Backlinks are created when a third party website has created a link to your site. Backlinks are essential for any website that wants to achieve online success as they provide powerful SEO value to a site. The higher the page rank of the site that it is giving you the link, the better. The more backlinks you receive from websites that have authority and high page rank, the more likely your website will achieve high positioning in search engines.

There are a number of ways that you can go about getting backlinks. The most recognised method of receiving backlinks is to submit your website to directories with authority such as Yahoo or DMOZ (The Open Directory). There are also an increasing number of alternative directories where you can submit your website. Always check the page rank of the directory before you submit your website to it.

Writing interesting and engaging articles can help you get backlinks from industry websites and blogs. If your content is good people will want to reference you by adding a link to your article. If you are an expert in your field your articles become gold dust as websites will want to be connected to your content. You can distribute your articles through your website, social media and industry blog sites. Always have a link to your website in the text so that search engines will pick it up and so that other users can add a link to your website if they choose to.

You can also build links by engaging in social bookmarking like Delicious. Use your website as a platform for others to bookmark your website. You can do this by adding software such as "add this". This enables users to bookmark or share your articles. It adds a further interactive dimension to your website and can create backlinks to your website.