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.

Glee’ loses UK court battle, may have to change name

LONDON: Fox's musical comedy 'Glee' may have to be renamed for UK broadcast after losing a high court battle with a Midlands comedy club.

Earlier this year, the US network lost a legal battle against UK comedy chain Glee Club, with the court ruling that the series breached a trademark held by the chain.

The high court has now ordered 21st Century Fox to 'cease naming' the series 'Glee' in the UK, and awarded 100,000 in damages to Glee Club owner Comic Enterprises Ltd, reported Daily Mirror.

"I find it hard to believe that the cost of the re-titling and publicizing of the new name would be so prohibitive compared to the value of the series," Judge Roger Wyand said in a written ruling.

However, the judge went on to order that the name-change injunction cannot be enforced until the case has been considered by the Court of Appeal. Mark Tughan registered the name 'The Glee Club' as a British trademark in 1999, ten years prior to the TV show's first season.

He now runs four venues under the brand in Birmingham, Cardiff, Nottingham and Oxford.

"It's a relief because you can't get any more David and Goliath than this," said Tughan following the victory back in February.

Gunmen kill 21 Egyptian military border guards near Libya

CAIRO: Gunmen killed 21 Egyptian military border guards near the frontier with Libya on Saturday, highlighting a growing threat from an area that security officials say has become a haven for militants seeking to topple the Cairo government.

Security officials said the assailants were smugglers. But an army spokesman said on his Facebook page that "terrorists" — the term authorities use to describe Islamist militants — were behind the attack.

He said a weapons storage facility was blown up by a rocket-propelled grenade in an exchange of fire, killing the soldiers and wounding four others.

The attack took place in Wadi al-Gadid governorate, which borders both Sudan and Libya. Two smugglers were killed in clashes with the guards, security officials said.

Egyptian President Abdel Fattah al-Sisi has repeatedly expressed concerns about militants who have capitalised on the chaos in Libya and set up operations along the border.

Sisi met with top Egyptian security officials after the attack, state news agency MENA reported.

Security officials say militants pay smugglers to transport weapons, including machine guns and rocket-propelled grenades, to comrades in Egypt, which is already facing an Islamist insurgency based in the Sinai Peninsula near Israel.

Sinai militants have stepped up attacks against policemen and soldiers since then-army chief Sisi toppled President Mohamed Morsi of the Muslim Brotherhood last summer and launched fierce attacks on Islamists.

Hundreds have been killed in shootings and bombings.

Security officials say militants operating from Libya are trying to forge ties

with Islamists in the Sinai, an alliance that could prolong Egypt's instability and scare away investors that are badly needed to help fix the battered economy.

Tribal smugglers told Reuters they charge up to one million Egyptian pounds ($140,000) to move weapons in four-by-four vehicles along desert routes.

Five border guards were killed in a similar attack in the same area a few months ago.

Security officials say militants along the Libyan border harbour ambitions similar to the al-Qaida breakaway group that has seized large swathes of Iraq — they want to topple Sisi and create a caliphate in Egypt.

Sisi, who has warned that Islamist militants ravaging the Middle East pose a threat to everyone, has said Egypt will not allow Libya's turmoil to threaten Egypt's national security.

Egypt considered launching a crossborder offensive several months ago in a bid to crush the militants, according to two Egyptian national security officials.

Italy says 19 boat migrants die, thousands rescued this week

ROME: Nineteen people died trying to reach Italy on a boat packed with hundreds of migrants, probably poisoned by carbon monoxide fumes from its engines, said the Italian navy on Saturday, which has rescued more than 4,000 migrants in the last three days.

Eighteen bodies were found in the hold of the boat, said a navy spokesman, along with three very ill men who were rushed to the Italian island of Lampedusa but one died en route.

The two surviving men were taken by helicopter to a hospital in the Sicilian capital of Palermo, the spokesman said.

He said carbon monoxide fumes produced by the boat's engine likely caused the deaths. A similar incident last month killed 30.

Italy is struggling to keep up with the number of migrant boats this year, which mostly depart from the coast of increasingly unstable Libya, and is seeking more help from the EU in both the rescue mission and in hosting new arrivals.

The United Nations refugee agency (UNHCR) estimates that more than 500 migrants have died in the Mediterranean so far this year, compared to 700 during the whole of last year.

AGI news agency reported on Saturday that as many as 40 people could be missing after an incident on Friday when a migrant boat capsized near the Libyan coast. The Italian navy could not immediately confirm the report.

More than 70,000 migrants have been rescued by Italy's "Mare Nostrum" or "Our Sea" mission in 2014, the spokesman said, surpassing the previous record of just over 60,000 for the whole of 2011, when the Arab Spring uprisings fuelled arrivals.

Calmer summer seas have prompted a recent upsurge in boats trying to reach Italy, where immigration centres are overloaded. Interior minister Angelino Alfano on Saturday said military bases might be temporarily used to house new arrivals.

Italy's navy has been patrolling the waters between Africa and Sicily since October, when 366 people drowned after their boat capsized just a mile from the Italian coast.

That tragedy focused international attention on the desperate risks taken by many migrants, whose plight has been highlighted by human rights groups and Pope Francis.

SHARING THE BURDEN

Italy has long attracted sea-borne migrants from Africa, and most move on almost immediately to other EU countries.

Over the past year, most of the migrants have been refugees fleeing Syria's civil war and Eritrea's harsh military service, according to the UNHCR.

Italy - along with Spain, Greece and Malta - have been left mostly on their own to manage the growing number of migrants, partly because increasing anti-immigrant sentiment in countries like Britain and France makes it unpopular to help out.

Alfano has begun talks with EU Home Affairs Commissioner Cecilia Malmstrom about sharing the burden of rescuing migrants in what she described as a "scaled-down" version of Mare Nostrum earlier this month.

"We are taking important steps to make sure that all of Europe is present in the Mediterranean, and not just Italy," Alfano said on Saturday.

MH17 crash clouds over G20 trade summit

SYDNEY: Trade ministers from the world's leading economies met in Sydney on Saturday for the latest round of G20 talks, with the crash of Malaysia Airlines Flight MH17 threatening to overshadow the summit.

G20 chair Australia has sought to keep the meeting focused on economic growth, but Thursday's disaster in rebel-held territory in eastern Ukraine put the spotlight on Russia and its possible links to the separatists.

Australia's trade minister Andrew Robb said he met his Russian counterpart Denis Manturov late Friday to press him on whether his country "would or could stop the separatists with their current activities".

"Australia is looking for an unequivocal Russian assurance that they will fully cooperate with an independent and thorough UN investigation and urgently," Robb told broadcaster Sky News Saturday.

"The Russian trade minister did convey their deep condolences and indicate the government would cooperate with ... (a) UN investigation.

"They did not give me an assurance that Russia would or could stop the separatists with their current activities."

Robb said Canberra may consider trade sanctions against Russia as a result of the crash, which killed 298 people, including 28 Australians, subject to how it "responds, cooperates and is proactive in seeking answers".

Australia, along with several other countries, already has imposed sanctions and travel bans on some Russians and Ukrainians.

Senior ministers have refused on comment on whether Russian leader Vladimir Putin would be invited to the G20 leaders' summit in Brisbane, Queensland's capital, in November.

But Queensland premier Campbell Newman said Putin might not be welcomed in his state if the Russian government did not cooperate with an independent investigation into the plane crash.

"If we start seeing them failing to cooperate—we've heard that they're not providing access at this time—if that continues, I think I can speak for all Queenslanders and say at that point he's probably not welcome," Newman said.

The talk of trade sanctions came as Australian treasurer Joe Hockey said his nation would continue to keep growth as the main focus of the G20 agenda.

"I think there's a steely determination right across the board to find out who is responsible for what's happened, but also not to allow it to distract everyone from all the tasks at hand of building a stronger global economy—and importantly—creating jobs for people," he told Sky News.

He added to delegates at an investment forum early Saturday that the G20 meetings "are helping to shape the destiny of the world's economies—there's no doubt about that".

"We have shifted from a regulatory framework focusing on trying to fix the problems of the past, getting bogged down in more financial services regulation, getting bogged down in procedure ... to focus on growth and jobs."

G20 finance ministers agreed to a 2.0 percent additional growth target over five years at their February meeting in Sydney.

Australian Prime Minister Tony Abbott said at a B20 business leaders' summit this week that he was asking G20 nations to push harder on their growth plans so they could meet the February pledge.

Business leaders at the meeting made a series of recommendations on structural reforms and free trade that could boost global growth by US$3.4 trillion and create millions of jobs.

They included a call for the free flow of goods, services, labour and capital, an effective and transparent regulatory framework, as well as structural reforms that would boost trade and lift infrastructure investment.