Step Wise SEO

How the Search Engines Work Right Now, the number of inbound links (other sites linking to your website, also known as backlinks) is an important part of the search ranking algorithm.

Having plenty of inbound links will actually help your site in two important ways: indirectly, by improving your search engine ranking, and directly, by bringing visitors to your site through the link.

In short, inbound links are valuable, and that’s why Your SEO Plan will include some serious efforts in that arena.

Search engines are looking at not just the number of inbound links, but their quality too. Does the hyperlinked text say, “Click here for Computer Equipment Deals” or “Click here for Overpriced Junk”?

Are the links buried deep within a domain, among millions of other outbound links? Search engine algorithms take these things into account-and so do your potential customers.

Here you need to stick to gathering the numbers: How many links are pointing to your landing pages?

Finding the total number of other sites that are linking to your landing pages can be quite simple:

many search engines include search shortcuts that allow you to view a list of other sites that the search engine knows to be linking to specific pages within your domain.

For example, on Google, MSN, and Yahoo! search for “link:http:// www.yourdomain.com/yourpage.html” (using your own site address in place of yourdomain.com/yourpage.html) to find links to your page of choice.

You only need to find inbound links using one search engine, so choose the one you care most about. And a warning: these numbers are not exact. Just use them for trend spotting.