One thing I know for sure about Google search engine rankings is that it is just about impossible to know anything for sure about Google search engine rankings. Sometimes, it's good to know what you don't know.
How Google decides what websites appear on the front page for any particular search term is like the formula for Coke or the recipe for Kentucky Fried Chicken — it's a secret. We know Coke has caramel in it, but the exact recipe is classified. The difference between Coke and Google is that the formula for Coke never changes (they tried that once — what a disaster). In fact, the formula for Google SERPs is changing periodically as Google works to improve the experience for end users.
Of course, what you hear all the time on blogs just like this one are “stories” about what people did on their web site for their keywords that resulted in page one rankings. I call this anecdotal evidence. It's usually very interesting, but it is almost never conclusive. Just because someone got a page one ranking by including their keywords in the footer of their pages in flashing pink with a blue background, does not mean that you will get the same result.
So, let me tell you an anecdote about Google page rank.
Backlinks Do Seem To Be Important
However, some themes keep coming out. For example, we are pretty sure that Google pays attention to backlinks when determining ranking. We believe this for at least four reasons:
- The Google search engine was originally called “BackRub” (a reference to the use of backlinks in their algorithm).
- Google Page Rank patents discuss backlinks
- Matt Cutts talks about certain backlinks being important in various blog posts and forums
- We see anecdotal evidence of the importance of backlinks
So it's that last point that I want to talk about today. I have some anecdotal evidence I want to share.
My PR2 Website
Last January I created a site for my wife called PalsLoft.com. My wife was going to blog about our new baby and review various baby products. I got the site up with some bad graphics and posted two sample affilaite landing pages complete with eBay affiliate links and some text. The home page (where the weekly blog posts were going to live) was basically empty.
Note — I plan to work on this site some soon, so by the time you read this, it may have changed. Here is a screen shot of what the site looked line for about nine months between February and October 2008.
To get the site going, I submitted the URL to a directory link submission service. This particular service submitted links to “brand new directories” as they were announced in Digital Point Forums. So the backlinks that were created from this service were pretty crummy. They came from link directories (bad) that had no authority (worse) and were brand spankin' new (terrible). Basically, they were junk links.
After about a month of that, I forgot about the site. I ended up with about 70 backlinks. I literally never touched the site after January of 2008. Earlier this month, I checked the site and found that the empty home page was PR2 (toolbar PR), and both of the two pages linked from the home page are PR1. Go figure. Here is a site that has little real content and Google is ranking it as PR2. So much for content is King.
So What? Who Cares About A Toolbar PR2 Ranking
So, what is that worth? Who cares about a toolbar PR2 site with no content? Well, as I stated before, it is only anecdotal evidence. But, it suggests that tools like Firepow, 1WayLinks and 3WayLinks that provide quality links might be worth the investment — at least in terms of getting page rank. The problem is, page rank does not convert directly to sales. Traffic converts to sales. Is this page rank converting?
Well, I am embarrassed to say that I never finished adding Google Analytics to the site, or properly set up the Commission Junction ID to track clicks and sales. But, the AWStats seem to suggest that there is some traffic there, and that it has been growing over time.
The Bottom Line on Backlinks
The bottom line — Build Backlinks. But you knew that already. If you are working on sites, your promotion strategy needs to include a backlink plan. Based on this traffic data, I conclude that tools like Firepow, 1WayLinks and 3WayLinks that provide backlinks links might be worth the investment — but you need to evaluate this for yourself on your own site. As I mentioned before, the above evidence is anecdotal, and your mileage may vary.
Building backlinks? What is Google TOS saying about that *LOL*
A link get most value over time, on a related site, an old site, a site with “google trust” … AND You can build Your own “site network” to use when building backlinks to Your “money sites” 😉
I definitely make it a point to get as many backlinks to new sites and find it really does help push the sites up in the rankings.
Once links start coming naturally things seem to take care of themselves.
Going out and getting backlinks is against Googles terms of service. When you actively go out and get backlinks to your site you are trying to manipulate the search engine rankings and make your site appear to be more of an authority on whatever keywords you choose. This is seriously the fact.
@Patrik, Shawn — I think you guys are talking about the webmaster guidelines. The idea of a TOS does not make sense for webmasters as webmasters are not google customers (people searching for websites are). In any case, Google webmaster guidelines are a confusing mess IMHO.
Let’s look at the extremes. If you go out and build a spam blog network of 10,000 sites with no content and link them all back to your site (and pay for that) — this is clearly something that Google would not like. Just because they don’t like it does not make it wrong, but it can hurt your ranking in their search engine if they catch you. So that is one extreme.
In contrast, if you pay $300 to get listed in DMOZ, Google loves that. Don’t ask me why. I guess they figure the “peer review” helps control spam.
Then again, if you build a the best website ever and call CNN and they link to you because they agree, Google loves that too. Still, you solicited that link.
Also, Google seems to be OK with links from things like eZineArticles. That is essentially a paid link. You are trading traffic (eZineArticles gets traffic from your content) for backlinks in the footer.
So, I am not sure what the answer is on Backlinks.
I suspect the answer is that you need to do stuff that makes sense that does not interrupt Google’s revenue model. If your sites have high AdSense CPA that converts well for Google’s customers (advertisers), I suspect they will not look at you as closely…
Just my two cents.
Mark
Hey Forest — that makes sense. Thanks for dropping by. What is your link plan for the nutrition blog?
Courtney Tuttle got his own PERSONALIZED Google slap when he proclaimed that backlinks were better than content!
What Google WANTS to see is quality content that is SO GOOD that others NATURALLY link to it.
The ultimate “catch 22” is to get your content EXPOSED to other WEB SITE OWNERS who will willingly link.
Backlinks are EXTREMELY important – and the best kind are the 1 way kind. Get a one way link from an .edu site and you’ll be AMAZED what one or two of those will do for your PR!
To say that Google doesn’t want you to build backlinks is ludicrous. How else will people find your site if you don’t let people know about it? Backlinks whether it is from an article directory, guest post, blog comment, etc. let people know about your site. If people like your site, a lot, they may then help you build backlinks by providing you one, but for the most part it is a lonely affair.
Or maybe you have a lot of friends already, but that would seem to fly in the face of the above argument. For those that don’t believe you are supposed to build your own backlinks, please tell, what are you supposed to do?
@Ez — I’m not really proclaiming anything. Just reporting what happened.
Thank you so much for knowledge Mark Mason. I think it was really a good tip for beginner .Thank you for your trick. God bless you.
@Ez – Google have confirmed that backlinks helps your websites’ SERP’s.
And the have “nearly” confirmed that it doesn’t matter wether it’s a .edu or .net.
Go search the WF. There’s a post there about it. ( An interview of some Google guys)
– Prebz
thanks for sharing this tips, this realy useful for beginner like me