Back Links?

[wildcat]

When reading periodicals, blogs, forums, etc., "back links" keep coming up regarding SEO or Pagerank or any other benefits to your website.

There are so many opinions regarding back links, some say "only add back links with a higher pagerank than yours, others say "don't waist your time with any back links," while other say "add as many as you can."

It's almost laughable when trying to get a clear answer.

What are your opinions?

 

[CHUMPS FROM OXFORD]

Definitely a lot of opinions. They are not a waste of time. However, quality is VERY important.

Disclaimer: I am not an SEO expert and most knowledge I have has been obtained from from Dave, Val, Alston, Jeremy and others that I should mention but can't because I have to go to the bathroom.

 

[valdet]

Backlinks are a very important piece in SEO giant puzzle. You might write great content, worth of Pulitzer prize, but if no-one finds it (search results rankings) or links (backlinks) to it, then you are not doing it right..

Not all kinds backlinks are helpful though, because links from link farms, non-relevant pages and harmful websites will actually hurt your rankings than benefit from it.

The links that help you to get better rankings on serps, are those coming from authority/brand pages/sites which content has a real value.

There are certain aspects when you are looking to build backlinks: anchor text is very important, authority of linking page, and linking from various relevant pages.

Here is a chart of importance for ranking factors

Source: Seomoz

More reading
Search Engine Ranking Factors | SEOmoz

 

[Tampa Bay Rep]

Here is a backlink tool that you might find useful:

Backlink Builder

This tools searches for websites with the keywords you specify that contain keyphrases like "Add link", "Add site", "Add URL", "Add URL", "Submit URL", "Add Article" etc.

 

[CHUMPS FROM OXFORD]

I have used that tool but there are much better ones available. This one is redundant and a lot of worthless links come up.

 

[STIBROKER]

hummmm.....my life site is on page 18 for "term life insurance"......

 

[maksim]

forums help. =) include a link in your sig.

 

[somarco]

This forum has 'no follow'

 

[maksim]

I am sure, somehow still helps. =)

btw, make sure you use google analytics on your site if you havent already.

 

[CHUMPS FROM OXFORD]

I thought this Forum was "follow." I guess I haven't checked in a while.