There are many aspects to SEO with regards to websites and marketing; keywords, meta values, backlinks etc.

So, what exactly is a backlink and how can they help you?

Backlinks are links from other websites that reference your website, such as in many pages of my site you will see references to my client’s websites.

These links assist in building reputation for your website, especially when they come from other websites that are known to have a high reputation, such as Facebook or Twitter, or even a popular blog that might relate to your industry.

Backlinks are good in the sense that you get traffic from another website, almost like a trust relationship. A search engine will see a backlink as a form of credibility because the author of Site A has knowingly placed the link to your website, which shows that the content is relevant to what is on their website.

And then there was a catch…

Although backlinks can prompt your website, they can also have a cost against your reputation. Using services that you may find online such as buy 10,000 backlinks for $29.99 per month is great, that’s a ton of links, but where are they going? If you sell children’s toys on an online shop, do you really want your website being placed in a fourm for online gambling? Not really the reputation you want for your specific product.

Another way these can affect your reputation is having your website placed on known blacklisted site, or sites that have absolutely no relevance to your advertised service or product. This is something that a search engine will take into consideration. As I mention of my Search Engine Optimization page; search engines are merely trying to mimic human behaviors, part of this is the search for content that relates to their users searches.

Many tools such as Google Analytics and Google Search Console can show you which sites are referencing yours, or what sources the users are finding you from, such as an organic search or direct means, or in the case of backlinks what could be called a reference.