New webmasters quickly realize that slapping a website into place doesn’t guarantee sales. In fact, it doesn’t even guarantee visitors. That leads them to investigate the basics of search engine optimization and they invariably discover that securing links from other sites to their own is an essential part of generating search engine traffic.

Unfortunately, the often don’t realize why links have so much value. Understanding why links are so important provides them with a stronger foundation from which to advance, whether they plan to learn basic SEO on their own or hiring a professional to help them.

To really grasp the importance of links, one needs to remember what the Internet looked like before search engines rose to prominence. Websites were cataloged in a series of individually operated, human-edited directories. Finding the information one needed required one to consult these directories in hopes of discovering an on-topic site.

The shortcomings of this model are obvious. Not only does it kick the doors of bias wide open, it also insured that many potentially valuable sites wouldn’t be discovered or listed in the first place. As the web began to grow, the sheer mass of new sites and pages made the idea of human-managed directories downright laughable.

Search engines stepped in to provide an alternative. These automated tools would scour the web using programmed “robots” to retrieve and catalog discovered pages. When one searched for a particular term or issue, the search engine would consult its database and provide the user with what it felt to be the best match for their expressed needs.

Obviously, Kamagra Gold the search engines needed to find a way to determine the likely value of any particular site to those making queries. Initially, they relied primarily on the actual text that appeared on individual pages. However, it was soon evident that this methodology often failed to yield the best quality sites on any given topic. At that point, search engines began to rely more heavily on links to make quality and authority determinations.

The underlying logic behind this decision is simple to grasp. People link to other websites when they discover information on that site they feel is valuable. If many people are linking to a particular page or site, it’s a strong indicator of that site’s likely value and authority. The search engines view links as “votes of confidence” upon which they base the perceived value of any given page.

Over the ensuing years, the importance of backlinks continued to grow. Google, the eventual winner of the early search engine wars, still utilizes an algorithm that puts a great deal of emphasis on inbound links when making ranking decisions.

Those interested in search engine optimization quickly recognized the value of links and made off-page efforts to secure them from third-party sites a top priority. As time has passed, Google’s treatment of links has become more nuanced and refined (or more arbitrary prescription cialis online and frustrating, critics may counter). The search engine is becoming more adept at distinguishing valuable, meaningful links from lesser variations, for instance.

Today, links remain at the heart of maximizing search engine performance and securing that incomparably large source of traffic. A site still benefits tremendously when it has a portfolio of high quality backlinks. While the details change with each passing month, it’s fair to say that link acquisition remains the centerpiece of off-page optimization efforts and that they’ll continue to play a huge role in search engine rankings for the foreseeable future.

Author Bio: Knowing the value of links gained from your link development strategy is a must before implementing any strategies that could harm your site. To find out more check out Searchbrat.com

Category: Internet Marketing/Link Popularity
Keywords: seo,search engine marketing,internet marketing,link building,link development