SEO - Generating Back Links

Some experts believe back links are one of the heaviest factors that weigh your SERP on Google. Back links also determine your Google Page Rank. A back link is nothing more than a link to your page from another webpage. All back links don't have the same impact on your webpage. A back link from a small website will not give you as many points as a link from a major webpage. Also the back links should come from web pages with relevant content to yours. If your webpage is about making money, than back links from an entertainment gossip website wouldn't weigh to heavy in obtaining a high PR.

Many webmasters face the same problem, which is how they go about generating back links from other web pages. When I receive this question in my email it's usually the easiest for me to answer. There are many different ways to generate back links. I will cover just a few I've always used and have had great success with. Most of them just involve getting your webpage out there. The main thing we need to focus on is generating quality back links not just quantity.

Link Exchange

This is the simplest method of them all. I still to this day use link exchange techniques starting the first day my site goes live. I find a webpage that I want a back link from and add a link to my page. Then I find their email and send them an email stating that I have added them to my page and I'd appreciate it if they would add me. Surprisingly most webmasters are generally nice enough to exchange with you. If your webpage is still really small and doesn't have a Google Page Rank many larger web pages will ignore your request. Occasionally you may get a rude email from a grumpy webmaster, but just ignore it and move on to the next webpage.

The reason I like the link exchange method is because you know what webpage you're getting the link from. This allows you to choose quality web pages to receive a link from. I base the quality of a website not by how much traffic it gets, but by the quality of content. Even if a webpage is fairly new and getting virtually no traffic, but they have great content I will still link with them. This is because just like your page their page has the potential to grow into an enormous powerhouse if they keep up the great content.

There is one major disadvantage to link exchanging. You won't get as many Google points as you would if the links were one way inbound links. When two web pages link to each other they are called reciprocal links. The search engine determines that this is the result of some type of communication between the webmasters, thus resulting in Google giving fewer points. Writing articles to receive inbound back links

Article writing is nothing new or ground breaking. It has been a tactic used by webmasters for years and continues to be very effective to this day. Writing an informative article pertaining to your content is always a great way to generate back links. I've got into the habit of writing at least 1 article per day. Many of these articles never leave my laptop's documents folders, but it keeps my writing skills sharp. At first writing articles can seem like torture, especially if you hated writing essays in school like I did. I find the more you write the easier it becomes.

Submitting one or two articles won't be very effective. I submit all my articles to ezinearticles.com and goarticles.com. I submit around 3-4 articles per week. Many people recognize my name for quality articles. When someone needs some quality content for their website they often check if I have submitted any new articles. Focus on posting quality articles not quantity. If it takes you a week to write a quality article, only submit one article per week.

The goal is to entice webmasters to repost your articles on their page. Article directories allow authors to have a signature to put your URL and 1 or 2 sentences about yourself. When webmasters republish your article they are required to include your signature. This is what provides the inbound back link to your webpage.

Old fashioned quality content

Call me old fashioned, but I honestly believe the best way to get quality back links is good ole fashion quality content. I'm sure you've heard this 1000000 times, but it really is true. Any body with a computer and $9 can have a website, but most people don't have the mind, or work ethic to provide quality content to web surfers.

If another webmaster finds one of your posts to be useful he or she may reference it on their webpage. Also webmasters tend to link to relevant web pages that they find useful, so their readers can also share this useful resource. It's a win/win situation for you because you get a valuable back link and a little boost in traffic absolutely free.

Purchasing back links

The title is pretty self explanatory. Some popular websites will let you pay for them to place your link on their page. Usually they charge a reoccurring monthly fee for a set price. I personally never buy back links and don't suggest you do it either. Call me old fashioned, but I rather earn my back links than pay for one.