Backlinks are links from another site to your site. Let’s explore this farther to get an in depth understanding.
Backlinks have two independent elements in each of them.
- the url address
- the anchor link text
The first element of a good backlink is the url address. A url address is the site, page or area of a site that the link will open when it is clicked. Here is an example of a url address: http://www.creativecraftsandstickers.com/homemade-christmas-crafts/7-simple-homemade-christmas-crafts-ornament-ideas
The second element of a quality backlink is the anchor text. Anchor text are the words that are “clickable” for the person to be able to click and land on the url address of the backlink. This text can be any word or words that you choose to use. Here is an example of anchor text: Ornament Ideas
The above examples are very basic and somewhat incomplete for simplicity sake. We can continue to dig deeper and develop some guidelines to be able to create not only good backlinks, but great backlinks. Keeping the facts above in mind we can learn to create a backlink with a purpose.
Backlinks to interior pages of your website seem to be worth much more than just a link to the home page. Knowing this, when you are creating you backlinks you will want to link to pages or sections of your site that are within your site and not just create links to the home page of your site.
Let’s take a look back at the url address element example that was given to you. If the url address ended after the creativecraftsandstickers.com/, the link would have been a link to a home page. Evaluating the example farther, we can see that the remaining portion of the url address: homemade-christmas-crafts/7-simple-homemade-christmas-crafts-ornament-ideas points to an interior and very specific page of the website other than the homepage.
To address the second element of a good backlink we examine our anchor text from the example. In the example above the keyword phrase used for the anchor text is “Ornament Ideas”. For this example, it is understood that the keyword phrase “ornament ideas” has already been researched and been found to have met required criteria for a valuable keyword phrase. To get the most out of creating a quality backlink you will want to only use very specific and intention keywords or keyword phrases that have been properly researched as your anchor text.
It is important to mention that all backlinks to your site are good. But not all backlinks are created equal and not all backlinks are great. Some backlinks are worth more than others in the eyes of the Google-bots (automated code that searches for particular items according to the most recent Google algorithm and assigns a value to that item). We can use what we know about backlinks and create a great quality backlink.
So far, we know that a backlink is a link from another site to our site. We know to use a good url address and we know to use researched keywords or keyword phrases. But that is not all there is to the “great” backlink game.
To get the most out of backlinks from other sites, and have them “weigh” more we need to look at the site that our backlink is coming from. Think about it this way: if you have a link coming from a site that everyone is familiar with and that site has a good reputation for having knowledge about what your site is about, it would be considered an authority. It already has the clout needed to weigh more than a link from a site that no one is familiar with or a site that has no reputable knowledge on your site’s subject matter. The Google-bots know this and that is why they give more weight and authority to the site that they know has the knowledge. Ultimately the backlinks that come from authority sites are “worth” more and give your site more value, thus increasing your overall rank with Google (and other search engines).
By fully understanding the elements of backlinks and how some backlinks can be more valuable than others we can use that knowledge combined with our keywords and keyword phrases as leverage and build great backlinks. It is the Ultimate Solution for increasing your site’s authority and visibility on the internet and ensuring you the best opportunity to obtain high search engine rank.
