SEO experts are agreed that off-page optimisation is more important than on-page optimisation. Off-page optimisation is about procuring backlinks from other websites whereas on-page optimisation relates to enhancing webpage content and underlying coding.
It is apparent that backlinks are advantageous and search engine optimisers and website owners are understandably keen to attract them. Consequently, an SEO industry has developed based on the acquisition of backlinks either placed by individuals who undertake the task manually or by the use of programs that place backlinks by automation.
Inbound links to a webpage or website can be of benefit in three ways.
Firstly, provided the page with the outbound link has PageRank, it will release link juice (link value) to the linked page. The total quantity of link juice received determines the PageRank of the webpage. Most webpages have a link to the website homepage. As a result, HomePages will usually have higher PageRank than internal pages. In a previous article (PageRank is the Best Indicator of Competition Strength for a Keyword in SEO - New Verifiable Theory) it was demonstrated that for internal pages, Google looks at the website homepage PageRank to determine its view of the importance of the page. HomePages that are competing for a keyword receive a boost in their effective PageRank.
Secondly, the anchor text (the text used in a link) advises the search engines on the content of the linked page whether this is true or not. Famously, a search for the keyword 'click here' will reveal an Adobe page as number 1 on the search engine results page. This Adobe page has nothing to do with 'click here'. This keyword does not appear in the text of the page nor in the underlying coding. The Adobe page is top because a multitude of webpages with a link to the Adobe page have 'click here' as the anchor text.
Finally, a link on a webpage may encourage visitors to move from one website to another.
It is in the interests of search engines that they order webpages in their results pages according to merit. Techniques such as developing quality content are acceptable (White Hat) but techniques that distort the value of a webpage or website are considered as inappropriate or 'Black Hat'.
Matt Cutts, a Google spokesman, has suggested that SEO should be based on the Katamari philosophy. This concept involves starting with a small object and gradually rolling it along so that the ball becomes ever bigger.
The search engines have sophisticated means to find and disregard black hat techniques including artificial link building. For example sudden, erratic spurts of backlinks to a website would suggest that these links are artificial. Accordingly, it is essential to stay under the radar. Slow steady acquisition of a few links on a regular basis on a wide area seems sensible. Buying a thousand links to be applied once and only once will achieve little. Indeed, a website that is clearly using Black Hat techniques in excess may be penalised and removed from the pages listed by some search engines.
If we followed white hat techniques only, we would never have even an atom as a starting point to begin the Katamari technique. We need at least one link to initiate the process and this has to be acquired artificially.
One of my current areas of research interest is to look at the benefits and risks of acquiring backlinks artificially. In a previous article (The Relationship Between PageRank and Backlinks) it was shown PageRank 3 requires on average 615 backlinks, PageRank 4 nearly 2,500 and PageRank 5 nearly 70,000. Slowly acquiring links to achieve PageRank 3 or even 4 over several months may prove beneficial but artificial acquisition of 70,000 backlinks over a few weeks to achieve PageRank 5 or more is almost certainly doomed to failure.
Over the last few months, I have been evaluating the potential benefits of a program that aims to acquire backlinks slowly and appropriately. On the positive side, some of my webpages targeting keywords with relatively low keyword difficulty have improved their positioning. For example, one webpage moved from position 72 to number 2 for carpet cleaning in a London borough. On the negative side, the program created far fewer backlinks over the months as recorded by the search engines than promised and the link juice to the website was zero. The backlinks were therefore improving positioning because of the anchor text used, as in the 'click here' example above.
We can conclude that the benefit of a backlink depends firstly on the link juice it confers. This contributes to authority as demonstrated by PageRank. A backlink's anchor text contributes to search engine understanding of the keywords the receiving webpage is targeting. Link juice and anchor text are off-page factors. They act in two entirely different areas of the Google algorithm (scoring system).
Those who engage in backlinking campaigns should consider monitoring the benefits if any. The number of links to a webpage can be determined by searching for "link:pageURL" on the search engine of your choice - I recommend AllTheWeb for this purpose. More detailed information is provided by programs such as SEO SpyGlass. This program returns factors such as PageRank, outbound links and anchor text of pages that are providing the links. Changes in positioning of websites for keywords can be monitored with Link Assistant's Rank Tracker. Monitoring the claimed benefits of purchased automated linking programs or manual acquisition of backlinks will identify campaigns that are ineffective and not fit for purpose.
Backlinks that have appropriate anchor text may increase positioning of a webpage for low keyword difficulty keywords. However, backlinks without link juice do not contribute to the authority of a webpage or website. They do not increase PageRank of the receiving webpage or website. HomePage PageRank is the most important factor in the Google Algorithm (see above). Backlinking campaigns that do not procure link juice will not achieve top positioning of webpages competing for even medium difficulty keywords.
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