Building Backlinks In Your Blog, and The Role Of Backlinks In Traffic

I ran an earlier post here about Backlinks and their role in helping you get traffic, but I've received many emails asking for more details. I wanted to provide more basic info on the topic before we get into greater ways to increase your traffic.

What is a backlink? A backlink is a link on another website that leads to your own blog or website. Why is it important to get backlinks? Finding backlinks is important for search engine  optimization. The more quality backlinks you have, the higher your site will rank in the search engines. Also, if you want to increase traffic to your site then you will need to build backlinks. The more links that lead to your site will equal more traffic and readers.

You should look for backlinks from sites that are related to yours. If you have a health site then you will benefit more if you have backlinks from health-related sites. It is also important to get good, quality backlinks. Google does not raise your page rank if most of your backlinks come from spammy-type sites. The higher the rank of the site that links to you, the better "link juice" you will get. Ultimately, Google will rank your blog or website based upon how many good, quality backlinks you have that relate to your topic. When you have a higher page rank you will rank higher in the search engines. Keep reading if you want to know how to get backlinks.

First, you can get backlinks by simply commenting on other blogs. When you leave a comment you have the option of leaving your url in your signature. This will create a backlink and you will benefit in two ways. First, you will receive a backlink from that site and when others read your comment, they can click on your signature, which will lead back to your own site. The key is to leave a worthwhile comment. Make sure that you are actually commenting about the article, and not trying to leave a spammy comment to get other people to look at your site. That is the quickest way to have your comment deleted.

Second, you can build backlinks by bookmarking your articles with social bookmarking sites such as Digg, Mr. Wong, Mixx, and many others. This will not only give you backlinks but will help raise your article higher in the search engines, as most of these sites have high page ranks. Also, the link to your site will create more traffic and readers.

Next, to find backlinks you can do a search on blog directories or website directories and add your url to the directory. This will give you a quality backlink. This is the easiest way to begin finding backlinks. You can also participate in forums and leave backlinks in your signature. Another way to find backlinks is to do a search with "add url" and you will find a list of places that offer backlinks.