SEO Tycoon

**Fuzquia** · 02-24-2006, 02:29 PM

I have read that links are a major part of SEO, therefore I am trying to build up a links page on my own site. Does the mention of your url in a signature on a forum count?

I used a backlink checker to look at some of the links of my competitors, now this tool came up with nearly 300 links for the competitors pages. However, when I actually go to the links page of their site there is no where near this. I clicked on some of the links listed in the backlink checker and some of them are simply a mention of the company name in forums etc.

So does this mean that if I put my website name in my signature of any forum I am part of, this counts as a link?

This is my first website so not really sure, so thanks to those who offer advice...

**vangogh** · 02-24-2006, 08:52 PM

The links on a sites 'links page' are outbound links as they start from your site and go to another site. These aren't the same thing as backlinks which are incoming links to your site from other sites. The links you add to your 'links page' won't help you getting the backlinks you want as the two are completely different things.

Those 300 links you found with the tool are backlinks and not the links in a links page on the site. Some may end up being in both as sites can each link to each other.

In fact having too many links on a 'links page' can even be a bad thing. You only want to have links on your site pointing to other sites that you think visitors to your site will find useful.

There are a lot of different ways to get other sites to link to you. The ideal way is to build a site that has quality content and in time other sites will naturally link you yours because your content will be useful to thier visitors. Some of the ways to do this are to write articles about the subject of your site or write a blog.

You can also submit your site to directories that are relevant to your site. If your site is about auto parts then directries about automobiles would be good to submit to.

Building baklinks to your site will take time so be patient and keep working at it. Hope that helps.