Building your website's back links

The number of links to your web site is important in determining its position in the search engine results pages (or SERPs). A link to a site is a sort of vote for its relevance or popularity based on specific keywords or key phrases, and this is a major factor in how high or low the site ranks in a search. It’s rare for users to go beyond the first or second page of search results, and your likelihood of getting customers to visit you web site are greatly reduced unless you can command a high position on the SERPs.

Many people’s livelihoods come from web sites that get most of their business from search engine-generated traffic, and a lot of time and effort has gone into building reciprocal back link relationships with other web sites to make sure they stay afloat. But how are those back links and relationships built? First of all, it helps to have a web site with a specific purpose, that fills a need, that has information or content that people want to link to. Reevaluate your web site and try to determine its usefulness in helping a visitor or potential customer achieve a goal. Providing a referral list of relevant resources on your site can be invaluable, such as other web sites, stores to buy the right materials, helpful reading lists or publications, calendar of events for upcoming conventions, et cetera.

Do some research and come up with a list of industry or field-related news sites where you can announce your web site’s presence and submit it to them for review as a relevant, quality resource to share with readers. Write a well thought out press release about your web site and what makes it stand out, and email it to PRWeb as well as bloggers, online journalists and experts specific to your web site’s theme or subject matter. Networking with peers hosting other web sites is a great way to build back links, as long, of course, as the content is relevant between both sites. Share news and articles or ask for feedback about the usefulness of your site’s content.

Another good way to generate back links to your site is to create a blog or news section, if you don’t already have one, and post or write your own favorable article about a relevant company in the headlines and then send that company the link to the story to which they can then – and probably will -- link back.

There are many other ways to make your web site an inviting resource to link to as long as you show patience and good judgment in your choice of link relationships. With good links, the traffic will follow. You are limited only by your imagination.