The backlink is essentially the same thing as an inlink. It is a link on someone else’s site that leads to your own, and it’s extremely important to garner a large number of backlinks that are reputably obtained for several reasons. First, in SEO or search engine optimization, part of the algorithm for ranking your page on search engines is determined by the number and quality of backlinks to your site, providing they occur naturally and you have not purchased them. Second, backlinks are how you get known on the Internet. If lots of other sites provide a link to yours, a natural increase in traffic to your web pages occurs.

The two places where you should be looking to get backlinks from if you’re trying to increase traffic and search engine ranking (where your site will appear on a search engine), are general sources, perhaps sites that review pages like digg.com, and on other sites that bear some relationship to your own. If you run a content site on the joys of flower arranging, you probably won’t get backlinks from other florists. Instead, you might try obtaining links from sites pertaining to the growing of various flowers, to sites that discuss pest control, and to wedding, prom and home décor sites.

The quality of each backlink can be partly judged by the popularity of the page from which it originates. A page that owns few backlinks itself is not going to have a lot of traffic. And any page that has links to illegal material may actually decrease your page ranking. You can oversee number of backlinks by searching on Google® with the search terms link: and then your website. If you wanted to check backlink number to wisegeek, the search command would be link:wisegeek.com There are several programs, like TrackBack® which may help you find exactly who is linking to your sight, but these are not yet compatible with all programs, especially various blogging site programs.

There are many ways to increase your backlink numbers. You can, as mentioned, contact related sites, and ask them to link to you, and you can offer reciprocal linking. Another common practice is called link threading. This is when you post a link to your site on someone else’s blog, usually in the text of your blog. Do be aware that people can edit your post. You have to use some writing craft, and be sure that the website to which you direct people is truly one of interest to readers of that particular blog.

You should not pay for a backlink, and many people in the SEO world also recommend staying away from link exchange programs. Your hope is that a backlink occurs naturally, because the material on your site is so good. But how will anyone see it if there are no links to your site? This is where keen business sense and the willingness to comment on others’ blogs are important. Get to know the web world that relates to your topics and network with other website owners who have similar work to your own. To work the system, you do have to be your own publicist, so people will know about you and want to provide a backlink to your site.