Sometime in the distant past, it was enough to get any and as many inbound links as possible to get high rankings on Google. The source of the links didn’t matter, only the number was important.
Today, that is no longer the case. Getting the right links is essential to getting listed on the first page of search engine results.
Normal, acceptable links that will increase your Google rankings
Natural links are links that are related to your website content. For example, if you have a website about Search engine optimization, a totally unrelated link from an acrylic painting website would look odd. The links that point to your website should be from related websites and from sources that would “normally” link to you. For example, it would seem normal for a blog that is dedicated to alternative therapy to link to your massage therapy website. The more related the link, the higher is the rank you will get.
Sources that normally link to a website:
- Internet directories
- Blogs
- Same category websites
- Social bookmarking services
Finally, it is very critical that the link anchor text use the proper keywords that you want to rank for, e.g., if you want to rank for SEO Toronto, then you should advise the webmaster linking to your website to use that exact text and not www.yourwebsite.com.
When linking, follow the instruction in How to get top links to your website – Inbound links and Thing to avoid when adding inbound links to your website
Paid and Automated links can be bad for your website Google rankings
Google is able to detect unnatural links. That is why the following two types of link strategies do not work very well:
Paid Links
Google considers paid links spam. If you don’t want to lose your rankings on Google, you should be very careful when buying links. If you decide to take the risk and use this technique, make sure you do it discreetly. We should stress that you are taking a RISK.
Automated Links Systems and Link Farms
Some online services offer hundreds of automated links in a short time. All you have to do is join their system and they will help you get links from other sites quickly and easily. Sometimes, they might ask you to add some code on your website to become part of the farm.
Google, Yahoo and all Search engines can easily detect these links. Actually, Google will consider your website a spammer if you participate in such a system and they will penalize your website by lowering its position in the search results and may even put you in the Sandbox.
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