I have read lots of posts regarding this that you need to get good number of Back Links from sites that has contents similar to your site to rank in search engines such as Google. I am just wondering what do we actually means? If you have a site that promotes Xbox games as well as a site that promotes Music Downloads, can you make a post in Xbox site related to Music downloads and Give link back to Music download site? Would this Back link count as it has music related contents even though the site is related to Xbox games when it comes to Google? Looking forward to you thoughts and replies towards this from SEO experts.
Backlinks from related sites means those sites that are closely related to your website theme. Suppose you have a site that promotes Xbox games, than backlinks from sites related to this are other sites talking about Xbox, sites related to play stations or video games. Such type of links will give you very high benefit rather than links from unrelated sites. Does Backlinks from Unrelated sites count: In my opinion every backlink gets counted, the main thing is what is the value of a particular link. So one backlink from website that is closely related to your theme is much more powerful than 10 links from unrelated websites. This is one of the most important reason behind the question: "My competitor has 10 backlinks while I have 100, still he outranks my site." So it's all about quality and relevance.
Thanks for the informative reply Stephen. So if I make a blog post in my X Box site, and the contents of the post is related to Music downloads, then Give link Back to Music downlod site. Would the link count as quality link? Even though the site isn't related to music, but the post is related to Music.
I htink that's close enough. it doesn't always have to match exactly. What google doesn't like to see, for example, is gambling links on your xbox site. Also, you want most of your links to be directly related. In other words, one music related and 9 video gaming related would be fine.
I watched a recent SEOMoz webinar and Rand Fishkin said that they don't have any positive data showing that a topical link is any more useful than an off-topic link of the same quality. Very interesting. I think it is still better to have a topical link (may drive traffic and Google Algo could change) but I wouldn't turn down a high quality link from a non-related site.