Backlinks

This test looks at the number of other sites that link to you.

Why do we test for this?

The volume and quality of backlinks to your site is very important. Search engines like Google treat a link to your site as a 'vote,' making it come higher in search rankings. The more relevant the site, the higher weight the vote carries.

The volume of backlinks to a site is also a good measure of the popularity of a site and how well it is marketed online.

How do we test for this?

Google and Yahoo already hold this information which you can easily access yourself by entering 'link:http://www.YOURSITE.com' into the search box. We score you based on the volume of backlinks.

All link counts vary and this is normal. There are several reasons for this:

What can I do about it?

Any backlinks to your site are beneficial. Try and get included in directories relevant to your site, or get involved with relevant forums and drop in a mention to your site every now and then (but watch out, it's obvious if you are just spamming to get more back-links and it may backfire if you don't contribute anything useful).