While backlinks are the most important factor in SEO (Search Engine Optimization), particularly when they are naturally occurring, highly relevant and driven by great content, outbound links have their place in SEO as well.

Outbound links serve the publisher so that the reader more fully understands the sources of information used by the publisher (writer).  These links serve to increase and maintain credibility of the writer.  They also serve to add backbone to the information and / or the message of the content being offered by the writer.

Letting people know what information you are relying on to become the expert you are in your field lends credibility and foundation to your writings.  Giving credit where credit is due is just a good human characteristic you should have towards building credibility, loyalty and a following.

Authorities rely on other authorities to build a case or make a point.  Moreover, “ye who gives shall also receive” … so by giving to credit to authority sites you increase your opportunity to be linked to by an authority site.  This is kind of the SEO version of the golden rule applied specifically to linking.

So, it still comes down to writing great content; there is no substitute for that.  Then give credit to those who contributed to your knowledge base in developing that content.  Associate yourself with “authorities” and authorities will associate themselves with you.  There is no magic to becoming an expert … you need to do the hard work … you need to know your stuff AND you need to extend the knowledge of your readers by adding new facts, opinions and perspectives to drive home your points.

And to show that I eat my own cooking, please be sure to visit http://www.seomoz.org/blog/the-role-of-outbound-links for related information on Outbound Links.

As an Internet Marketing Company with a strong emphasis in Search Engine Marketing, Optimum7 must know this information to be successful on behalf of our clients.  Our Link Velocity Tool is a major player in our toolset and is available now free of charge at http://www.linkvelocitytool.com/.  As the name implies, this tool measures your link velocity rate i.e. 10 backlinks per week.  Of course, you need to start with a baseline and continually measure this statistic to generate the data because it is measure of rate of change vs. just a static data point.  The tool provides you the ability to compare your link velocity vs. the link velocity of your competition.  So now you know how fast your horse is going, how fast the other horses are going and therefore you will know how fast you need to go to outpace your competitors and win the race!  As in life, this is a marathon and not a sprint … link velocity tool can help you run the full marathon by giving you a constant gauge as to where you are in the race and what you have to do to win the race.

Remember, backlinks don’t come from thin air; the most important or the most valuable links always start with great, non-duplicate content that is highly relevant and targeted on the keyword (s).  Track your content production.  The more backlinks you need to compete successfully, the more content you will need to create.  You can shorten the odds greatly through high quality and highly relevant content.  These simply score more points.  So it follows that it is possible to have fewer backlinks and have a higher search rank because your content and resulting backlinks have more quality and relevance … and Google is all about relevance.  Of course the Link Velocity Tool will be of little help if you cannot or will not make the firm commitment to content, weekly, even daily for some.  If you are like us, imagine the great satisfaction you will gain from seeing your site rise in backlinks and rise competitively on the Link Velocity Tool and ultimately the Search Engine Result Pages (SERPs).

If you have any question about the Link Velocity Tool, Internet Marking or SEO, just contact us and we will be happy to help.

Search Engine Optimization

The search engines are all about RELEVANCE.  There are virtually countless searchable websites.  Each keyword searched likely has 100’s of thousands of competing pages; often times millions, tens of millions and even higher numbers of pages sometimes competing for a single keyword.  How then does Google rank web pages for relevance and how do online businesses successfully compete by convincing Google that it is the most relevant for a keyword?  While there are many differentiating factors in SEO, by far the most important differentiating factor is Backlinks; the better the quality and the better the quantity of backlinks, the better the web page will rank against competing web pages on a keyword by keyword basis.

Backlinks are one-way links originating outside of your website but pointing directly into relevant content within your website.  The basic premise is that backlinks represent votes in favor of the website since, by definition, it originates outside the website, yet promotes the website by linking to it without any reciprocation or return link.

Backlinks can be purchased.  Backlinks can come from directory sites.  However these backlinks do not carry as much weight as the most beneficial backlinks.  The most beneficial backlinks we like to call naturally occurring, highly relevant backlinks.  All of these backlinks are driven by only one thing … CONTENT.  Content such as highly relevant articles, press releases and blogposts are the raw materials needed for generating the most beneficial backlinks for successful internet marketing and SEO strategies.  Beyond this, the content must not only be indexed by publishing them on the source website; the content must be promoted, most specifically syndicated.  It is the syndication of optimized content (coded) that results in wide dissemination of the content, for instance, with online publishers’ websites.

Just as Google indexes your articles and press releases published on your site, syndicated articles containing keyword-relevant “anchor text,” are similarly indexed.  This is where the magic happens.  This indexing action spawns backlinks.  Further, the interaction by readers of the content generates further links and popularity.

Backlinks can be achieved in multiple environments.  Syndication is not limited to online publishers.  Syndication can occur through a Twitter tweet with a link directly to relevant website or blog content.  All of the social media including MySpace, YouTube, Facebook and many more social sites are ideal targets for syndicating appropriate and relevant content to generate backlinks.

Content doesn’t need to be limited to textual content.  Videos, Podcasts, Animation and all multimedia that contain the proper “alt text” and descriptions can be widely disseminated in the social media.

Social Bookmarking sites such as Digg, StumbleUpon and Delicious are also prime sources of backlinks where individuals share and promote highly-rated content for like-minded participants.  These human interactions are monitored closely by Google and backlinks are a key result.

There is no one best way.  The point of this writing is to emphasize how beneficial and important backlinks are to SEO.  It is ultimately a fierce competition for getting the most and getting the best backlinks.  There are countless ways and those that use them most widely with the most consistency win the game. Of course, we are here to help. Contact us for a no obligation consultation.

Every novice Internet Marketer out there knows the significance of backlinks. “Backlinks” is also the first term any beginner will hear or read about. We cannot stress enough the importance of backlinks to organic search results and improved visibility. So, what’s the best way of getting backlinks and monitoring them?

Getting new backlinks is no easy task. A few methods are widely used while others take considerable more time and effort:

1. Directory Submissions: This might be a one-time deal. However, keep in mind that this will not define your backlinking strategy; it will only be a one-time boost. There are many web-based solutions and software programs or you can do submissions manually. Just type “directory submissions” on Google and you will see many solutions. Do your research and do not pay more than $60. We recommend “Directory Submitter”.
2. Article Syndication: This method is widely used and is very beneficial to the extent that you write a great deal of unique, non-duplicate content.  Syndicating the articles, and Press Releases as well, while indexing the content on your website, sow the seeds for excellent backlinking.  Optimum7 has developed an automated Php solution that creates the capacity to syndicate a great deal of disparate content for a wide variety of clients’ websites … all for the purpose of generating highly relevant, naturally occurring backlinks.
3. Social Bookmarking and Social Media: While many social bookmarking sites now have “no-follow” tags, (which means there’s no juice in the backlink) there are some that still will send you a link for free. Create accounts on sites such as Twitter, Facebook, LinkedIn, Digg, Delicious, StumbleUpon, Technorati, Merchant Circle, Squidoo and many more. Then, simply link back to your site. This likely is a manual process it should be pursued because it is successful.
4. RSS: Be sure to create an RSS feed and submit it to many social media and RSS sites. You will be amazed at the backlinks and traffic they bring. Again, you have to update your content often for this method to work.  Updating content means adding content weekly or even more often through articles, blogposts, podcasts and other means.  RSS gives you the ability to widely syndicate your content and earn great numbers of backlinks.
5. Blog Commenting: This is a manual process. However, if it’s done with a set schedule and you stick to it, it will generate results beyond your imagination. You can easily identify niche blogs, site forums, and discussion boards and get backlinks by simply sharing your expertise. Try it; if you get one legit backlink each day, that’s 365 backlinks in one year. Be sure not to spam, nobody likes that.

The trick here is to always provide a value to the reader. Ultimately, you want your site to be so cool and so resourceful that people will naturally want to link to you.

Backlink Monitoring Tool

Be sure to keep an eye on the competition and what the industry is doing overall. You always want to identify those niche terms first. Web-based services such as Compete.com and Spyfu.com definitely help. If you are looking for a free solution to track your backlinks and your competition, try our new LinkVelocity Tool. Most important of all, stay in the game and do not stop backlink creation and monitoring.

For websites that want to grow fast, buying backlinks could seem like the easiest and fastest way to go however it’s not cheap and it could end up harming your site instead of improving it. It is a slight misconception that the more backlinks you have, the higher your page rank will be as well as your site’s relevance on the web and in search results.  While there is much truth to that, not all backlinks have equal value. Sites that sell backlinks usually allow you to buy and sell backlinks which means they are in the business of making money, not necessarily having your website’s best interests at heart. Beware of these sites especially if the price seems too good to be true. The backlinks they might be selling you could come from web pages that have a low page rank. These kinds of backlinks could actually backfire and negatively affect your own website’s page rank.

Because Google eventually finds the artificial backlinks, many SEO experts do not recommend buying and selling links to avoid a website getting flagged or penalized. Google prefers natural links and will give more credibility to your site allowing it to rank higher in the search engines.  If you do decide to buy backlinks, choose purchasing permanent backlinks instead of paying a monthly fee for a website to keep your link active. Also, try to make sure that the site (webpage) that includes one of your backlinks is at least a Google PageRank of 4, preferably higher.

To build backlinks in a more consistent and natural way, consider writing content, article syndication, commenting on blog posts, and signing up in online directories. Before you begin your quest for backlinks, realize that it’s a tedious effort but being organized and consistent will pay off. Organize a link building plan by listing methods you want to use and what your goals are. Then work your plan … religiously.  You can click here for more information on how to build backlinks and how to properly track them.

There are a few main ways to check your backlinks.

1. Yahoo – If you go to this site (http://siteexplorer.search.yahoo.com/) and simply enter any URL you can find out how many backlinks you have and exactly where those backlinks are coming from.  This site also allows you to export all the backlinks to a CSV file for analysis and evaluation.
2. SEO tool called SEO Quake – (http://www.seoquake.com). It’s a really cool Firefox plug in (frequently updated) that allows you not only to check your Yahoo and Google Backlinks, but also your Google PageRank, Alexa Rank, and other metrics that are significant for SEO.
3. If you go to SearchBliss (http://www.searchbliss.com/seo-tools/google-backlinks.asp) it lets you know your backward links according to Google.
4. LinkVelocity Tool is a really cool new SEO tool that allows you to not only track your backlinks, but also that of your competitors.  It also gives you the rate at which you and your competitor’s links are increasing, so that you know at what rate you need to increase your backlinks to catch up and eventually surpass your competition.  You can create a graph to see your growth rate, your competition’s growth rate.  You can add multiple competitors and continually measure your progress against them over time.

Check your backlinks weekly.  You should see steady progress; in absolute terms and in relative terms versus competition.  Make sure to check them regularly so that you can accurately track your rate of growth or decline.  If you need help obtaining backlinks you can check out this article, or if you want a more personal and in depth strategy you can always contact us for a no obligation consultation.