How To Use Links To Build Quality Traffic

While original Web content is vital to search engine success, most experts agree that links are one of the keys to attracting quality site traffic. Incoming links from other websites not only direct new readers to your site; they also improve your ranking in major search engines.

Before you start soliciting links from other sites and adding your links to online directories, it is important to remember that not all links are created equal. Poorly placed links will not draw in interested readers, and some links may actually hurt your search engine rankings. The following tips and tactics can help you determine which links are the most beneficial to your site and how to go about generating more incoming links.

Why Links are Key

Just why are links so very important to your website's success? In search engines such as Google, both the number of incoming links to your site and the quality of those links play a role in where your website appears in search engine page results. Essentially, each of these incoming links is considered a "vote" for the importance, usefulness, and quality of your site. By generating a lot of links from other well-respected sites, your website will achieve a reputation as a valuable authority in your topic area.

While it might seem that more links are automatically better, this is not always the case. Google advises websites to avoid supposed "bad neighborhoods." These poor-quality sites include: