What Are Backlinks & How Do They Work?
Backlinks Are Like Job References
Getting the different concepts regarding the internet can be a bit difficult. It can help to compare these concepts with real life situations. A concept which most website owners have difficultly grasping is that of backlinks. To get a better picture about what these are, an easy way is to compare them with references.
A website can be compared to a resume. Like with ordinary resumes, the website will comprise different features. The goal of every website is to stand out among other competing websites. Also, two resumes can be similar in terms of content and presentation. The difference usually comes at the references. A resume can have numerous references or just a few. The quantity doesn’t count much. The quality of the references is what usually counts. Take the following example.
You are a human resource manager and currently going through different resumes in search of a potential employee. Since you had asked for a specific set of qualifications, almost all of the resumes are similar. However, in order to find the right person to employ, you are likely to look at the references. The people that the applicants put as their references says a lot about the applicants familiarity with the position to be filled. For example, a professor in statistics will be a better reference than a close relative for an applicant seeking a job in a research firm. A handful of references who are relevant to the job in question is better than many who don’t have a clue what the job is about.
Backlinks act in the same way as references when it comes to websites. Search engines can be compared to potential employers. There are many websites competing for high ranking positions. The search engine should be able to determine which website goes where in ranking. Since most of the websites will already be optimized for ranking for particular keywords, the search engine will have to use other methods to determine ranking factors. One of these is the use of backlinks.
Like for the case of a resume, the quantity of backlinks doesn’t count much. The website might have many backlinks from non authoritative websites or even irrelevant websites. Such links are low quality and don’t help search engines much. Websites which have quality backlinks will rank higher in search engines than those with many irrelevant backlinks. This however doesn’t mean that you should seek to have only a handful of backlinks from authoritative websites. In fact, linking only to authoritative websites which rank high in search engines might negatively affect your websites ranking. A good way to make the best of backlinks is to balance between the quantity and quality.
If you have a web based concept which needs translation, you can let me know and I’ll do my best to simplify it for the masses.
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