Backlinks Aren’t Created Equal

​Simply put, a backlink is a clickable link from one website to another.

They are super-important for any website that wants to rank highly in the search engines.

You see, you want your website listed on as many other websites as possible. And not just listed, but with a clickable link that leads back to your business website.

Seems simple enough, doesn’t it?

Just put listings on as many websites as possible about your business and your search engine ranking dominance is assured.

Well…not exactly.

You see, not every backlink is created equal. Let me explain.

Why Not All Backlinks Are Created Equal

First of all, not every website is created equal.

Some websites are more authoritative in their niches than others. Also, some websites have more influence than others. Other sites don’t have as much influence or authority. And some websites don’t have much going for them at all.

So, more importantly than being listed on tons of websites, you want to be listed on the very best websites. The websites with the most influence and the most authority.

SEO services concentrate on both, with influence being more important overall than sheer numbers. At Big Blue Sky Internet Marketing, we think in terms of quality over quantity.

Secondly, backlinks can be separated into two types: no-follow and do-follow. And for most people, it is hard to tell the difference between the two. But there is a distinct difference that SEO services have the skills to discern.

To explain this, you have to understand how the search engines scan or “crawl” websites.
When they crawl a site, they read through everything. When they get to a clickable link they can do one of two things:

1. They can just keep right on reading through that particular website’s content (no-follow backlink), or…
2. They can follow that link where it leads to the other website (do-follow backlink).
   
   

Knowing this, it isn’t hard to imagine which backlinks are more valuable to your business’s website.

Yes, the do-follow backlinks are the coveted ones. And it would be great if all backlinks were the do-follow kind. But they are not.

In fact, most backlinks turn out to be the no-follow kind.

If you’re business website’s backlinks are only no-follow links, it won’t lend it nearly as much influence or authority. And therefore, the search engines will not rank your site as high. It’s that simple.

And, even though it’s a simple principle to understand, many so-called SEO “experts” are clueless as far as the difference between no-follow and do-follow backlinking is concerned.

No matter what SEO service you use, make sure they understand that not all backlinks are created equal and tailor their SEO strategies with this fact in mind.

If you would like to learn more about backlinks, read the article “The Golden Ratio” here.

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