Viddler

This is where we get into the meat of things, how SEO is actually accomplished.

We can break SEO down into two main categories, off-page optimization and on-page optimization. Let’s first talk about the off-page aspect.

Off-page optimization is essentially getting inbound links to your website, where inbound links is nothing but other websites having a link that goes over to your website. Think of these inbound links as a “vote“. A vote that tells the world that someone out there likes your website.

It’s like social proof, the more votes you get means the more people who like your website. And as a result the more search engines like you.

However, Not All Votes (Inbound Links) are Created Equal…

See, Google put weight on the quality of the links. It observes where your links are coming from – is it coming from an authority site who’s already established good rapport with Google (i.e. has good rankings), is it coming from a *gasp* spam-happy garbage website, or is it coming from a recognized social media site, etc.?

It also looks at where are these links pointing to? Is it a reciprocal link that you “traded” for?

A reciprocal link is basically where you put a link to someone’s website with the understanding that he does the same for you… As opposed to a “one-way link”.

Hers’ a quick graphical representation of a one-way link and a reciprocal link:

One-Way Link = Good!

One-Way Link = Good!

Reciprocal Link = Not so Good...

Reciprocal Link = Not so Good...

Why They Actually Care

Now, why does Google (and other search engines) care so much about the quality of these inbound links?

Well, the answer is simple, it’s because people have been abusing inbound links to try and game the system!

Take Squidoo.com as an example. You may know that Squidoo is a widely-popular social media site set