Why Link Building Is The Key To Search Engine Traffic

Search engine traffic is a hot topic right now, especially since other paid sources, like google ppc, are getting harder to execute profitably.  Search engine traffic has a great ROI because although you have to distribute content throughout the internet, its permanent content that doesn’t go away and it also helps to rank organically in the search engines.  But if you want to rank well in the search engines, the key is to have a link building strategy.  Initially, you may be put off by the amount of work you have to do to rank well in google, but the reality is that once you get there, you will most likely be there for a long time with no more extra work required on your part.  Search engines have to be able to guage the relevancy of your content to a search query.Google (and other search engines) have to look at your site objectively.  No one would use google if they couldn’t deliver content that a user was searching for.  For this reason, google needs to have a system of rating the relevancy of a particular website to what its user is seeking.  There are many methods they use to accomplish this, mainly onsite and offsite optimization, but link building is an extremely effective way of determining the popularity of your site in regards to a particular topic.  As time passes, more sites will reference yours (link back) as a reputable source of information, giving you more weight and relevance as an authority site in your niche.  Once you understand what link building is and how relevancy affects rankings, these inbound links will naturally make your site stronger and get you better organic rankings in your particular market.Quantity vs qualitySo now that we have determined that inbound links are the key to getting more search engine traffic, the question becomes “how many do I need and does it matter where they come from”?  The answer is not so straightforward.  Just as your site has a weight, or page rank, associated with it, the page of the inbound link will also have a page rank associated with it.  The higher the rank, the better the link!  All else equal, all you need is more links than your competition and you will rank higher.  Since competition in the SEO world is rarely on a level plane, the key to ranking number 1 in google is to have as many inbound links as possible from high quality sources with high page ranks.  This is why some sites with fewer inbound links will actually rank better than others with thousands of links, their links are simply coming from strong sources and provide more credibility