Weekly Website Wednesday – Week #5

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Welcome to my NetKennel Weekly Website Wednesday post — you're looking at post #5! This week, I want to talk about backlinks. What are backlinks?

They are links from other websites on the internet that point to your kennel website. Google and other search engines use this as a measure of how popular your site is. Not to oversimplify it, but generally speaking, the more links that point to your website, the higher your rankings could be. Backlinks are something you, as a kennel owner, can easily obtain on your own — no dedicated webmaster required.

A little internet history: Google — the search engine almost everyone uses — began as a college research project by Larry Page and Sergey Brin. They wanted to improve search results by creating a system that ranked web pages based on relevance, not just keyword matches. Their key innovation was the PageRank Algorithm, which analyzes the number and quality of links pointing to a website to determine its importance or popularity on the internet. The first version of Google was actually called Backrub, which later evolved into the Google we know today.

PageRank isn’t the only metric Google uses to rank your website, but it’s still one you can focus on to improve your rankings. It’s all about getting your link out there. Share and exchange links with your kennel buddies. If you post on forums or social media (when allowed), include your website link. If you have sponsors, try to get your kennel listed on their sites. The more popular the site you're listed on, the better the boost.

Take advantage of any reputable place you can list your site for free. Avoid questionable or spammy-looking sites. Stay away from sites like “TOP 50” or “TOP 100” lists — these are often considered link farms and can negatively affect your rankings.

There are also paid options. Sites like Gundog Central or other hunting dog classifieds are excellent places to list your kennel website. Gun Dog and Upland magazine sites, hunting dog forums, and pedigree generation sites also offer banner ad opportunities that link back to your website.

As someone who profits from selling ad space to kennels, this may sound like a sales pitch — but it’s not. I've spent over 20 years cultivating backlinks to Gundog Central. Today, there are over a million links on the internet pointing to Gundog Central, which is one reason it ranks highly for most hunting dog–related keywords.

If there's one takeaway from this week's post: get your site out there!