What are Linkbacks and Citations? And Why are They Important?

January 9, 2017 Marketing

Unless a person knows the exact URL (address) of a website, they will need to use a search engine, such as Google, to find websites that contain the information they are looking for.

What are Linkbacks and Citations?
And Why are They Important?

Search engines sort and index websites by the site name, content, location, business type, and more, but how websites rank in a search, internationally, nationally, and locally depends on many factors, and search engines use algorithms to determine which websites to display when someone conducts a search. There are parts of the algorithm that a website owner can control, content is a major one, search engines like websites that have actual content. In this article the discussion is focused on linkbacks and citations. The attempt to be “seen” by a search engine, in the hopes of ranking higher in search results, is called SEO – Search Engine Optimization.

What Are Linkbacks and Citations?

Linkbacks and citations come from someone else’s website, either referencing your website with a link, or commenting about your website with a citation, by posting information about your website, such as name, location, what your business does. Search engines read all this, don’t ask me how, I am not a computer.

*A linkback (also called backlink) is simply a link to one website from another website. An author might give a linkback in their article to give proper credit or to give their readers access to additional information.

*A citation is the basic information about a business, such as name and address. Better if there is also a phone number and a description of the business. AZY-Beauty, 1212 South Street, Anywhere, US – Call us at 555-555-5555 – We are a beauty salon. We keep your hair beautiful, with washing, styling, perms, and cutting.

Linkbacks and Citations Are Very Important

So why are linkbacks and citations important? Linkbacks and citations tell search engines that your business is important, what you do, and how people can locate you. If you share your information with the search engines, then they in turn can share your information with your potential customers. In addition, if your business is presented better and more often via other websites, in theory that should improve your rankings in search engine results.

Final Note

There are websites directories that allow you to post your own information. Some links and citations will come from a referral, where a website links to your site or gives you a citation. Links and citations can come from sources like articles about your website, or a another website commenting about you or noting your support or membership in an organization. Search engines read all this, every single word.

No you can not buy tons of links and citations and expect to gain favor with search engines, they already learned that lesson and now take steps to downgrade “spammy” links and referrals.

Thanks Megan!

I was looking for article ideas to get this website blog started, this idea was suggested to me by my PP friend Megan.

Resources:

Each of these links below is a “linkback” to an article on another website.

Even mentioning their site’s name is a minor “citation”.

Simple SEO Tip For Small Businesses: Local Citations – Forbes

Where to List Your Business Online and Why It Matters for Local SEO – Shopify Blog

Where to Get Citations to Improve Your Local Search Engine Rankings – Moz

Growing Popularity and Links – Moz

The importance of Backlinks – Webconfs

How to Build Backlinks in 2017 – Gotch SEO

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