Inbound Backlinks for SEO

What are inbound links?

Backlinks, also known as incoming links, inbound links, inlinks, and inward links, are incoming links to a website or web page. For example, this link points to Google and is therefore an inbound link for Google. Some people would argue that link building (inbound links) hold the most weight when search engines determine a website’s ranking. This is true to a certain extent, but in truth both backlinking and good quality, regularly updated content should be the driving force of any successful SEO campaign.

How can backlinks help your search engine ranking?

Backlinks can almost be seen as currency. A website with many inbound links will naturally rank better in search engines than ones with not so many backlinks.

Many years ago when search engines where just finding their footings and SEO was pretty much unheard of, the way search engines would rank a website was very much down to how many backlinks a site had. Now the whole game has changed and there are hundreds of factors that determine a website’s search engine position, especially with Google’s new Penguin and Panda updates. Although good quality, high authority backlinks from relevant websites still do help with determining a website’s search engine position, therefore care must be taken when building links to your site.

Things you need to consider when building backlinks

Links from relevant sites give the best results – If you are a computer repair shop and have links from a dog groomer, Google will not see much value in the link. But if you have inbound links from other related sites such as a technology blog you will see better results.
Links from good quality, reputable sites are more effective – Your friend’s general blog is very nice, but it isn’t going to help your site as much with say a site like CNN.
Utilise anchor text – The anchor text is the words that appear on the actual link. Using your target keywords for the anchor text will help with your rankings. But if you are comment spamming, it could have negative affects.
Say no to spam! – Have you ever seen one of those sites that say they can get you 10,000 backlinks for $10 – chances are they are going to use blackhat techniques and spamming to deliver. Linking should appear natural to search engines and nothing good will come of spamming!

Google’s guide to inbound links

Posted on 8th January 2013 by Stuart in SEO