When most optimizers do their Inbound Links (backlinks) and search engine optimization, one of the first things they do is check out the websites of their competition. One thing they look at is the number of backlinks to the competitors site. They then set out on a mission to get more Inbound Links for their website than the competition has.
Most of you are already aware of the fact that when it comes to links coming in to your website, quality means much more than quantity, but what you may not be aware of is how the click through rate of these links affect how Google looks at your website.
Google tracks not only the number of Inbound Links to your website, they also track the keywords in the text of these links. Google then compares how often the link is viewed verses the percentage of times the link is actually clicked.
If you have backlinks all over the Internet that are often viewed but rarely clicked, this tells Google that your website is not popular for the keywords you have chosen in your text links.
An example of this in action is an article I wrote in response to a competitor who released an article to all the article publishers. He did a wonderful job, in a short time he had generated thousands of inlinks from this article.
I responded by submitting my article to only the top two publishers. The click through rate on my text link was over 60%. The other guys CTR never topped 4%. As a direct result of this my site and several sites linked to it moved up several spots in Google search etc. The competitors site was pushed way back to page 8.
The moral of this story is clear, be real careful when it comes to where you place your Inbound Links. The same scenario is true with social sites, there are only about three of these sites that links should be placed on, any more than this and you may be causing yourself more seo damage than you realize.
I don’t care if your links are found on a pagerank 10 website, if it is not being regularly clicked on, it is not considered a quality link by google.
Hello CNA,
I’m happy that you enjoyed the article, I really enjoy writing and helping others so come back often there will be more in the near future. I think my next seo article will be on the seo myth that you should never attempt to go after the major keywords because there is too much competition. I’m glad I never heard taught that hog wash until after I had already been a successful at it.
Bob
This is such a great resource that you are providing and you give it away for free. I enjoy seeing websites that understand the value of providing a prime resource for free. I truly loved reading your post. Thanks!
Good Morning Roger, Thank you for stopping by and commenting. You are absolutely correct, most writers only pretend to know about the subject of SEO, those are the guys who know nothing more than what they have read in some article somewhere. It’s a wonderful thing to study the work of others, but it usually results in the person simply becoming a duplicate of the work they study. My entire purpose of writing the articles on this site is to expose the reader to “Unique.” It is not only quality that the Search Engines seek, they seek out unique.
My work is somewhat unique in that I have never and will never follow the advice of the leading seo companies out there who can not seem to break free of the ancient search engine optimization techniques that Google banned long ago.
One such technique that all these seo services still push is the use of keyword phrases in your backlinks. I suggest optimizers do a Google search on the term “Google Bomb” to learn just how Google really views the use of keywords in your inbound links. A few is still ok, but beware of creating too many of them.
Thanks again for stopping by Roger, and I will be writing many more articles as time permits.
Bob
I think this article was actually a strong beginning to a potential series of articles about this topic. Most writers pretend to understand what they are talking about when it comes to this stuff and generally, very few people actually get it. You seem to really dominate it though, so I think you should take it and run. Thanks a lot!