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If backlinks are so important...

by dylanhawkins
9 replies
  • SEO
    • |
I'm a web designer in Boston MA, and I just created a brand spankin' new website. I'm replacing an old website, one that was built entirely in Flash and was nearly impossible to work on SEO. This time around though, I want to focus on SEO, and work on getting my site to the top of Google when someone searches "Boston web design."

But tell me this: if backlinks are so important... if you search "boston web design" right now, why in Sam's Hell do several of my competitors who rank in the top 10 in Google barely have any links at all? One of them has 20. Another one has 3... that's right, 3 total sites linking to it!

Any insight would be much appreciated.

Dylan
#backlinks #important
  • Profile picture of the author dburk
    Hi Dylan,

    It's not the quantity that's important, it's the quality of the backlinks. One good backlink could be worth more than a thousand of the free-for-all links.

    Proximity matters - because you used a local term and you are also local, the results may show firms that are located closer to you with higher ranking. Gotta love that local search!
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  • Profile picture of the author Suzanne Morrison
    Hi Dylan,

    Where are you checking the number of backlinks?

    If you are doing the check on Google, then it is worth noting that Google only shows a very small proportion of the backlinks. For example, I have over 3000 backlinks showing in Yahoo for one of my sites, but it only shows up around 30 in Google, which is around 1% of my total links.

    To see the real number of backlinks to your site either signup for a Google webmaster tools account or use a link popularity check tool.

    Also, as Don says above, it is about quality as well as quantity.

    Cheers,
    Suzanne
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    • Profile picture of the author Li Weng
      Originally Posted by Suzanne Morrison View Post

      Hi Dylan,

      Where are you checking the number of backlinks?

      If you are doing the check on Google, then it is worth noting that Google only shows a very small proportion of the backlinks. For example, I have over 3000 backlinks showing in Yahoo for one of my sites, but it only shows up around 30 in Google, which is around 1% of my total links.

      To see the real number of backlinks to your site either signup for a Google webmaster tools account or use a link popularity check tool.

      Also, as Don says above, it is about quality as well as quantity.

      Cheers,
      Suzanne

      Exactly, if you're using the link:url method in google to check backlinks, then forget it. It's highly inaccurate. Use this free tool - Website Marketing SEO Score Tool instead.
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      • Profile picture of the author dylanhawkins
        Originally Posted by Li Weng View Post

        Exactly, if you're using the link:url method in google to check backlinks, then forget it. It's highly inaccurate.
        Great, thanks Li (and everyone else who responded of course!)

        What do you all think of subbing out SEO services through freelancers on Guru, Scriptlance, Elance, heck even the Warrior Forum? Are there any quality providers out there that actually know what they're doing?
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  • Profile picture of the author entrepenerd
    The 2 replies above are spot on so I won't add there. But, I do want to say one thing "Don't look a gift horse in the mouth"! You should be looking at this as a golden opportunity for you. SEO and backlinking is the key to good rankings. There's no disputing that. So, you now have very little competition for the keywords you're trying to target, so get to work on making it happen! Local search is much easier to dominate, so take the bull by the horns and knock your competitor's socks off.

    Good luck. Keep us posted.
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  • Profile picture of the author askloz
    you'd be better off checking the backlinks with Yahoo, since Yahoo will show all of the backlinks. Google will randomly rotate the known backlinks, it wont show all of them to put off the scent why pages rank as high as they do.
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  • Profile picture of the author karlp295
    ı wonder what exactly is the point of Google backlinks because it doesnt show much at all..
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  • Profile picture of the author maestro2010
    those links must surely be from a very high ranking website also that webmaster would be affording adowrds which help a lot in increasing the rank of a website
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