What is a backlink? A backlink is a hyperlink (a link that can be clicked on) on a site somewhere else on the web that links back to your website. In its simplest crudest form, that is a backlink.

In Search Engine Optimization loops, there is a lot of discussion about backlinks. And if you are new to the world of Internet Marketing or have just commenced your first website, you may not appreciate exactly what they are or even how vital they are if you are looking for high Search Engine rankings on Google or looking to increase search engine ranking.

For those of you who do not know why links are important, let me just say that if you want to get traffic from the major search engines, they are crucial. Links from other sites to your site are basically a way that tells search engines you are trusted and you are a good resource for whatever your content is about.

Value is more important than numbers. A few links from powerful sites will do you more good than hundreds of links from ordinary websites. But by doing it this way you do have to post the links yourself.

The text for your inward bound links is significant. You must use your key words, but do not make all the links read the same way. Change the wording a bit, but stay inside your pool of key words and key phrases. Google will consider the so-called anchor text in the link (the word or phrase that is linked) and the power of the site that the link is coming from to decide how high or low your site ought to rank. And when it comes to Google organic search engine results, backlinks are pretty much all you have to influence the ranking success of your site.

Ask yourself whether your site is helping people to fill a need. If it is not, then why should people care about you? This might not sound great but everyone active online in any space online is generally just thinking about what is in it for them. If you can give people what they want, you can receive what you want. One of the reasons the internet is so popular is that is where most people go to find information on how to get information on any subject that is available. It you want to attract more people to your site you have to give them value. This is why one of my favorite phrases is people follow people and that is why you need to brand yourself. You can apply the same philosophy to search engines by using the phrase search engines follow people. Not only does pursuing this motto guide you in the way to build an honest, legitimate website, it is also an extremely precise way to get links to your site.

Make use of guest posting, it has lots of benefits. Guest posting not only gets you traffic from relevant websites, it's also a great way to get links with custom anchor text around the key phrases you want to rank for. By using Google backlinks in your articles, it will help to increase search engine ranking.

If you wanted to find great sources of links, you could simply see which sites are ranking well for the phrase and where their links are coming from.