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Definition of the term, "inbound links"

inbound links

Also known as: "IBL", "inlinks"

Inbound links (or "IBLs") are simply links from other websites to your own site and are sometimes referred to as "inlinks", although this term is more commonly used within search engine research papers.

Links are fundamental to the concept of the World Wide Web and as such, inbound links have become a core factor in search engine optimisation. Google's PageRank algorithm was originally designed to rank web pages based on their "link popularity" - that is, sites with more links pointing to them would rank better. However today there are many more ranking factors to consider and although inbound links are still very important, an ethical SEO campaign should cover all major factors.

Building links to your website isn't as easy as it sounds - the type of link (the technology used to create the link), the text used on the link and even the rate at which you acquire links to your site are all factors that are taken into account.

In addition, there are many methods of unethical search engine optimisation that make use of link building techniques that could ultimately harm your search engine rankings. As such, it is important to compliment any SEO campaign with solid ethical link building campaign.

Related terms and definitions

• algorithm
• ban (from search engine index)
• ethical link building
• ethical SEO
• external linking
• internal linking

eflaunt is a UK Internet Marketing and Search Engine Optimisation agency based in Edinburgh, Scotland. For industry news, please refer to the eflaunt SEO blog.