Understanding Links, for Search Engine Optimization

Understanding how links work, from a search engine's perspective, can be a bit confusing. Many people think of links as bi-directional – sort of like, "Gee, if I put a link from my web site to yours, then that link will raise both our search engine rankings because we're linked, right? The benefits go both ways, right?"

Actually, no. That's because links are basically uni-directional, not bi-directional – they take you in one direction (forward), but they don't take you backward. Yes, I know what you're thinking – you can go "back" using the back arrow in your web browser, right? True, but that's different ... it's important to understand that the link itself is not what's taking you back – it's the web browser software, which has been designed to remember the last page you visited so that you can go back.

It's best to think of links as being either inbound or outbound (from your perspective). So if you link to my web site (an outbound link, from your perspective), then you are helping to raise my search engine rankings because by linking to me, you're signalling to the search engines that you think my web site is a valuable source of info – so they raise my rankings. The only way I can really help you in return is to create a separate link from my web site to yours (an inbound link, from your perspective). This signals to the search engines that I think your web site is a valuable source of info, so they raise your rankings. (Linking to each other like this is called "reciprocal links.") It's important to note: having outbound links doesn't hurt your site rankings, it just doesn't help. (Or if it does help, it only helps a little.)

As I've discussed before, having inbound links to your site (that is, links from other sites to yours) is by far the most powerful way to raise your search engine rankings. If you get 5 other sites to link to your site, that tells the search engines that 5 other sites think you're an important source of info, and your rankings will be helped a bit. But if you get 100 other sites to point to your site, or 1,000, that tells the search engines that A LOT of other sites think your site is a valuable source of info, so your rankings will benefit much more.

*However* before you run off to start asking other site owners to create inbound links to your site, please read my previous blog post about how to raise Google search rankings ... there are right ways and wrong ways to get inbound links, and if you manage to get a bunch of the wrong type of inbound links, Google just might blackball your site, which is something that nobody wants to have happen!