Backlinks: What they are and how to get them

Sometimes called inbound links, backlinks are
the lifeblood of Search Engine Positioning. In
order for a website to be on the top of search
engines like Google without the webmaster
having to pay big money for advertising, the
website has to have a large number of
backlinks. Backlinks are links on one website
that lead back to another website. The more
established, high quality, and high Page Rank
the website that contains the link has, the more
power it has to help the linked website with its
search engine position. If the website that is
getting backlinks gets many High Quality and
High Page Rank backlinks, the better the chance
it has of being in a high position on the Search
Engines.
How does a webmaster go about getting high
quality backlinks to his or her website? There
are many ways this can be done. Some people
advocate writing and submitting articles, posting
on forums, making comments on blogs. Others
talk about submitting their website to various
Internet directories. One directory that has an
excellent reputation is called DMOZ, or the
"Open Directory". This directory is probably the
most respected directory online today. The
websites it contains have all been placed there
by human editors; there is no "automation" to
this directory. The only drawback that's been
discussed about this directory is that it takes so
long to have a website included.
Another way that many people build backlinks
for their website is to use Social Bookmarking
websites. A "Social Bookmark" is a website that
usually has a very popular 'community' aspect
to it. Users sign up and create profiles on the
sites that contain photos and information about
themselves. They then can save "bookmarks" of
favorite websites which can be itemized by
'tags', which are one or two word descriptions
of what the sites contain, and these bookmarks
can be saved to a list that's private or can be
listed publicly, so that everybody can see it.
With the advent of what is known as Web 2.0,
gaining backlinks is easier now than in any time
in the history of the internet. Most sites now
have an "interactive" quality to them nowadays.
Readers can often sign in and create profiles.
They then are often allowed to post comments
on the stories or articles on the website or blog.
In many cases, the website or blog owner
responds to these comments; thus making this
section of the website or blog a conversation.
Backlinking strategies can be easy and fun and
the website owner who is working on getting
more backlinks for his website can learn new
things, meet new people, and have a
tremendous amount of fun doing something
that was once a chore: building backlinks.