Backlinks are when another website links through to your website. Often, you will swap or reciprocate a link with the other site.
So what's the benefit?
'Inward links' to your website tell search engines that your site is important. They tell search engines that not only do other sites like you and your content, but they are willing to tell others about you and link to you. So with with a few good inward links what will happen?
1) Your website is more important and may be ranked higher on internet searches and get found more than before
2) The links themselves bring traffic. A link from a busy site has more people looking around, they might look at your link and come for a visit. That means you can sell them something or promote your product!
So what do we want? We want inward links to our websites!
TIP! Would you swap links with a competitor? Probably the simple answer is NO! Why would you tell others about a competing product? Think about who you might or might not swap links with before starting this process
Are all Inward links equal?
No. The best links are relevant links to the content on your website. If you have a website for cats, links to other cat websites are relevant. Maybe even pets, dogs, cat toys etc.
But a link to an auto-mechanic is not. Some search engines may even mark your site down in importance if you link to every 'Tom, Dick and Harry' instead of 'Tom, Tommy and Thomas'...if you get my drift.
TIP! Only link to relevant sites that don't compete with your business.
What else makes a good inward link?
Page rank! Google has a page rank system (PR) that evaluates nearly all pages on the internet. PR of 1 is the lowest, Google (and internet visitors) see the page but are not overly impressed. PR of 10 is the maximum. Google (and lots of visitors) like the site and the content. A site like www.msn.com is ranked 9.
SO, if you get a link to your site from another webpage that has PR4, that will benefit your site more than a link from a PR1. See more pauljackson.biz advice on page ranks here
I get offered links all the time. They want me to link back. What should I do?
Maybe you should link to them! Think about it, is there something it in for you? Will you benefit from this link? Does the page have a good PR? Is it relevant? If the answer is yes, what are you waiting for
What are my assets when it comes to inward links?
If you have a link page with a good PR, you are in demand baby! and should be picky about who you swap links with. You may get lower PR sites/ pages wanting to link to you. Think about it, is there something it in for you? Will you benefit from this link? Does the page have a good PR? Is it relevant?