Backlinks: A Backbone of SEO for Plastic Surgeons

For those unfamiliar with search engine optimization and the principle jargon of the Internet, backlinks are, in the broadest of terms, the collection of external sites that reference yours. These references (or hyper-references to be more specific) are colloquially called “links” and are without doubt, one of the most important factors in determining your position in the search engine results pages.

While it is just one attribute in the multi-variate algorithms that search engines use to index the Internet, the number and quality of backlinks that reference your domain is an important metric for measuring the reputability and validity of your specialized physician practice Web site. Think of links as being “letters of recommendation.” Clearly, those from professors (think .edu domains) or assemblymen (think .gov domains) will hold more water than those written from personal friends (think non-professional bloggers) or – and let’s stretch this analogy - some random stranger that you give money to in exchange for drafting you a letter (think paid links and reciprocal linking).

The latter two methods, buying links and/or earning them from low-quality, bad neighborhood sites (spam sites, spam blogs, adult sites, etc.), are unfavorable and weighed heavily against you when determining your position in the rankings.

The best way to generate true and natural link building is to provide the Internet community with good, original content. Yes, measures must be taken to promote this content and to “get it out there”, but if it truly is of high quality, people will link to it over time. Going back to our “letter of recommendation” analogy, good content is just like “working hard.” No one might applaud you or give you accolades for doing your job straight from the get go, but if you keep it up and keep doing your best, you’ll get what you deserve.

So the bottom-line, or more over, “the secret of building links” is that there’s no secret at all. Like most paths in search engine optimization, link building once again gets elegantly tied into generating and crafting good content first and foremost. Couple this with utilizing the proper, standardzied practices for Web site development and over time, your links will come. Just keep at it.

For those interested in checking the sources of their backlinks, cosmeticSEO is happy to provide a free link discovery tool to analyze all of the domains that are currently linking to yours. Take time to dig through the results and see where your backlinks are coming from. When you’re done, it may very well be a good idea to run the domains of your top competitors through our widget. A wealth of information is lying at your fingertips. Who knows what you may find.

For more on plastic surgery marketing, contact cosmeticSEO. com. Link building and social media campaigns are just two components of our customized cosmetic surgery marketing kit.

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