Why One (incoming) Link is Better Than Ten

I can just hear you now:

"That can't be right! If one is good, isn't ten better?"

The answer simply put is: probably not, and here's why.

When it comes to gaining incoming links, having more links isn't necessarily better than having a few good links. In fact, having too many irrelevant links could possibly harm your website's visibility within the search engines.

Search engines are relying more and more on the opinions of others when assigning a rank to your web site. They garner that 'opinion' by looking at how much traffic your site gets and who is linking to you. What they are looking for is a link from a trusted source to your site.

Trusted sources want to preserve their reputation with their established audience so they won't give a link to just anyone. These trusted sources are much more difficult to get a link from, and are much more valuable as well. It is for this reason one link from a trusted source can be better than multiple of links from other websites.

Getting ten links from your best friends will help you in some sense, but no where near as much as the one link from a source, unless one of your friends has a very reputable website amongst the search engines.

Actually, having too many irrelevant links could harm your website's visibility in the search engines. What I mean by this is getting a link from a website that is totally unrelated to yours. If you sell sausages, the only point in linking to a medical site is to promote your 'friend' or someone who paid you for that link. These days the search engines see through this tactic. They will give that link no weight in boosting your rankings and may penalize your site if you have too many of them.

Focus on QUALITY not QUANTITY! It takes more work, but gaining a few good, relevant links to your site is worth the effort needed to get them.