Backlinks have been the subject of much discussion and controversy in the past. Backlinks, or inbound links, are hyperlinks that point to a website. Search engines such as Google (and now Microsoft’s Live) utilise the quality and quantity of backlinks as a means to evaluating the relative importance of a website. This relevance is usually gauged with regard to a specific keyword.

Clearly, the more high quality backlinks a website has, the higher its perceived importance will be before the search engines. However, a backlink has more stakeholders than just the search engines.

Let us examine some of these stakeholders:

The Search Engines

A search engine is the primary and most conspicuous stakeholder of a backlink. Clearly, a search engine banks on the worldwide web of backlinks (excuse the pun) in order to arrive at a realistic map or index of the web. It then uses this index to serve up information to queries as and when required. Manipulation of backlinks puts search engines at a great disadvantage, for it disturbs their relevancy criteria.

Backlinks also enable search engines to evaluate searched keywords. This is a critical part of maintaining an effective and relevant search index.

The Search Engine Optimisation specialist

Search Marketing specialists or Search Engine Optimisation specialists also have a great stake and interest in backlinks. Relevant and high quality inbound links will cause an improve in rankings, in addition to creating relevant search results. This will also result in higher web traffic, and by corollary, more conversions and greater revenue for a website or business.

The Salespeople

A sales person intent on maximising revenue will also benefit from increased sales and better web rankings. Therefore, backlinks ultimately touch the lives and purposes of sales teams at any business.

Consumers

Consumers or Web searchers also benefit greatly from backlinks. Further down the chain of utility, customers benefit from finding the most relevant result or answer to their query. This can result in lower costs, better savings and higher satisfaction for consumers finding the best possible products. Hence, what starts as a vote for a website’s relevance ends with a consumer finding what they want.

This is the beauty of search engine optimisation: it satisfies every stakeholder, dramatically increasing the effeciency of the entire marketing process. This is one reason why more and more marketers are moving towards the Internet in order to market their products.

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