backlinks

OK, this is a big subject and I want to emphasise it’s not an exact science. But here is what I have learned in my work at the Backlinks clinic:

Authority – explained

The more authority your web pages have the higher you will rank on Google. Authority means that people trust you and your content. The great news is that authorities trusted by people are also trusted by Google. A great example is the .edu and .gov domain extensions. These domains imply they are credible sources of information and it’s a proven fact that in the eyes of Google backlinks from these domains to your web pages will contribute authority to your web pages. Another great example is Wikipedia as the entries here are largely authored by by tribes of people as opposed to a single marketer.

So it follows that authority is largely influenced by the source of your backlinks and if authoritative web pages link to your web pages then you inherit their apparent trust and as far as Google is concerned you become more authoritative and so the trust in your web pages by Google goes up.

How Google determines what is and isn’t authoritative is undisclosed for solid reasons and aligns with Google’s thinking of “Do no evil”. The last thing the Internet needs is an individual or a group exploiting the formulae that Google untilzes in its efforts to try and regulate probably the most significant technological resource of this period in history.

How not to get Backlinks

And on this thought it’s worth my while stating some ‘black hat sources and methods of creating backlinks that Google not only disapproves of but appears to be moving aggressively to ‘’categorize as illegitimate authorities. In no particular order of severity, the common examples are:

  • Paid backlinks – hubs where people buy and sell backlinks
  • Comment spam – entries that have links on blog pages that are just not associated to the main theme.
  • Low quality and *duplicate content – ‘scraped’ or otherwise
  • Fast growth – there are a myriad of ways that this is achievable, Google isn’t dumb. Any sudden rise in the amount of backlinks is going to show up on Google’s radar, specifically if it’s a recently registered domain.
  • Backlinks from villainous sites – these are particularly nasty as you are guilty by association – need I say more.

*There is another factor where I may be on shakey ground, but reputable press portals seem to get a lot of authority and I have definitely found significant quantities of the same content over and over again on different portals with no penalties, I am still monitoring this, only as some of the results I am seeing go against the normal behaviors I normally expect to see. More on this is in a future article….

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Filed under: Backlinks

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