Question about Back Links

[Coter]

Hello,

I have a question about back links I was hoping someone could help me with.

Generally speaking, what is considered a good number of back links to have for SEO purposes?

100 sites linking back to you? 1,000 sites? 5,000 sites? etc.

Assuming they are all somewhat reputable sites...no link farms and questionable content.


Thanks!
Ryan

[bhartzer]

Generally speaking, what is considered a good number of back links to have for SEO purposes?
More than your competitors.

There is no number that anyone can quote. In fact, I would say that it's good to have "more than your competitors" but not necessarily--you have to have better quality links than your competitors.

Consider this: two sites competing for the same keywords; one site has 50,000 backlinks and one site has 1200 backlinks. The site with 1200 backlinks could easily "outrank" the site with 50,000 backlinks if the 1200 links have higher quality and are more "on-topic".

[Coter]

Thanks for your reply. I see what yuo're saying, but is there a ball park figure that SEO gurus aim for?

[phaithful]

coter there is no realy "ballpark" number. It really depends on your competitors. If you're in a niche market your ballpark is much lower than a fortune 500 company.

As bhartzer has said it comes down to quality as well.

My very loose general rule of thumb is to see what my competitors are doing and aim for 10% - 15% above what they are doing. Taking into account all other things of course, such as quality and the sort.

I actually consider the number of backlinks to me a small factor compared to establishing those quality links from more trusted sites.

[Coter]

Ok thanks...what is the google code to find out how many back links a competitor has?

[joeblstrn]

You are trying to put a number on how many links. You can't. The quality is what is important. As well as the anchor text in those links. I have seen sites with 50 links beat out sites with 800. It is more than links that make a site.

[jsmm]

I work for a SEO, and I've seen first-hand that quantity of links isn't a reliable indicator of anything. A large quantity of QUALITY links is very useful, but what "large quantity" means can vary by industry.

First, make sure your site has good content. Do you have informational articles? Do you have related information? Have you performed keyword research, and have your pages been optimized for your keywords?

If you answered "yes" to all of the above, then you have a good basis to work from, and you already know the sort of information you want links from.

Promote your site. Make sure people in your industry and in related fields know about it. Make sure any information you provide is useful to people outside your industry, but is related to your industry. Give people icons to use when linking back to your site. Get press coverage and publicity for anything beneficial you can, and allow your site to become more popular through promotion.

Through this process, your site will acquire more natural links - links created by ordinary people who like your site and think it deserves promotion.

This may not be the answer you wanted to hear, but it is the correct answer to ensure high long-term search engine rankings and quality backward links.