Incoming links are like gold when it comes to increasing your chances of ranking.  However, with the growing amount of information out there about how to rank… it can be quite confusing to say the least.

There are 3 main types of incoming links.  Outgoing, reciprocal, and incoming.

Outgoing links are links ON your website that link to another website.  I limit these links as they take people away from my website.  The only time I link off-site is when I am linking to something newsworthy or educational.  I always make outgoing links open in a new tab or window.

Reciprocal links are when you “trade” links with another website.  It’s when you put a link on your website to their website AND they put a link on their website to your website.  These link exchanges are quite common, but they do little good for your website or for your website visitors.  I tend to stay away from reciprocal link exchanges entirely as search engines tend to discount them.

Incoming links for your fitness website is key.  Incoming links are when another website links TO your fitness website.  The more incoming links you have… the better.  The search engines are not yet alive so they depend on certain criteria to tell them what is a good website and what is not.  After all, Google does not want to rank a bad website in the #1 spot, right?

So how does Google, Yahoo and MSN determine a good website?  There are many ways, but one of the biggest factors is how many incoming links your website has.  An incoming link is a “vote of confidence” for the search engines.  If 300 websites give you a link… Google think to itself “Wow, 300 websites think (your website here) is awesome!  If 300 websites think so… it must be good!”

And the better the website is that links to you… the larger “weight” that incoming links has.  For example, if a local hair dresser’s website links to your website… great.  It’s an incoming link.  But if The Huffington Post links to your website… well that incoming link gives your website more credibility.

I am dumbing down the geek talk a bit  🙂   The important thing to take home is that the more incoming links you have… the better it is for your fitness website rankings.  Keep it real… don’t add a link to your site in exchange for a link from someone else.  The search engines are kinda smart and don’t really want to reward you for playing games.

Keep it real.  Do good work and you’ll see the results in your rankings.