This is a Guest Post by Suzzane Edwards. Suzzane is a financial advisor and currently works as a consultant for small businesses. When she’s not writing for Cash for Gold, she could be found blogging about simple tips on how people could take advantage of the internet’s numerous business opportunities.

I’ve been blogging for more than two years now and know the importance of creating quality backlinks for improving my blog’s visibility. Whether it’s a do-it-yourself or a stay at home opportunity blog, improving your website’s search engine results improves your website’s traffic.

Links are some of the most vital parts of SEO. They are also the most dynamic: the value that Google places on links constantly change. Previously, getting anchored on link farms and article directories was enough to keep you afloat on the internet. But today, getting the targeted number of visitors takes a lot more work and quality. Linking everywhere throws your effort to waste. Getting quality links is how it must be done. Here are the characteristics of a good link:


Page Rank

For starters, you have to take a close look at a potential site’s PageRank. This could be done by installing Google’s toolbar on your browser. Getting links from a site with a good PageRank can determine the overall quality of the links you create.

You don’t have to target those with a PageRank of 10 or higher. This is certainly difficult or seemingly impossible. Just avoid wasting your time on sites that have a PageRank of zero or N/A. Any links from these sites have little or no positive bearings on your search engine optimization efforts.

It is easy to know if a website has a good rank. Just go to Google and type in the keyword of its niche. If it does not appear on the first or second page at least, then do not bother trying to get back links from it. Most likely, Google does not perceive the site as important so any link power you get from them would not matter much.


Relevant to your niche

If you are promoting electronic products then you should create links on similar sites within your niche. Otherwise, your link diminishes in value and will be of little to search engines. Try to get links within related niches. Websites that offer the same services or topics are excellent candidates for link building.


Anchor Text

Use target keywords when creating anchor text for your links. This helps search engines associate keywords with your site. Using keywords as anchor text improves your websites ranking for searches. This way, you’re not only creating high quality backlinks but also building hundreds of keywords for your website’s SEO.


Link Placement

Ever heard of the “reasonable surfer” patent by Google? Released on May 2010, it states that not all links on a page carry the same weight. The closer a link is to the top, the more weight it carries. If footer links worked for you before, now is the best time to re-think your strategy.

Your back link campaign does not end with knowing what a good link is. It takes patience and perfect execution in clinching quality links. It can be frustrating at times but sticking with the strategy eventually makes better traffic a reality.