Have you ever considered why the 'world wide web' is called a web? It's because it is meant to be an interconnected, intertwined, interlinking web, just like a spider web. In theory, you should be able to start at a single website and by simply following one link after another eventually see every single website on the web. They should all be intertwined and connected.

When we talk about external SEO factors, we are basically talking about how your website fits into this worldwide web. We're talking about how well-connected it is to the web (i.e. how many other sites link to it). In Google's eyes, a site that is well-connected to the web through a lot of backlinks is more reputable and authoritative than a site that is an island off on its own.

It makes a lot of sense, really. If you were Google and you were trying to decide which to rank higher for the phrase 'dog houses', would you choose:

a) a page that tells you it's all about 'dog houses' (through on-page SEO factors) and is not connected at all to the web, or

b) a page that tells you it's all about 'dog houses' (through on-page SEO factors) and is very well-connected to the web through numerous backlinks?

Obviously, all else being equal, you would choose to rank the well-connected page higher because of how well-connected it is to the web.

In order to try to measure how well-connected a web page is, Google has to make the basic assumption that people choose to link to a web page because they find its content useful, informative, or otherwise desireable. Google sees a link as a 'vote' for the page that is being linked to. A page that has 100 links to it has more 'votes' than a page that only has 20 links to it.

But there are 2 major flaws with this overly simplistic assumption, both of which Google is perfectly aware of.

1. It's obvious that not all links are intentionally put there by the site owner because he or she finds the content on the linked-to page useful and informative. Google knows that links are sold, traded, self-planted, and so on.


2. Clearly, not all links are created equal. Google recognizes that some links are considerably more valuable than other links (and that some links have no real value at all).

Google is constantly updating its algorithm to try to address these inherent flaws in the system. It's a continuing cycle: 1) people try to find a loophole and cheat the system; 2) their black-hat techniques do work for a very limited time; 3) Google quickly figures out what's going on; and 4) Google updates their algorithm to close the loophole (and the people who had exposed the loophole see their rankings completely disappear overnight).

So as time goes on, Google's algorithm gets better and better at rewarding websites that are legitimately well-connected to the web. Store Coach focuses on getting connected to the web the right way, which is by getting backlinks from high-quality, topically related websites in a very natural, consistent way. The link building methods we teach have always been and will always be smiled upon by Google. We don't fear Google algorithm updates like many store owners do because we're confident our links are legitimate and valuable. In fact, we usually see our rankings improve when Google makes a big update.