Did you know that Google looks at over 200 factors when deciding how to rank a website? While nobody is 100% sure what all the factors are, SEO experts agree that backlinking is one of the most important things you need to do to have good website ranking.
So what is backlinking? Backlinking simply means having links coming in to your website. In most (but not all) cases If you have more quality links coming into your website for the phrase you are trying to rank for, your site will rank higher. So, how many links do you have coming in to your website? More than the competition!
Note: Google looks at quality and quantity of backlinks to your website. Another site still might rank higher than you if they have less links from better sources.
Here’s how to check your incoming backlinks….
First, log out of Google, as your search history will skew the results.
Next, type in the phrase you want to rank for.
Write down the url for the site that’s #1 for the keyword that you want to rank for.
Go to this website: https://ahrefs.com/site-explorer/ and type your website into the search tool. When you pull up your site, you will see a history of the backlinks that are coming in to your website on the left side of the page under “ref pages”. This is the total number of links that are coming to your website.
Next, look at total ip’s. This is the number of unique ip addresses that are linking to your website. This number will often be much lower than the number above as some websites may link to you multiple times.
Next, do these same steps for the website that’s #1 for your desired keyword.
Does the #1 site have more backlinks than you? How many more? In most cases, it does and you need more links!
One of the best ways to get links is to look at the Ahrefs.com report for the top site in your niche. Does the #1 site have incoming links from directory sites that you can get a link from as well? This would be a good place to start. Next look at creating more content from articles, videos and social media. This is another great way to get links to your site.
If you need help with getting links, or simply don’t want to deal with it, I would be glad to help you out. Now, get those links coming!
Photo courtesy of Fickr Creative Commons license
Carlos Scarpero is the founder and Editor in Chief of Dayton Pulse. He has over 10 years experience in website design and internet marketing.
Carlos also runs Dayton SEO Services, an internet marketing and Search Engine Optimization company. You can learn more about Dayton SEO Services at 
