Search Engines, (Such as Google, Bing, or Yahoo) use backlinks as a way to tell whether a website is popular.  Imagine trying to determine what websites should be in search results for the phrase someone just typed into their search bar! Let me give you an example we all can relate to about popularity.

Go back with me to your high school days. (Yes, I said your high school  days! ) Popularity contests occur all the time in high school.  If you had popular friends, it made you popular. If you had half of the freshman class like you, it really didn’t help you out. The popular friends (other well-known websites) you become friends with and get backlinks from, the more valuable your website appears to search engines! This is one way search engines measure your importance from the millions of sites on the internet.

♦ It’s good to build a website, but unless you create backlinks, your hard work building a site will be for nothing. ♦

Here are 5 areas you can start getting backlinks from:

• Clients or Business Partners
• Quality directories or backlink sites like Links Do Matter
• Social Media profiles
• Articles and Press Releases
• Video sites

Don’t let this step of search engine optimization get lost in the scheme of work to be completed.  Need more information or direction? Contact us and get started today because backlinks are important!!

An external link (Also called inbound linking or backlinking) is when you add a hyperlink to a web page on another website. The site you add the link to  can be a blog, social media, directory, or many other sites that can help market your site!

But in relation to search engines and it’s meaning, what is external link? When you use external websites to promote your own website, search engines will see your site valued.  One of the goals is for others to share the link and help increase the numbers of hyperlinks that are connected to your website.

If you are still reading this post you might be interested in knowing anyone can look to see how many external links exist to your site or any site. If you go to Yahoo, type in the search bar link:http://www.(yourwebsite) Yahoo will take you to Yahoo Site Explorer and you can view any external link to your site!

I hope this answers “What is external link for SEO.” This is part two of a three part series on linking and how links effect and promote your site! In the SEO realm, linking needs to be considered a main factor to any small business owner who wants to improve their results in search engines.

If you want us to glance at your site or help with the linking needs for your small business website, contact us today. I hope this post takes your website one step closer in search results and the huge possibilities of internet marketing!

I personally like that this website is categorized by subject and is searchable.  You can also apply a Feedage plugin to your WordPress blog and add it to your social networking sites. (Like I did) Although this site is user friendly, you can email them if you need help.  Good customer service is important. And many websites don’t meet the need. Let me not go in that direction…I can save that topic for another post! lol Anyhow, I know Feedage will respond to your questions!

RSS feeds are growing and a big part of the internet community. If you haven’t jumped on the band wagon, it’s not too late to start.  Don’t you want to take advantage of all the free SEO opportunities that are on the web?

People add links (hyperlinks) all the time to blogs, comments and other places on the internet. The reason? Sometimes to share information and other times it’s related to internet marketing. Google values and looks at the links connected to your website!

One problem I see all the time is that people are trying to add a link to this blog but it is totally irrelevant to my posting. And I usually delete it! From a internet marketing perspective, search engines are looking for relevant links. In other words, if your website is selling car parts and you have links to jewelry, the two are not connected. Not good! The web site with car parts should be linked to another car website. Something such as car repair, car washes, car paint jobs, etc. You get the picture!

I wrote this post to encourage those of you who know the importance of linking (and try to link to this blog) to go to: Links Do Matter.

When you add a link to a blog, article, or website, try to use keywords in your anchor text.  Good anchor text is always beneficial. Sometimes a website will not give you the ability to do this.  If you are unable, you should still add the link.

We put together linksdomatter.com to help those trying to build PageRank for their sites.  All you have to do is add a comment on the site explaining what type of backlink you are looking for and what you have to offer. When others with a relevant site see your comment, you can email each other and work out the link strategy. You can also request to post a link on this site if there is no other significant website that will help you out.  So check it out today…links do matter!

The amount and value of inbound links are a primary way that Google places value on your site.

Google measures this value as PageRank.  A web site’s PageRank can bee seen using the free Google toolbar.

The better the inbound links (determined by Google) the higher the PageRank. The higher your PageRank, the easier it is to improve your ranking in Google.