How do I monitor back-links to my site?

[Divinum Fiat]

I know this may be funny to you, but I can't figure out for the life of me how many back links I have when I review my Google stats. Am I missing it or does it require a special something?

I installed StatCounter but it doesn't show links, so I installed SEO Firefox and when I click on 'lookup this page' it gives me this window, but I'm not quite sure what I'm looking at. Are backlinks what they call Blekko links in this Firefox tool or is it the last line?

Does any one perhaps have better ways to keep an eye on these stats?

 

[Brandon Sheley]

There are programs that cost you money to monitor your online presence but for a free option I think the best is submitting your site to Google Webmaster Tools, submit a sitemap and you'll be able to monitor backlinks to all pages of your site.

 

[Divinum Fiat]

I think I did that when we installed XF, correct? But how do I check the backlinks on Google stats? I can't seem to find a section to 'links' anywhere.

 

[digitalpoint]

Google Webmaster Tools: http://www.google.com/webmasters/tools/

You can verify ownership of your site in there and then you can see info about your site as Google sees it.

 

[Divinum Fiat]

There's nothing there yet, it says 'no data' (under links) I guess patience is a virtue after all.

 

[Anthony Parsons]

Backlinks are extremely difficult to accurately account for, as Google doesn't show all links, and Yahoo / MSN can show every page vs. every site... then all don't show links until they periodically update their data-centres.

Honestly, I wouldn't worry about it. Focus on creating the best site in your niche and people will link to it naturally, which are the best links you can get, and they're free.

Google does not give any brand new site a great deal of love, as it must earn trust in Googles algorithm. You will notice a spike every anniversary your site is online, as Google assigns more trust to your domain... typically that is!

 

[digitalpoint]

Honestly, I wouldn't worry about it. Focus on creating the best site in your niche and people will link to it naturally, which are the best links you can get, and they're free.

Exactly this. The more time you spend focusing on or worrying about links, Alexa rating, PageRank, etc. the less time you are doing something worthwhile (like building a better site for your users).

 

[Divinum Fiat]

I'm not worried about linking back to my site. That I know will come with time (although I would like to know how many there are at some point).

Those requesting link exchanges are PR5 and PR6 sites. From the little I know shouldn't I take a link exchange with those sites?

 

[Anthony Parsons]

Pagerank is dead... gone... buried... forget about people trying to convince you its still relevant. Its not. It has no bearing today on your link value, because its been so heavily abused.

You can have all the pagerank you want, it doesn't increase traffic or rankings.

 

[digitalpoint]

I'm not worried about linking back to my site. That I know will come with time (although I would like to know how many there are at some point).

Those requesting link exchanges are PR5 and PR6 sites. From the little I know shouldn't I take a link exchange with those sites?

I've never once in my life done a link exchange, and it worked out okay for me.

Again... the best thing to do is just focus on making your site good enough that people want to link to it/tell their friends about it without you asking them to.

 

[wrx1]

I'm not worried about linking back to my site. That I know will come with time (although I would like to know how many there are at some point).

Those requesting link exchanges are PR5 and PR6 sites. From the little I know shouldn't I take a link exchange with those sites?

At the end of the day, what do YOU want out of your website?? Are you trying to make a living off of it, are you trying to just provide a community for your like minded people, are you trying to hit some kinda of traffic numbers?

When we built our site/community, it was for us local people and our small group. Over the years, we have expanded to over 2700 members with 620k posts. For me, I could care less about page rank, Alexa rank, or really any of it. Our members don't care (most have no idea what it even is), we are just concerned about having a nice working site that is fairly quick. We just try to keep people engaged. If you are concerned about all the other stuff, having a engaged/active community will bring that too you.

Russ

 

[Divinum Fiat]

awesome points, thank you for input and sharing! Didn't know that about backlinks being dead, everyone in the SEO world still seems to worry about it.

 

[digitalpoint]

Backlinks aren't dead, they are still useful... as long as they are "natural" (link exchanges are pretty pointless). If people link to you naturally, then they are good.