To Be Able To Use Link Building For SEO Purposes You Need To Know What's Involved

Before you decide that you have to go out and create links to your website all over the place you need to know what's involved. Too many people pay others to artificially create links back to their website and then drop in the Search Rankings. There are good ways and bad ways to use link building. Only by knowing the difference can you work to make sure you're using link building appropriately.

To begin with there are actually five primary types of links. These are:

1. External Links - Links from your website to another. You have total control over these types of links and can make them go to any website you choose. Each of these links acts as an endorsement by you to tell others you think they should visit the other website. These links also become an Inbound Link to whatever website the link is directed to.
2. Inbound Links - Links coming in to your website. These are the links coming from another websites to your own. They are created in conjunction with someone else creating an External Link. Because these links act as an endorsement about your website they are by far the most powerful. You also have no control over them in any way.
3. Reciprocal Links - Mutual Linking of websites. As the name suggests, this involves two or more websites agreeing to link to each other in exchange that the other person (or people) do the same thing. The main goal is to create both Inbound and External Links between the two websites. Search Engines know about this and devalue such links.
4. Paid Links - Links that you pay to place on someone else's website. This is a different type of link in that you actually pay someone to put a link on their website pointing to your own. It is the basics of link based advertising in all it's forms. Because it's a link you have to pay for, it falls into the realm of Search Engine Marketing and not SEO.
5. Backlinks - Links created on other websites that link back to your website. This is the only form of link that doesn't necessarily involve other people. This is the most complex of all the links because it is sometimes acceptable to use and other times it isn't. This is because people use these types of links to try and scam people into visiting their website.

Of the first four types of links you have control of all but the Inbound Links. As soon as you work to artificially get people to create the link it becomes one of the other types of link. In the world of SEO Inbound Links are the most prized because they are the only one that occurs naturally. This also means Inbound Links are a great test to see the true effectiveness of your website. If no one wants to link to your website, there is obviously something missing. Instead of trying to trick people to come to your website, take the time to figure out what you can add to make people want to come visit it. That is after all a huge part of what SEO is really all about.

We discuss more on Backlinking in another Blog Post - be sure to come check it out.

To learn more about Black Hat SEO be sure to visit the main website. You will also find information regarding Backlinking scattered around the site as well. Plus, at the very bottom of the page you can also check out the Related Articles section.