Backlinks, or inbound links, are an essential building block in the SEO (Search Engine Optimization) process. Backlinks help search engines to establish a site’s popularity; however, simple inbound links are not enough to boost a site’s rank in SERPs (Search Engine Result Pages). Getting the highest quality backlinks is equally important. Knowing the proper backlinking methods can help you to better utilize this essential SEO tool.
Inbound links must be relevant to the content on your website. Quality backlinks are determined by two main factors: the theme of the linked site should be similar to your own website, or the linked site should contain keywords that you’ve used to optimize your site. If these links do not lead to any relevant information, they will not really help to advance your site’s rankings.
One of the greatest backlink tools you need is actually free … it’s the Yahoo Site Explorer. It can provide you most anything you want to know about the sites that are linking to you and those sites linking to your competitors. Most other tools use Yahoo Site Explorer anyway, so why not just go to the source.