Inbound links come from outside sites linking back to your site. Google considers inbound links that are earned (i.e. not paid) as an indicator that your site is important—thus increasing your value in the search engine rankings. Quality sites often link to other sites with great site content, unique services or design, relevant, funny or interesting information etc. Google’s webmaster blog admits that a sites PageRank is positively affected by relevant and quality inbound links.
How do you gain quality inbound links? There are many ways to obtain links: you can request them, you can submit your site to directories, you can participate on social media sites, you can place links in your press releases and many more tactics. However, the sure way to naturally gain inbound links is to offer appealing content and interesting services.
People want to share what they find useful, interesting or compelling—so it may be time to evaluate the content on your website. Is your content reaching your target audience? Is your content offering interesting and valuable information? Are you moving people to continue reading your website? Are people linking to you?
To read more about link-building strategies, I have found these articles helpful:
- Helpful Link Building Strategies
- Link Building for a Hotel Website
- The Secret to Making Every Link Count for your SEO rankings
April 14, 2009 at 2:00 pm
Good content.
Today with the economic recession, there are many people who are looking out to increase targeted traffic to their website or blog. There are several strategies one can use to achieve this which may be either free or paid. For instance, you can set up a PPC campaign and expect instant traffic and results if it is set up and optimized the right way.
However, if you are looking to save on your cost and at the same time want the most useful strategy, then building back links naturally is very effective. This is especially the best tactic when you have an inbound link coming from a website that receives high traffic and also that’s relevant to your site. This process could be quite time consuming, but worth the efforts in the long run. However, make sure that the quality of your links is not compromised as it’s the quality that counts and not quantity.
April 17, 2009 at 1:16 am
Hey caromarch,
Thanks for the mention! Can’t emphasize the importance of inbound links enough… If you want a website to succeed it’s the foundation of every internet marketing campaign.
April 25, 2009 at 11:38 am
I found your blog on google and read a few of your link building posts. I just added you to my Google News Reader. Keep up the good work. Look forward to reading more from you in the future.
April 29, 2009 at 6:44 pm
[...] colleague of mine, Carolyn March, blogged about the importance of inbound links earlier in April where she pointed us to three very helpful articles on topics ranging from how and [...]