Welcome to the first in a series of posts designed to teach you all you need to know about backlinks and link popularity. How this works: each week there will be a new post giving you greater insight into the importance of backlinks along with the resources you need to get started on your own link building campaign.

The Definition of Backlinks

Backlinks are defined as links on other sites throughout the web that link back to your site.

An example: Aaron Wall is considered to be an authority on SEO (Search Engine Optimization) and following his advice can help your site rank well in the search engines. Visit seobook.com to learn more about his SEO strategies. The link to seobook.com that I placed in the previous sentence is a backlink to Aaron Wall's site.

Having a number of sites that link to your site creates link popularity. Basically, the more sites that link to your site, the better your site's link popularity. Link popularity is of particular interest to the search engines-it tells the engines whether or not your site is considered by others to be an authority on your particular subject, product, or service.

The Importance of Backlinks

Backlinks are a key component in achieving your desired placement in the SERPs (Search Engine Results Pages). The success of your link building campaign can make or break your site. It really makes the difference when trying to place in the search engines for particular keyword terms. For example: Site A and Site B are in first and second place on the first page of Google for the term "Palm Beach Real Estate". The sites are similar in every way with the exception that Site A has 1,000 other sites linking to it and Site B only has 750. Site A is going to be #1 in Google for that term just because it has better link popularity.

Don't be Site B!

Consider yourself lucky if you are #2 in Google for your keyword terms and are vying for the top spot. If you are just getting started, here are a few simple rules to get you on your way:

• Have Content, Will Travel-Make sure your site has a solid amount of content before beginning to build backlinks. If you have a blog, 30 days worth of content is recommended. If you begin before you have good content, you may be wasting your time.
• Slow and Steady Wins the Race-When you begin your link building campaign, you want to be careful not to obtain too many links too quickly. That can seem spammy to the search engines and won't be nearly as effective as creating backlinks steadily over time. 5 to 10 links per day is a good rule of thumb to follow to achieve solid results.
• Patience Is A Virtue-It can take time for the search engines, especially Google, to register the backlinks you have created. Search engine spiders crawl the entire web and that takes time! You can check your progress in Google by typing "links:www.yourdomainhere.com" into the search field. Check in often to see the fruits of your labor.

Recommended Reading

The following are links to some great material that will give you an overview of link building as well as ideas of how to create links. We will get into the various ways to build links in future posts but these articles will get your brain's link building juices flowing!

Searchengineworkshops.com's 125 (Legitimate) Link Building Strategies-This article provides an overview of ways to create links and will be a useful resource in your link building campaign

The Blogger's Guide To SEO by Aaron and Giovanna Wall-Written by one of the best in the SEO business, Aaron Wall, this guide covers not only link building but all aspects of proper SEO for a blog site

LinkBuildingWiki.com-A great resource that compiles the greatest articles on link building ever written

Check in next week for the next post in this series-Basic Backlinking Methods That Get Results