Guest Article By James Martell

“Search Engine–Trusted” Backlinks are the Key to "Top 10" Rankings

The truth is, there is no mystery to ranking high in the search engine returns, where your site simply must reside if online exposure and the profitability this prompts is your goal.

Believe it or not, there is a real method to the search engine madness and top 10 rankings can be achieved by any Webmaster.

That’s because all your site needs to pass even its toughest competitor in the search engine returns (and get in front of your target, qualified audience – in front of people who are already searching for your information and your products), is trusted inbound links pointing to it.

Inbound links, also called "inlinks" or "backlinks", are simply phrases that hyperlink back to your website. When placed on websites that have already earned the trust of the search engines, this increases your site’s own credibility and the search engines take notice.

But what’s a trusted website?

A trusted website is one that the search engines deem credible, and, in turn, assign a high PageRank. This credibility (and subsequent high PageRank) can be achieved by including a variety of key elements on the site’s pages, such as appropriately used keywords (these are the actual words people type into the search engines when looking for your product or your site), well-written content, strong headlines, etc.

Of course, these are not the only factors that determine page rank, but it’s a start.

A Link is not a Link

Keep in mind as you work to understand this that all inbound links or backlinks not created equal.

In fact, many webmasters waste time and effort gathering inbound links or backlinks that are not trusted (not deemed credible) by the search engines, and they wonder why they are not getting the strong results they desire.

Today’s Savvier Search Engine

You see, today’s search engine has evolved, and these savvy Internet “crawlers” no longer rely on old strategies, such as keyword density, to determine where your site’s pages reside in the search engine returns.

Instead, it’s a sum of factors that, when added together, pique the search engine’s interest and result in higher rankings for your site’s pages.

As a side-note here, you should know that the search engines actually rank the pages on your site one-by-one and not the website as a whole; hence, the term “PageRank.” And, PageRank is determined in search engine results by analyzing the links to your site’s pages from the other sites, which explains why you want these sites to be search engine “trusted.”

It’s Not about Quantity, but Quality

Yet, the majority of Webmasters still believe they need a lot of links pointing back to their websites to achieve higher search engine rankings.

The truth is that achieving Top-10 rankings is not about quantity, but instead about quality.

Remember: The search engines simply take into consideration the rank of the page the link resides on. The higher the PageRank, the more credible, or “trustworthy” the site is to the skeptical search engines.

Once again, this means that for a link to work on your site’s behalf, it needs to be strategically placed on a high-quality website, one that is search engine-trusted because it boasts well-written content (and a few other strategic components) that deliver significant value to its visitors.

On the other hand, if you have a link to your site placed on a partnering site’s pages that do not rank high, and subsequently are not trusted by the search engines, you’ve just wasted your hard-earned time, effort and maybe even your money (if you outsource this work).

How Many Links Does it Take?

The actual number of links it takes to catapult your website to the top of the search engine returns depends on the amount of competition your site is up against. Typically, however, most webmasters will find, unless in an extremely competitive topic or niche, that around 20 trusted backlinks will result in the high rankings you are looking for.

PageRank, which really is just the final calculation based on everything the search engines look at, and reflects search engine “trustworthiness,” is a sum of the following factors:

• Well-crafted, relevant content that piques a site visitor’s interest, holds it, and delivers the important information they are searching for in a compelling way

• Strong headlines that are enticing and prompt the reader to read the page’s content, while simultaneously enticing the search engines

• Keyword-rich title tags (once in your browser, look in the top left corner of your screen to see the title tag, which should include your primary keyword for each page)

• Accurate, detailed 25-30-word META description that explain exactly what the page is about

• Trusted backlinks (also known as an inbound link or an inlink) from high-ranking sites that the search engines trust. These inbound links should include anchor text (link text, or the “clickable” text of a hyperlink) that boasts variations of the keywords you want that specific page to rank for. Remember, the keywords are simply the words your target audience actually types into the search engines to find your site. For instance, if your site sells outdoor “gas grills”, a keyword phrase for one of your site’s pages might be “stainless steel gas grill.”

• The age of the page and, more specifically, the age of the website. For instance, if a site has been online for five years, it is certainly looked at more favorably by the search engines than a site that was created just five days ago. Likewise, a domain name that was registered five years ago is more “trusted” by the search engines than one that was registered five days ago. In short, the longer on the Net, the more the search engines trust the site and it’s pages.

A Few Words of Caution

You don’t want to have 20 backlinks or inbound links pointing to your site from the same site, or from 20 sites all owned by the same Webmaster.

You also do not want 20 backlinks or inbound links from sites all hosted by the same server.

Why? Because these scenarios would never happen “naturally” and today’s savvier search engines are on to these types of games and your site will be penalized for it, negating all your hard work and efforts.

What Does Work

Instead, what does work, is a simple technique called PAD (Professional Article Distribution). That’s because the PAD technique gives Google and the other search engines exactly what they want, which is a variety of anchor text, using a variety of keywords, hosted on a variety of servers, with the sites owned by a variety of webmasters.

The PAD Technique: Variety, Keywords, Strong Content, etc. – You can do it

Once you realize all of this, and with a little additional knowledge, such as how you can obtaining Top-10 rankings for your site really is an obtainable goal. Of course, you can also hire professionals to help you with this and. Believe it or not, you can do outsource on the cheap, staying within your budget.

Do it Yourself, or Outsource the Work

If you’re a do-it-yourselfer who handles your own search engine optimization, and feel comfortable writing your own content, complete with backlinks or inbound links, there is a new six-part, MP3 mini-course called "Do It Yourself SEO" that you can count on to guide you through this process, simplifying the steps of on-page and off-page optimization, and providing proven strategies you can start using immediately to gather trusted backlinks to your website.

The result: your site is positioned in front of your target audience’s eyes where your exposure and your profitability are sure to increase.

Delivered to your inbox every day for six days, the MP3 mini-course is perfect for the do-it-yourselfer, or for sharing with the person you outsource your site optimization work to.

Think of it as audio “Cliff Notes ” or “Coles Notes” on the often-confusing topic of search engine optimization, as the mini-course boils down the information you need and truly simplifies the processes with clear, concise information and proven strategies that are detailed step-by-step, dramatically decreasing your learning curve and increasing your online success.

Created specifically for “non-techies”, the MP3 mini-course may be just what you need to drive your site right by your competition in the search engine returns.

Or, if you prefer a more hands-on approach, you may want to join me one evening a week for 5-weeks for the Backlinks Workshop, which I deliver live in my conference room, where you join in with other students for an engaging, informative presentation that tells you exactly how to get high-quality, trusted inbound links from other websites to your site, catapulting your site to higher search engine rankings.

The Backlinks Workshop provides interaction and answers for you as you go, and is recorded for easy playback and review. Additionally, students are given a written transcript of the course that can be used as a written reference or guidepost for search engine success.

Because many webmasters struggle with understanding keyword usage, as the keyword “rules” have changed dramatically over the past few years, both the "Do It Yourself SEO" for NON-TECHIES mp3 mini-course and the Backlinks Workshop provide valuable information on keywords and even caution webmasters against overusing keywords and keyword phrases.

Surprised that a natural search expert would advise students to use keywords less? Don’t be. Overusing keywords can cause real trouble for webmasters, raising search engine red flags and working against your best efforts.

Think of it like this: If you were writing for a magazine, you wouldn’t ‘stuff’ keywords and keyword phrases into the article. Likewise, you should not ‘stuff’ them into your site’s content, for this becomes obvious to the search engines and your visitors.

And, the search engines may very well penalize your site for this, too.

Of course, this is just one nugget of information provided in the comprehensive "SEO for Non-Techies" mp3 mini-course and in the live Backlinks Workshop, as both cover step-by-step everything needed to achieve your online goals.

For more information, and to download your copy of the "SEO for NON-TECHIES" mp3 mini-course for FREE, visit:

http://www.seo-for-non-techies.com/mp3.html

About the Author

James Martell is a successful publisher, natural search expert and the author of the best-selling Affiliate Marketers Handbook. James lives with his wife Arlene and four children in a beautiful little seaside community called White Rock, a suburb of Vancouver, BC, Canada. James has been earning his living online ever since he was introduced to the world of online publishing by a good friend back in the summer of 1999. James enjoys working at home, setting his own schedule and can usually be found most days at his local coffee house down on the beach in White Rock working on his laptop or out cruising in his 1965 Shelby Cobra S/C replica.