Backlinks and Hubpages

Other names for a backlink is incoming link, inbound link,inlink, and inward link but for the purpose of this article I will stick with the more popular name “backlink”.

When I first joined HubPages the words backlink amd backlinks kept cropping up all over the place in hubs and forums I read and in videos I watched to learn more about the world I had just entered. Entering the world of HubPages felt a bit like stepping off an aeroplane in China because I first had to overcome the language barrier. Words like SEO and keywords also kept cropping up and I began to feel my age.

I decided to ignore these new words and simply get on with writing what I wanted to write about and see how it all panned out. But every so often I came across hubs and articles about SEO which were written so informatively that I began to pay attention and investigate what they were all about. In this hub I would like to report my findings on the word backlink and its significance to my writing on the internet.

Links directing a reader back to a website or web page are termed backlinks. They were once the main way of navigating around the web but in recent times their main importance seems to be in SEO, which turns out to be an abbreviation for three words, Search Engine Optimization.

It was determined that the popularity of a website or web page could be measured by the number of backlinks and this is the method used by Google to rank a web page. So when you go looking for something in Google you are provided with a list of web pages but there is nothing random about how this list is presented to you. The pages are presented to you in order of importance determined by how popular they are. And remember how popularity is measured – backlinks!

In the early days unscrupulous people saw a way to manipulate the system to their benefit and these people sought to place as many backlinks as possible to their sites in order to raise their Google ranking without any regard for the context of the site from which the backlink originated. An industry developed around this and thrived for a while and is called link spam.

Google's algorithm for determining the quality and popularity of a web page is far more sophisticated now and is more now in keeping with how we ourselves judge the integrity of any information we receive in our own daily lives.

Yes, of course there are times when we listen to gossip and believe the lies that we are told but the truth almost always emerges in the end and the gossip monger’s reputation inevitably suffers. There are times when we waste time listening to people who have nothing worthwhile to say because we might feel sorry for them but that too doesn't last because we get tired of listening to their constant moaning.

There are times when we fall for the smooth talker who convinces us of the necessity of that something that we never realised we needed and we purchase what they have to sell. When what we buy turns out to be of value we return time and again to buy more from them and even ask their advice before making other purchases. Should the product turn out to be rubbish and adds little value to our lives we usually cut our losses and never return!

As in life the value of a backlink depends on how useful and accurate the information is. Some of the information we receive may sound interesting but ultimately it is its usefulness and integrity that determines its long term survival. The most important commodity you have is your reputation and if you compromise that for any reason you will ultimately pay the price.

There is no substitute for writing what you know about and feel passionately about. You will actually learn something in the process and you can pass this new learning on to others who simply don't have the time or inclination to do the research you are willing to do in order to contribute positively to the world.

When you see a beggar do you feel disgust, pity and/or sadness? Do you pass the beggar by or do you throw him $1?

Why do you then admire and try to emulate the beggars all around you who like the beggar on the street feel they have nothing worthwhile to contribute so they spend their days begging for what they feel they cannot earn by their own volition?

Fine clothes, jewellery, cars and a big house don't make a man any less a beggar if he is not contributing to society for its betterment. Google is getting better at recognising the beggars in our midst and they are being weeded out.

Think carefully the next time someone follows you on Twitter, FaceBook, Quora or HubPages. Just because someone follows you doesn't mean that their following will add to your reputation.

It reminds me of an experiment done a very famous American Psychologist Stanley Milgram , this experiment investigated the relationship between obedience and authority. He, like many, was dumbfounded by the fact so many German people just went along with Hitler and committed atrocities that you would imagine any normal human being just would not go along with.

The experiment was called the Milgram Experiment. He concluded that most people seek to avoid responsibility for their actions by imagining themselves as insignificant and being mere cogs in a machine they had no control over. “I am just a drop in the ocean so what good would it do for me to go against what everyone else is doing?”, seems to be the way most people think and this is the foundation for all the woes in the world.

Just because someone asks you for your seat in a bus would you give it ? The answer in reality may actually surprise you because we tend to give up our power easily to anyone or anything that we perceive as higher in authority.

In HubPages you are creating your reputation and everything you think say or do will forever be etched into the history of the internet. If your motives are less than honourable then you will be found out and you will lose your reputation.

If you simply add people to your following because they follow you then you could very easily be collecting an army of beggars and what good will that do your reputation? By checing the background of everyone who seeks to be part of your organisation you are in effect securing your survival in the long term and you will build your reputation as an authority figure people can trust.

I recently went to the trouble of adding a backlink for a hubber to my Word Press Blog because I was so impressed by what she wrote.

I put a link to her hub on my FaceBook wall and so impressed was I by what she wrote that I looked her up on Google. I found that she had written a book which sounded very interesting and I wanted to read it. When I tried to buy it from Amazon I found that it was no longer stocked by Amazon so I contacted her directly and she offered to send me the book. Her name is Lela Hayes but she is just one example of the time and effort I spend to ensure that the people I follow are genuine and have something of value to contribute to society.

Good people will flock to you if you are sincere and genuine in your efforts to nurture and protect your good reputation. A baclink should mean something and it can if you use it wisely and only when you are completely sure it is going to enhance your reputation.

If you write good quality interesting content then you are naturally going to attract links back to you this is the law of life and Google is already adhering to this principle.