What are Backlinks?

Backlinks, links from other sites to your real estate blog, help to improve your credibility with search engines, online visibility, content reach and traffic. Therefore, building quality backlinks is just as important to the health and well being of your real estate blog as the content that you write. So, lets take a good hard look at not only why and how search engines value backlinks but now you go about building quality backlinks through an easy to follow link campaign.

Why do search engines measure backlinks?

In simple terms, search engines consider each backlink a 'vote for your site. It is a way for Google to determine the overall authority and popularity of your site.

Tool: See how many backlinks your real estate blog has

Read also: Ultimate Guide to Building Backlinks

Not all backlinks are created equal

Here is a simple example of how Google does not value all links the same. One of my competitors has around 10K backlinks pointing to their site. RSS Pieces, on the other hand, only has 3.5K. However, both sites have a PageRank 5 and both sites show up well in the search results for our prime keywords. While, my competitor, should have greater authority with Google based on the volume of backlinks, the quality of most of those backlinks is so low (multiple sitewide links from client sites with PR 3 or below with low quality anchor text) that Google de-weights the overall value of those links to the point where they are meaningless. So, the lesson to take away from this is that it is not the quantity of the backlinks that matter- it is the quality. Shoot for fewer backlinks from quality sites (PR 4 or above within the same industry or geographic area) with solid anchor text.

How does Google determine the value or quality of a backlink to your real estate blog?

Authority. Search Engines weigh the value of backlinks by the authority (PageRank) that the site linking to you has. In simple terms, just as you probably weigh Simon Cowls vote greater than that of the wild, wacky and possibly drunk Paula Abdul on American Idol, a backlink from a PageRank 5 or above site will be considered more valuable and authoritative than one from a PageRank 3 of 4. 

Anchor Text. Anchor text is the textual content in a link. The more descriptive and keyword rich the anchor text, the more relevancy and value that backlink. For example, a link that reads: real estate blogs and real estate training to RSS Pieces is actually more valuable than a link that reads RSS Pieces or Click Here. 

Deep Links. Links that reference that your inner pages or actual real estate blog articles are also valued more highly than those that just reference your home page. This shows Google that your site is NOT superficial and does contain highly relevant and useful content. This is where providing quality content and staying off of peoples blogrolls really pays off. 

Read also: Why Google Hates Your Blogroll

On page relevance. This one is self explanatory. A link on a page about Cape Coral Real Estate to a Cape Coral Realtor has greater relevance than a link on a page about Seattle Mortgages/Real Estate to a Cape Coral Realtor. Again, can I say 'I told you so' about blogrolls linking hundreds of geographically diverse real estate agents