Backlinks are one-way links originating from a website directly into another website. Building Backlinks is the most challenging but also the most essential element to Search Engine Optimization (SEO). It is backlinks that are so prominent in the algorithm (formula) that Google uses to calculate its PageRank. The reason it is so important is because Google says it is … it would make sense however … a Backlink points into your site, there is no reciprocation, so it indicates a positive endorsement or vote in favor of your website or at least specific content within your website. There are many ways of getting great backlinks and we discuss this in recent articles, “How to Get Backlinks ” and “Why You Really Need Backlinks”; however here we are going to focus on the question of whether you should be buying Backlinks or Building them.
I will answer the question quickly. Building Backlinks is long term and is the right way to go. Buying backlinks is not recommended by Google. Paid links might help you in the short run but the age of your backlinks are also very important. That means if you buy links, you need to keep paying for them for at least 10 months, and that can get costly. Google knows the difference and does not give much value to paid links in its calculations of a site’s strength, relevance or authority if the overall age of the links are short. Organic Search Engine Optimization is all about earning and not buying your way to visibility. Google’s sole objective is to generate the most highly relevant results on the first page of its Search Engine Result Pages (SERPs). This adds value to being on page 1 and, as such, drives competition for the Paid Listings you can always find at the top (shaded in yellow) and at the far right of every search page. The better Google is at providing searchers the most relevant results, the higher the bidding is for those advertisers that want to be seen. Buying Backlinks does not figure into this equation, at least not in the long run.
So, building backlinks organically is the best way to influence the search engines. In “How to Get Backlinks “and “Why You Really Need Backlinks” we emphasize how important it is to generate content. Specifically, adding articles to your article or knowledgebase section coupled with syndicating optimized versions of your articles to online publishing sites is an important way to generate lots of highly relevant backlinks. Blogging daily or as often as possible generates subscribership and backlinks as well. Submitting your content to relevant directories is also useful. Use the social media to post and tweet and bookmark your latest content. Most importantly, keep at it … it must be a steady stream of unique, non-duplicate content. Video / Podcasts, even animation are great sources of content which can be posted on many sharing sites like YouTube and MySpace. Regularly reporting your news through Press Releases and publishing them through Press Release sites like PRWeb are great ways of organically building your backlinks.
It is not a stretch to say that those with the best content, the most highly relevant backlinks WIN! Contact us if you seek Link Building and page 1 Google results.
December 4, 2009
