If you're trying to get your site to the first page of Google, you need to know everything you can about backlinks (off-page SEO). This article will tell you exactly how to get started and what will help Google love your site.
First off, what are backlinks (or as Yahoo calls them, "inlinks")?
There is two categories of search engine optimization - on-page and off-page SEO. Google uses a measure of "reputation," so to speak, to figure out how to rank your site (or a page on your site). The way they currently determine this is by the quantity and "quality" of links that are pointing to your page from other websites. Simply put, the more links you have of better quality, the better your site is going to rank.
Put in a more specific way, there are certain factors that play into how Google determines whether or not you have a good reputation around the internet. The first concept you need to know about is "PageRank." This is a proprietary algorithm created by Google, judging the quality and reputation of your page from 0-10. Just like many things at Google, the exact formula is top-secret but there are many theories of how to increase your PageRank. However, you do not need to concern yourself with increasing PageRank for your site right now.
The reason you need to know about "PR" is because Google considers a link from a high PR domain to be of better "quality" than those that come from low PR domains. This theory is based on extensive testing by thousands of SEO experts and is generally not challenged, like many theories in SEO are. It is a little less clear right now whether it matters where the link resides on that site, however.
You should also know about the concept of "do-follow" and "no-follow" tags. It is possible to place a no-follow tag on a specific link or all the links on sites and according to Matt Cutts, senior engineer at Google, this link will not pass PR. There is a lot of debate about whether or not this link still passes "link juice." There is further debate about whether link juice is the same as PR (but I see them as the same). What you need to know right now is that it is "best practice" to spend your time and money acquiring do-follow links. If you get no-follow, that is fine, you just shouldn't spend your time and money on them.
You will need to learn much more about backlinks in order to compete with the stiff competition on Google. We'll explore subjects like "anchor text," IP and location diversity, link security, .edu and .gov links, indexing links, and any other subject about backlinks.
It is common for there to be a learning curve on this subject. Your best bet is to spend at least a little bit of time studying before you go out experimenting and possibly tanking your site without knowing it.
First off, what are backlinks (or as Yahoo calls them, "inlinks")?
There is two categories of search engine optimization - on-page and off-page SEO. Google uses a measure of "reputation," so to speak, to figure out how to rank your site (or a page on your site). The way they currently determine this is by the quantity and "quality" of links that are pointing to your page from other websites. Simply put, the more links you have of better quality, the better your site is going to rank.
Put in a more specific way, there are certain factors that play into how Google determines whether or not you have a good reputation around the internet. The first concept you need to know about is "PageRank." This is a proprietary algorithm created by Google, judging the quality and reputation of your page from 0-10. Just like many things at Google, the exact formula is top-secret but there are many theories of how to increase your PageRank. However, you do not need to concern yourself with increasing PageRank for your site right now.
The reason you need to know about "PR" is because Google considers a link from a high PR domain to be of better "quality" than those that come from low PR domains. This theory is based on extensive testing by thousands of SEO experts and is generally not challenged, like many theories in SEO are. It is a little less clear right now whether it matters where the link resides on that site, however.
You should also know about the concept of "do-follow" and "no-follow" tags. It is possible to place a no-follow tag on a specific link or all the links on sites and according to Matt Cutts, senior engineer at Google, this link will not pass PR. There is a lot of debate about whether or not this link still passes "link juice." There is further debate about whether link juice is the same as PR (but I see them as the same). What you need to know right now is that it is "best practice" to spend your time and money acquiring do-follow links. If you get no-follow, that is fine, you just shouldn't spend your time and money on them.
You will need to learn much more about backlinks in order to compete with the stiff competition on Google. We'll explore subjects like "anchor text," IP and location diversity, link security, .edu and .gov links, indexing links, and any other subject about backlinks.
It is common for there to be a learning curve on this subject. Your best bet is to spend at least a little bit of time studying before you go out experimenting and possibly tanking your site without knowing it.
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