Obtaining links to your web site on other sites is an important part of SEO, or Search Engine Optimization. Links help achieve the success of SEO efforts in several different ways, although the first two are most important:

1. The text used in links will help define relevant search keywords for your site or blog. This is why a link with anchor text (the visible, clickable text in the link) like “Read more” or “Click here” isn’t as valuable to SEO as one with less generic wording. For example, an inbound link titled “Seattle, WA Cleaning Service” would be especially beneficial, because it improves the linked web site’s ranking in search results for each of these words (and the entire phrase).

2. Regardless of their anchor text, links help SEO by improving the search engine rankings of a web site in general. Search engines consider linking to a site as an indication that it is more highly recommended and/or credible. Google’s PageRank (PR) system, which plays a major part in determining the position in results different sites receive, is largely based upon the quantity and type of links to each site. Other major engines use similar criteria in determining rankings.

3. Obtaining a link on a popular site often enables a web page to get indexed by search engines more quickly than it would otherwise. This will particularly help SEO efforts when time-sensitive material must be promoted, such as a news article or short term special pricing. One way this is accomplished is when a link is posted to a social bookmarking service, and is highly rated by users to the point that it appears on one of the main pages.

4. Links also help SEO indirectly by increasing traffic to web sites (when people click on them). As more people use a web site and see links to it elsewhere, there is a better chance that more voluntary linking to it will occur on other pages, directories, blogs, and social bookmarking systems. This will additionally help SEO efforts, reducing the need to buy links or manually request that they be added. This factor is more relevant to entertaining or informational sites.

Basically, links help SEO by increasing the speed of search engine indexing, defining keywords which are related to the sites they link to, improving search engine rankings in general, and encouraging the creation of additional links.

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