If you’ve talked to anyone about search engine optimisation (the process of getting ranked organically on Google for keywords related to your business), you may have heard various different theories as to how to get started.
You may have heard about keywords, pandas, penguins, links and a lot in between!
The truth is that while there are over 200 different factors in the Google ranking algorithm, at least one factor won’t change which is that the number of high quality links pointing back to your site will serve to have a positive impact on your SEO efforts.
This is known as backlinking. Let’s look at this in more detail.
What is Backlinking?
Backlinking is the process of obtaining links that point back to your site from other websites. Links of this nature are what allowed Google to dominate the search engine market back in the early 1990’s. Larry Page, co-founder of Google, invented PageRank, which ranked the quality of a page largely due to the number of links it was receiving back to it.
The theory here is that when someone is linking back to a particular page, they are giving it a vote of confidence and telling their readers that this is a good place to visit. As Google rewards relevant web pages and web sites of high quality it is understandable why this is such an effective metric under which to measure SEO.
Are All Backlinks the Same?
At this stage you might be thinking, why don’t I hire someone to build me 1,000’s of links! That way I will dominate Google and generate lots of enquiries for my business! There’s no argument that this is a logical thought process. In fact, this is the way that SEO was done for many years until the dawn of the Penguin update in 2012.
The Penguin update caused a lot of heartbreak to business owners around the world, as it punished those websites who had backlinks that were of poor quality in the eyes of Google.
In 2016 backlinks are most certainly not all the same.
What Makes a Good Backlink?
There is no short answer to this question. After consultation with our head of SEO – Luciano Passavanti- here is the main criteria that constitutes a strong backlink that you help to boost your organic Google rankings:
- From a relevant source
- From a trusted source
- Sends traffic
- On a page with that holds a strong PageRank
Please note that if your backlink does fit all the criteria above, it doesn’t necessary mean it’s a bad link. Each link will have to be considered individually as to whether or not it fits with the overall SEO strategy.
Conclusion
There you have it. While this is a topic we could talk about for days, it was my intention here to let you know that backlinking is very important for your search engine optimisation. It is something that should be worked on monthly.
If you feel like you would benefit from some search engine optimisation expertise in your business then give us a call today on 01 531 1777.
