Backlinks Explained?

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Hi all,

Now, to begin - please no laughing at my ignorance!

I know this a very basic question but can someone explain how you get organic backlinks?

Everyone talks about how inportant it is to have backlinks but can someone please define the method.

I've done the search thingy, but it only comes up with 'the importance of' or 'buy some backlinks' etc. Nothing to explain what a backlink is.

What legitimate ways are there to get a link to your site?

Is there an ebook I could buy to explain the fundamentals?

There - I've exposed my weakness (well, one of them!)

Thanks

Karen
#search engine optimization #backlinks #explained
  • Karen,

    A backlink is simply a link to your site that is on another site. For instance, the "swiftarticles" link in your signature is a backlink. It's on warriorforum.com, and points to swiftarticles.com.

    One of the things that determines where a webpage ranks is the number and 'strength' of the backlinks that are out on the web. In fact, it's one of the most important factors.

    Now all backlinks are not created equal. The 'stronger' the site that the backlink sits on, the more ranking value your site gets.

    I did a thread that may help you understand it further: http://www.warriorforum.com/adsense-...backlinks.html

    "Legitimate" ways to get backlinks are article submission (you put your link in the 'resource box', much like a forum signature), adding your links to social bookmarking sites like Blinklist, Mixx, Folkd, etc., adding comments on other people's blogs (with your link).

    Backlinks are at the heart of building rankings for your pages, and warrants learning and understanding it thoroughly - fortunately, you'll find that very easy.

    Mark
    • [1] reply
    • Hi Mark,

      I find your assertion only partially valid and in the interest of provoking insight on this topic I will state my argument.

      I will assert that the number of backlinks is unimportant while the collective "strength" of your backlinks is all that matters regarding this as a factor in ranking SERPs. If you have only one or two really great backlinks you can easily outrank pages with hundreds or even thousands of backlinks. This is obvious by simply observing the SERPs.

      So this begs the question "what is meant by strength"?

      The word "strength" is a relative term, so it is completely ambiguous without providing context. What makes one backlink stronger than another? Is it PageRank? Clearly PageRank is not the deciding factor all on it's own, if it were we would see SERPs sorted roughly by PR.

      It seems clear to me that search engines sort their results based on relevance and sub-sorts pages with equal relevance on other factors often referred to as "Authority" and "Importance". Assuming this is true we should focus first and foremost on factors that influence relevance.

      Backlinks clearly influence SERP ranking, but only when there is some relevance present in either the anchor text or other on-page relevance factors.

      What is less clear to me is exactly how backlinks influence relevance. It appears that the relevance of anchor text plays a strong role, but what about other factors? The PR of an IBL seems to be a factor. I have seen data that "suggests" this is true, but how do we isolate the cause from the effect? Perhaps the key factors that influence the "strength" of a backlink are more prevelant on pages that have higher PR. I haven't seen much data or heard of testing done to isolate the cause from the effect.

      In my own experience I have seen anecdotal evidence that suggests that the PR and anchor text of your backlinks alone may not make up the complete formula in determining the strength of your backlinks.

      If anyone has done any testing to isolate the factors that influence the relative strength of a backlink I would love to review the data and testing methods.
      • [ 1 ] Thanks
      • [4] replies
  • Hi Mark,

    Thanks for that.

    I did have some idea that it really was that simple - but some of the threads I've read make it sound so much more complicated.

    Thanks for the link - I'll check it out.

    Regards

    Karen
  • these days backlinks are not that important. coz i tested this..instead of back links. you must keep your attention to each and every page meta tags....
    • [2] replies
    • What data do you have to support this theory?
    • If oneis wise, they will completely disregard the following nonsense from PAKIDesigner

      • [ 2 ] Thanks
      • [1] reply
  • Hopefully I get my point across on this question.

    When we say backlinks like my sig and everyone else's. Does it help or is it prefured to use your keyword for the Text?

    What I mean is if I am trying to rank my widgetdotcom page and my sig says wigetdotcom is that the prefured method?

    Or if we want to rank for redcirclewidgets do we put the ancor as redcirclewidgets that point to widgetsdotcom?

    Would it be advised to have diff. ancor txtx on other forums so you get the best bang for your buck?

    What i mean is have redcirclewidgets on 1 sig and bluecirclewidgest on another.

    Am I in the right ballpark?

    Thanks.
  • Hey Don, know you'll be back !

    I'm a lot clear about what in your mind now, will get into the test by next month, let's set some parameters then, and we will have a fair test.

    I also believe in trust rank, but from experience, I think both trust rank and domain authority plays a big part, but how big is it - we need to test...

    Anyone had similar experience?

    Kok Choon
    • [1] reply
    • Banned
      [DELETED]

    • To this thread.......perhaps. Anyway before we get into alot of back and forth lets remember Karen asked a simple and very legitmate question. Lets not confuse people with alot of debating especially since once again people are throwing around things they are not in a position to prove (or they would have already).
      • [1] reply
  • Banned
    [DELETED]
  • Do more and more Forum postings for getting more and backlinks.
  • I don't know about "organic backlinks" still now. Can someone tell me about this.
  • I think Organic Backlinks mean natural backlinks, not done by human link builder?
    • [1] reply
    • Is there a difference in ranking based on 'domain links' verses 'page links'?

      When using SEO for FireFox, it offers stats on links to the domain AND links to the actual page.

      I'm curious which of these two plays the most important role in ranking?
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