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A core variable attributed to achieving high ranking on Google for your website is backlinks. A backlink is a link that points from site A to site B, hence the link on site A becomes site B’s backlink. Backlinks are one of over 200 factors that Google takes into account when positioning a site in the SERP’s (search engine results page) and it is the one factor that is openly agreed to be the most vital search engine optimization element.

Although it is accepted that backlinks are an important ranking factor, there are however a variety of teachings on how best to build backlinks to your site. Some so called SEO experts proclaim that the more backlinks you have the higher your site will rank and others’ believe that any backlink will do.

But backlinks are not created equal, and often you will find websites on the 1^st page of Google that have a handful of backlinks compared to the other sites on the first page. Why is this so?

Quality Outweighs Quantity:

If you had to reverse engineer a site that ranks well for competitive keywords without many backlinks, you will discover the links pointing to that site are found on high Page Rank (PR) webpages. If the term PR is new to you then allow me to explain what it is: PR or Page Rank is a weight that lies on a scale from 0-10 that Google assigns to every webpage in its index, and this value measures the level of trust and authority a site possesses according to Google’s measurement variables.

Do-follow links located on high PR pages effectively pass on the PR that it holds onto the webpage that it links to. For example: if a link exists that is pointing from a PR7 webpage on any external site to a webpage on your site, then the PR7 site passes on that PR to the webpage on your site. The strength of each backlink is directly proportional to the PR of the page where the link is published.A link from a high PR webpage is like an endorsement from a high ranking and trusted authority. It is like Barack Obama recommending a product or service to a consumer.

If the endorsement comes from a figure like the American president, I guarantee the consumer’s perception will change drastically with regard to that product. That essentially is how Google views webpages that are linked to by high PR pages – the webpage in question receives an immediate level of trust from Google and consequently it will also receive a boost in ranking (depending on the competitive environment).

For a new webmaster it can be extremely tempting to build many links at a rapid rate, in fact, many new internet marketers fall into this trap and buy link packages that build thousands of links over a short period of time. This approach will do more harm than good over the long-term.

If you are engaging in SEO work on a site, my advice will be to invest the time to uncover high PR backlinking opportunities rather than trying to achieve high ranking by blasting thousands of links to your site. If you approach your backlinking campaign in this manner your site will settle in the SERP’s fairly quickly and it will rise in position at a rapid rate as well.

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