Since back-links are so important, how do you build them?

Well, one of the easiest was to start building links back to your site is to utilize website directories. There are many directory-type websites that will index your website(s) and make your business/service/information available to users who are searching for it. Not only do you get an increase in website traffic from these sites but you also get the back-links from these services to your website.

Back-links can be Bad for Business

Having back-links from the leading general directories promotes your site and rank it favorably with the search engines. The other side of the coin is that you can actually negatively affect how the search engines see your website with the wrong directories. As you try to promote your website to increase traffic and your search engine rankings you may accidentally fall into a ‚bad crowd‘ (of website directories).

You must be careful when choosing directories for website promotion. The same goes with any other links you use to generate traffic by linking back to your website. A highly respected website with quality content can greatly improve your search engine rankings, while poor quality websites will actually negatively affect your online business; simply from being association with non-search engine friendly websites.

‚Anchor‘ Well when Possible

Link quality is an important factor of website promotion and search engine rankings, but link anchor text is also very important. The text that is used for your link is sometimes called ‚descriptive anchor text‘ and also must be search engine friendly for the maximum benefit on increasing your website traffic. To become „search engine friendly“ your anchor text should contain keywords that describe the content to which they are linked. This may differ depending on which keywords you are choosing to target, as well as what content you’re promoting on the linked page.

Descriptive anchor text is not only beneficial to the search engines‘ understanding of what your website is about and therefore an improved search engine ranking, but also for the user who gets a better idea what he or she is clicking through to. This provides you with an even more targeted visitor who is more likely to purchase what your business is selling. Of course you can’t always control how your link is displayed, so focus on linking to quality – related, and high ranking – websites and website directories for maximum website promotion and traffic.