The Value of Inbound Links

Written by: Tom Beach, Executive Director & Vice President of The Toolbox, Inc.

Chyna - The 9th Wonder of the World

Google Loves Links

One of the most important aspects of SEO (Search Engine Optimization) is inbound links. An inbound link as defined by Wikipedia is:

Backlinks (or back-links [UK]) are incoming links to a website or web page. Inbound links were originally important (prior to the emergence of search engines) as a primary means of web navigation; today their significance lies in search engine optimization (SEO). The number of backlinks is one indication of the popularity or importance of that website or page (though other measures, such as PageRank, are likely to be more important)… Backlinks are also known as incoming links, inbound links, inlinks, and inward links.

So what does Chyna the 9th Wonder of the World have to do with this site?

Absolutely nothing.

Links should be relevant to your site

I used Chyna because I received an email GymsmartsCommunity (another site we run for the gymnastic community) to link to her site. My blog site, GymsmartsCommunity is specifically targeted to gymnastic coaches and students and gives relevant information to help their training. This link adds no value or relevant information to the site.

There are 2 issues with this link. The first is the lack of relevant information. The second is that we were asked to link back using a link page. This is a very old method of creating links. Today it is very easy to link with other sites, especially if you are using any of the blogging software available today or are reading blogs and commenting on their posts. It’s easy, I’ve even created and inbound link for Chyna here, just click on her picture.