymous

What's The Right Kind of Site?

Since the wine enthusiast site more than likely has great content on wine, that link has more authority to a search engine therefore putting extra umph behind that link. The more of these you get, the higher you rank for your keywords. This same link on a website or blog that writes about Music or Fashion, may still drive traffic but would not be worth nearly as much in the eyes of the search engines.

Where do you find the right kind of site you ask? here are a couple of ways.

1. Search for your keyword on Google and look at the top 100 listings. You'll want to get as many of these to link to you as possible. Unless of course they're your competitor.
2. If you can't get links from your keyword's top 100 sites, examine each of those site's backlinks and try and get some links from those pages. Use a tool like Backlink Watch to see who is linking to them or linking to your competitors.

The Wrong Kind of sites

Now that you have a sense of the kind of sites you want backlinking to your site. Here are some situations you want to stay away from.

• Paid Links – The search engines are on to this and are actually penalizing people who do it. I'm not talking about AdWords or PPC (oh no... not another acronym) which are totally safe, but carry no link juice anyway.
• Link Farms – Links within ACTUAL content on the page look the most natural to search engines. So if it's just a page of links going to any which site, the search engines find no relevance and won't count them.
• Link Swaps – Trading or reciprocal linking are dead. These links cancel each other out. In the eyes of the search engines, doing this is a sign that your content must not be very good.  If you have good content, people will link to it.

Some Other Things You Can Do

• Press – If a blog picks up a new product you sell or service you have, but doesn't include a link, shoot them an email and ask them to link to your site from one of your keywords which they probably have in their article. You'll be surprised how much it actually happens.
• Your Blog – In your own blog, write content that your audience wants to read, then make sure to link back to your home page from your keyword.
• Reach Out – Introduce yourself to sites where you think your audience will go. Ask to contribute your content. If it's worth reading and interesting enough you might get published. Comment on forums and blogs, but not just to throw your link there – actually add something of value to the discussion, or you might just wind up getting banned.
• Link Bait – Also known as viral marketing, link bait could be anything (good content, videos, free tools, a fun web game, etc.) that makes people want to link to it. Just make sure it has some association with the keyword you are trying to rank for, so people linking will naturally use that keyword.

Final Note:

Backlinks are only ONE of the things the Search Engines use to gauge where you should be in their rankings for your particular keywords. So it's not that be all answer to good keyword ranking.