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What is a backlink?A backlink is simply a link from another website pointing to yours. You can see the amount of links pointing to your website or particular web pages by using a program such as Google's Webmaster Tools. Are backlinks links important?Yes! In fact, the building of backlinks is arguably the most important part of Search Engine Optimisation. Search engines rank websites based on their relevancy, and since they use robots and not humans to judge their site, a backlink is interpreted as endorsement to your website's content. How many backlinks do I need?Generally, the more the better. However, quality is just as important as quantity. You can find more about how backlinks are judged by websites in the 'What is link weight?' article. Ultimately the amount of competition in your market will judge how many backlinks you need to rank well for your chosen keywords. Of course, its important to make sure you are using all techniques to build a good PageRank, otherwise you will create far more work than is needed. What makes a good backlink?Spam Links
Low Quality Links
Good Quality LinksIt goes without saying that all of the below would be from established websites with a decent Google PageRank.
It is worth emphasising that 'low quality' backlinks aren't necessarily bad news. An undisputed downside of them is that you will need a hundreds of lower quality links compared to a handful of good quality links. This of course takes time, so it may be wiser to invest your time in going for more of the good quality link options. There is always a blur of lines between what makes some sites low quality and others good. For example, a reciprocal link that is from an industry related website with high PageRank may provide more benefit than a non-industry related partner website that isn't that well established. The difference of course is that with Google constantly trying to improve, one day your reciprocal link may lose its value. The safe way to assess a link is to answer these questions:
If you can answer 'Yes' to these three questions, you definitely have a good backlink on your hands!
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