How to Use Blogs for Search Engine Optimization and Backlink Building

It's no secret that blogging can boost your search engine rankings and drive traffic to your website. Blogs promote the exchange of ideas in a format that the Internet users have fully endorsed. When search engine spiders find an active blog, they tend to crawl it more frequently and more often. Incorporating a blog into your website will help you get quality backlinks and improve your credibility.
Many business owners are not aware of what the search engine optimization benefits of blogging are. A recent study conducted on a group of SEO practitioners has shown that over 87 percent of those who have used blogging for SEO have obtained measurable results. Backlinks were cited as the most important SEO benefit from blogging. Starting a blog can also help you establish authority in the marketplace, interact with your customers, and promote your products more effectively.
Most blogging platforms offer uncomplicated URL structure, making it easy for search engines to find and crawl your content. An active blog creates the kinds of signals from other websites that search engine spiders tend to reward in the rankings. A blog that is updated frequently attracts both human visitors and search engines.
The better you write, the more people will link back to your site. In addition, there are many plugins and widgets that make it easy to share your articles and posts, thus encouraging links. You can also use blogging to constantly add fresh, relevant articles to your website. No one can give an exact answer on how often you should blog. Most experts say that whether you update your blog once a day or once a week, it really doesn't matter, just as long as it is relevant and consistent.
Not many webmasters and business owners who start blogs have the patience to create quality content. If you want people to find your blog and click back to your pages, you need to write compelling posts and use relevant keywords. No matter how many SEO techniques you use, there simply is no substitute for creating quality content.
Conduct backlink analysis on competing blogs and take the time to look at articles that already rank well in search results. While the main objective of a blog should be to get your message out, don't forget to do proper research and optimize your content for search engines. Get listed on other people's blogrolls and include your blog URL in profiles on social media sites.

Article Source: http://EzineArticles.com/7005198

Read More

Focus On Quality In Your Backlinking Strategy

Online marketers don't need thousands of backlinks to achieve higher rankings in the search engines; what a marketer needs is a backlinking strategy that values quality over quantity. Of course, the more links you get, the better, but they should be quality links.

Backlinks are very important to your search engine rankings and every Internet Marketer should include an ongoing program of building links back to their websites. Some website owners try to take short cuts by purchasing backlinks or signing up for services that promise a multitude of links in a short period of time, but these tactics are not always effective for the purpose. Quality is always better than quantity.

Whatever your method is for getting backlinks, you need to make sure it is serving your purpose and helping you, not hurting you, in the search engine rankings...

If your backlinking strategy is going to be effective, you must get your links on sites that are similar to yours. In other words, websites that sell products and services very much like what you sell.

One hint is to look for websites with your keyword phrase in the domain name or in the page title.

When selecting appropriate sites, always aim for quality. One indicator to look for is Google PageRank; the higher, the better, and if it is higher than yours, even better yet. However, take note that PageRank is not always accurate. When in doubt, consider the quality and value of the site being looked at.

Whenever you can swing it, backlinks from authority sites - sites recognized and respected as leaders in the industry - are always the best. Linking goes both ways and that is another reason to choose sites similar to yours; so you have a better chance of having your link request accepted.

The links you get placed on other sites should be set up with anchor text using your keywords. For example, if your keyword phrase is "home business opportunities" then that should be the anchor text for your link.

It makes sense, then, that the page on your site that you are linking to should be optimized for the keyword phrase being used in the backlink. That is the main reason for getting a backlink, if your purpose is to improve your search engine rankings.

The techniques used to get backlinks, and the places on the Internet where backlinks are possible, are various. Article Marketing is a common method, as is guest blogging. Direct link exchanges are possible, but it is recommended to build the link into the content of the website, using your keywords as anchor text. Some Internet Marketers develop a backlink-building program around blog commenting. Again, choose quality blogs similar to your own website and check to see if they are "do-follow" blogs.

Using a good backlinking strategy that focuses on quality over quantity is very important to an online business. It takes time and dedicated effort, but that is the mark of a professional. If you are not already recognized as an authority in your niche, you now have one more piece to the puzzle.

Article Source: http://EzineArticles.com/6973784

Read More