Much is spoken about when it comes to getting ranked number one in Google. If there is one thing that every SEO for beginners website should get across it is the importance of building links.

Google determines how good your site is by seeing who else links to it.  If you are getting lots of links from leaders of your topic then this means that search engines will look at your site and think highly of it.  On the other hand if you are getting no links or perhaps lots from bad neighbourhoods then your site will not look so useful. 

It is important to remember that not all links are equal! 

• Links from market leading websites are the most useful, get hold of these and you will see an instant boost on your site.  This sends out a strong message that your content is worth reading!
• Never be tempted to buy links.  Remember that search engines want to know what the Internet thinks of your site, they are not interested in who has the most money and therefore who can spend the most on getting incomming links.  When this goes wrong your site will be penalised and all that hard work will be wasted!
• Lots and lots of backlinks from lots of small websites can have value.  However you need 1000s of them before Google will sit up and start to listen. 
  

Links from bad websites will be discounted and ignored by the complex algorithms in place so also remember to avoid trying to game the system.   You might find you get short term gains but in the long run you will eventually lose that ground and your fair playing competitors will overtake you once again.

Without a stack of "votes" from the world wide web all pointing at you your site is going to find it hard to make any ground.  Of course this should be done in conjuction with good website building practices and standard recommendations but without spending some time on this area you are going to find dissapointing results.

The Most Important SEO lesson

I leave this message with you as a final closing statement. If you aren't...

• Writing new and original content on a variety of topics targeted for specific keywords
• Building links back to your site and promoting the content you have just written

...you probably aren't adding much value to your website portfolio. All too often I see people reading about making a site, writing about making a site, but not actually doing the things you need to do to make the site!

Get started today!