Just over a month ago I finished a e-commerce website, and now I am trying to figure out how to get noticed by Google. One thing I keep coming across is something called backlinks. Has anyone noticed this and done this with their own website, and has it helped. Any thoughts on this would be appreciated.
Backlinks are good, they count as a vote to your site. Your signature here will help. The weight depends on the PR of the referring site. Google reduces the value of some backlinks i.e. articles that are just there to add votes.
These are part of your SEO rather than the whole thing.
Read the Google Webmaster tools help and register for webmaster tools if you haven't done so.
So basically I start building backlinks related to t-shirts and apparel. Do I also need to create some code on my website. I guess I can have the person that created my site do that. Thanks for the input. Sounds like I might have a little work to do.
So basically I start building backlinks related to t-shirts and apparel. Do I also need to create some code on my website. I guess I can have the person that created my site do that. Thanks for the input. Sounds like I might have a little work to do.
Drop me an emails (dean(at)dean.co.uk) and i'll take a look at it all for you and let you know what I think.
One thing I keep coming across is something called backlinks
A backlink is basically just when another site links to your site.
So if your t-shirts get mentioned in someone's blog, that's a backlink to your site.
As Dave said above, when someone links to your site, Google sees that as sort of a vote of confidence that your site has quality information.
Also important for your ecommerce store is making sure that each page of your catalog has a relevant TITLE tag and that you are writing quality descriptions for each of your products.
It all starts with choosing the right keywords. Do some Google homework on selecting good keywords for your niche. Then, make sure your Title tags, H1/H2 tags, Meta description, and if possible, domain name and/or page has your keyword(s). This all falls under "on page" SEO.
From here, you move to "off-page", which is building backlinks. Use social bookmarking sites to bookmark your page (Digg etc). Use your signature here with your website "anchored" by your keyword(s) (see my sig for an example). Post in blogs that allow a website link. Then, ping those specific blog pages (pingomatic is one service of many). Ignore anything you hear, for now, about do-follow and no-follow links. Click Rodney's sig link and add your site to that directory. If you do all this, you should get indexed and debut with a decent ranking (SERP). You will fall in the ranks, and that's when you will see the importance of building quality backlinks.
At this point, you can start building backlinks to target your keywords and increase your SERPs. PM me if you want some forum url's where you can learn more.
Website Google Rankings 
