A backlink is a link coming from another website to yours – it’s also called an inward or inbound link.
(Not sure what a link – AKA hyperlink – is? It’s a reference to another document or web page that someone can follow, usually activated by clicking on it. Links are often underlined and/or in blue text, but not always.)
When someone puts a link on THEIR website or blog that leads people to YOURS – in other words, they create a backlink for you – that’s good! For a couple of reasons.
First – because someone might actually click on it. A friend of mine does catering in Columbia, MO – did you notice those words are actually a link? If you click on it you’ll be taken to her website, and she’ll be very happy about it, especially if you’re looking for a caterer. So that’s a backlink for her – a link from someone else’s site (mine) to hers.
Second – because it helps with your search engine rankings. The more backlinks you have, the more popular (more important, more relevant) your site appears to be to search engines such as Google and Yahoo.
The vast majority of websites will need backlinks if they want to be easy to find in a search. That’s a large part of my job as the owner of a search engine company – finding ways to generate appropriate backlinks for my client’s websites.
If you’d like your site to be easier to find, contact me today for an SEO quote!