If you’re into SEO, you know, or at least you should know, that getting backlinks is an important part of getting your site up the ranks. But in regard to speed, how fast is too fast? Does it matter? Well, there are a lot of theories and a lot of misinformation floating around when it comes to this subject. Hopefully, in this article, by using a little bit of logic and common sense, I’ll get you on the right track when it comes to your backlinking strategies. Ultimately, it WILL come down to testing and seeing what works best for YOU.

First off, when we talk about backlinking and getting our site up the ranks of the search engines, we are predominantly speaking about Google because they are the king of the SERPs, getting about 50% of the total search engine traffic. Why does this matter? It matters because Google, unlike other search engines, seriously takes into consideration how many backlinks you get in what period of time. In other words, if they see that you have a brand new site on January 1 and on January 2 you’ve got 1,000 backlinks, they’re going to probably toss you in the sandbox so fast it will make your head spin.

Now, I know a lot of people say to me that this is a load of horse manure, that they’ve had sites get hundreds of backlinks overnight and have had no problem at all. Well, this is actually quite true. However, what these people fail to tell you is that these backlinks were gotten naturally. What do I mean by naturally? Just this. There are certain topics, especially if they are hot trends or current news events that go viral so quickly because of their stunning impact (think Michael Jackson’s death) that a strategically placed blog article along with a little promotion via social bookmarking and networking, can get hundreds, if not thousands of sites link to you…literally in minutes.

But…this is the exception and NOT the rule. If you have some site on how to treat warts, it is highly doubtful that you are going to get people to come flocking to link to your content UNLESS it is suddenly discovered that warts can kill you if left untreated. Point is, the subject matter that you are dealing with has a lot to do with how Google will react to the influx of backlinks.

Therefore, it is not written in stone that you can’t get backlinks quickly. However, if you artificially go about getting them (I won’t go into the ways here because we all know what they are) then there is a very good chance that you’re going to end up paying the price for it. Take this warning for what it’s worth to you.

Besides, backlinking in itself is not going to drive your site up the ranks. Backlinks on PR 0 sites (even though PR isn’t as important as it used to be) isn’t going to do squat for you. And most of the garbage sites we get our backlinks from when using those less than ethical means are just that…garbage. And we all know what happens if you PAY for them. I won’t even go there.

In short, slow and steady wins this race. Go about getting one or two backlinks a day. Let things happen naturally. The wait will be more than worth it.

To YOUR Success,

Steven Wagenheim

Want to get your site to the top of the SERPs? Want the real skinny on backlinking and other SEO strategies? Pick up Kurt Melvin’s Think Links. You can read my complete review of the product at http://stevewagenheim.com/blog/internet-marketing/review-of-think-links-for-seo.html