Perhaps one of the most misunderstood concept in SEO is that of inbound links to your website.  They are one of the most important, if not THE most important, factor in ranking well in search engine results.

Inbound Links

Whenever another website links to your website, it gives search engines vital clues about your website:  Is the site reputable (e.g. does it cross-link, is it a paid link?)?  Is it similar to your site? Does it have a good Page Rank (e.g. does it have any web cred)?

Typically, the more inbound links the better.  However, the better the reputation of the links, the more similar it is to your site, and the better the Page Rank will all be factored into determining your website’s credibility and relevance.

Links from Similar Sites

By building links from similar sites (find them by searching for keywords that you are using) it tells search engines that your competition and your community find you a good resource.  It means they respect you and are giving you “props.”  (e.g. give props to the Wookie means you have a powerful, hairy beast swinging steal pipes, or shooting laser guns, and that is always a good thing for the good guys.)

Inbound Anchor Text

When possible, using keywords in the anchor text (i.e. the text that is in the actual link, for example:  website optimization), tells search engines that you site is about.*  This is extraordinarily helpful.

Inbound Links from Reputable Sites

If we think logically about what we trust as individuals you will get a good sense about what search engines trust as websites.  And although most people don’t trust the government, they do trust that government websites (.gov) will have at least some information that they need.  Thus, a link from a .gov site is often a much better link that a .com or .info site.  As well, .org and .edu sites are also very valuable links.

Page Rank, Where you Should be

Page Rank is a good indicator of overall reputation.  Typically 0-2 (out of 10) Page Rank is common for new sites, sites that are old but rarely used, sites that have small following, or sites that are fabulous but have very few inbound links.  3-5 Page Rank is often signifies a website that is doing pretty well for itself.  This is typically the range most website should fall into and be satisfied with their reputation.  Anything over a 6 is often a very credible website from a national organization (Colleges, news agencies, very active non-profits) or from people who really spend a lot of time building links.

NOTE: My pagerank is a 2/10.  Mainly because it is an old domain name that I used for a previous business and only recently have repurposed for website optimization.

*Note: a preposition (such as “about” often is) must modify and object to be a preposition.  Therefore, about, in the previous sentence is not a preposition and therefore can be used at the end of sentence.  It is then modifying is and is then an adverb.