Backlinks are extremely important.

A long time ago, when I first started online Marketing (in 1996), there was no such thing as “back links”.  (Sure, sites would link to other sites and other resources, but that didn’t affect anyone’s Search Engine Ranking.)

Back in the day, search engine rankings were determined by “self reporting”.  You simply told the search engines what they can find on your site, via your meta tags and / or the words on your site.

The problem with this “self reporting” is that crafty, sneaky webmasters would “say” their site is about a popular term, but then actually deliver something completely unrelated to the end user.  (Most of the time, it was porn.)

Then came Google.

Google changed the game completely by completely discounting what a webmaster says their site is about, or what is found on the site.  Thus, self-reporting died.

Google used a revolutionary algorithm to determine what sites were in their index, and when they would appear in their search results for specific search terms.

A major component of the google algorithm is “backlinks”.

Backlinks defined: “Links to your website, from other websites”.

The reason why backlinks are so important, is because each link to your site is like a “vote” for your site.

Google counts these “votes” to determine your popularity.

Based on these “votes” (backlinks to your site), the more popular your site is, the higher its rankings.

And it’s not just about the QUANTITY of backlinks.

It’s about the QUALITY of backlinks.

The reason why quality backlinks are important, is because links from good sites (“authority sites”), are valued more than links from lesser-quality sites.

“You are judged by the company you keep”.

Growing up, one of the lessons my mom taught me was, “You’re judged by the company you keep”.

She considered me a good, nice person.  (Thanks mom!)

She taught me that, when meeting someone for the first time, they have limited knowledge of who I am, my values, and have little to reference in order to determine that I am a good, nice person.

So, if I have mostly good, nice people as friends, people can assume that I, too, am a good, nice person.

And, on the contrary:  If a majority of the friends I choose to have are lazy, pot-smokin’ dropouts, then people will assume that I, too am one.  (No offense to the non-lazy pot-smoker’s out there.)

So, those whom I choose to befriend reflects strongly on me as a person.

Imagine this:

Imagine you walk into a dinner party with a number of people you have never met before.

You bring a friend with you.

If the friend you bring along is a dirty, nasty, rude slob who is loud and obnoxious, and generally ruins the evening for all the guests — how do you think those people would feel about you?

You are the one who brought him.

You know what he’s like.

..and that’s your friend?!?

Wow.

That would really make those people question you and your status, wouldn’t it?

Now, let’s flip the coin.

Instead of choosing to bring that horrible, rude slob with you, you choose to bring someone else.

Let’s say, instead, you bring the lovely and talented Jennifer Aniston.

(Hi Jen.  Call me back please.)

Yep, imagine you walk into that dinner party with Jennifer Aniston on your arm.

What do you think people would think of you then?

That’s the same with Back Links.

Your site is judged by the “company you keep”.  (i.e. the sites that link to you)

Having Jennifer Aniston accompany you to that dinner party, is like having a “quality site” linking to your site.

So — you need QUALITY sites linking to you.

My favorite Backlink Research Tool, Analyzer and complete reporting tool is SEOMoz’s OpenSite Explorer.

Keep up to date on all of our Blog Posts on BackLink Building.  Here are the most recent ones:

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• Building Backlinks Makes Google Love You "What's the deal with building backlinks?" -- said in my best Jerry Seinfeld voice. Here's the short answer on why building backlinks makes google love you: When other sites link to you, it tells google that "The site I'm linking to, is a good site. I trust it. Consider my link to this site a ...