Backlinking Is The Biggest Of All The Misconception In Search Engine Optimization At The Moment

The main issue that exists with Backlinking is that the word itself is often used interchangeably to discuss all five different types of links. Not only can that be very confusing, it's totally wrong. Backlinking only refers to one very specific type of link. The real issue with Backlinking is that it is sometimes acceptable to use but most of the time it's used to scam others. From an SEO point of view this is very bad because it can also lead to your website being deleted from the Search Engines altogether.

If you would like to learn more about the five types of links check out the Link Building Blog Post from earlier.

Before you can begin to fully understand Backlinking you need to know the ways it's acceptable to use. There are really only two and both of them are never called Backlinks - so don't start calling them by that name. These are Online Article Writing and Blog Posting (or more correctly Blog Commenting). In Online Article Writing you are creating an article, or other such work, for inclusion on someone else's website that contains links back to your own website. In Blog Commenting you are posting a link to your website so that others know where it is. Both are acceptable for one reason - people know that they were created to direct people to the website being linked in them.

As soon as it becomes about tricking or scamming people, which is what Backlinking is mostly about, then it becomes unacceptable. The number one way Backlinks are used to scam people is to make them think they are actually External Links. These are links which a website has created to tell other people they should go visit some other website. Because this acts as an endorsement by the people who created the link, it can be very powerful. This is also why people want to use Backlinks to scam or trick people.

By making other people think that the link was created by someone else (an impartial person) it works to provide that endorsement factor. If that link was created, either directly or indirectly, by the people who own the website then the link can't be an actual endorsement. In that case it becomes the website owner trying to scam others into believing other people are saying they should go check out the website. While this may not seem overly nasty, there are some consequences to doing this.

Search Engines don't like to be fooled. As soon as you try and make a Backlink look like an External Link, the Search Engines will drop your Search Results. This is because Search Engines don't tolerate people artificially working to improve their Link Popularity. This is part of that endorsement factor we mentioned earlier. They will drop your rankings for the sole purpose of working to off-set any gains you may have gotten from these kinds of techniques. However, this can be just the beginning.

If the Search Engines feel you are engaged in Backlinking for the purpose of scamming others, or it is being done too much, they will delete you from their databases. When this happens your website will not appear on the Search Results no matter what people type in. Not only can this potentially cripple your website, you may also never be able to fix it. Search Engines have very strict guidelines for people to "re-submit" their website for inclusion. If they are not followed to the letter you're website will not appear in the Search Reuslts again.

Since there are many, many other options available, it's best to avoid Backlinking as a general rule. The few "acceptable" methods are called by other names and are not actually included in the term "Backlinking" to begin with. Even if someone else does the work for you it's all Backlinking and the Search Engines will still punish you. They don't care who does it, only which website it's being used for. So keep yourself self and avoid Backlinking.

You may also want to take a moment to learn more about the Google Webmaster Guidelines. Be sure to pay special attention to the section called "Quality Guidelines".