Inbound Links - Link Trading and Exchanges
Thursday, November 1st, 2007Wikipedia defines an Inbound Link as the following:
An inbound link is a hyperlink transiting domains. Links are inbound from the perspective of the link target, and conversely, outbound from the perspective of the originator. Inbound links were originally important (prior to the emergence of search engines) as a primary means of web navigation; today their significance lies in search engine optimization (SEO).
Pretty technical definition if you ask me.
Basically, an inbound link is a link that appears on any outside website that points to your own. Why do you want them? Inbound links not only help increase the amount of traffic visiting your site, they help to increase your search engine rankings. It’s win win. However, in order to promote White Hat SEO we want to use only ethical methods of obtaining quality inbound links.
The easiest way to obtain inbound links is to submit your website to directories. This is usually a fairly simple process that consists of filling out an online form with fields for the URL, title, keywords, and description. There are literally thousands of directories available, some are free, some charge. The very first directory you want to submit your website to is DMOZ. DMOZ is the most popular directory available and it is free to submit your website to. Although directory submission may take time to process, it will give you quality inbound links.
There are other methods for obtaining reputable inbound links. Emailing reputable sites requesting for a link is one method. It is important to remember that it must be beneficial to that website to allow your link to be posted or they will not bother. Another effective way is being actively involved in posting on discussion boards. Many discussion boards allow users to attach a website to their signature in return for being actively involved in posting.
There are a variety of methods for obtaining inbound links. Just be cautious about how you’re obtaining them. Using unethical methods like link farms, is an easy way to get your website penalized or even banned from search engine results.