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Understanding why links are important is essential to obtaining the right links. One of the best analogies I’ve seen used to describe this is with the political model. Now the extent the political model was explained (that I have seen) has been simply comparing links to votes. I will try to take this a step further to offer a better understanding of a link’s importance.
Before we get into the link/vote comparison, I will discuss the basics involved in a political race as it relates to your website. Try to imagine your website as a political party and you as the mastermind behind it all. You have several candidates (each a page on your website), and each of those candidates wants to be known for a different message (keywords the page is aiming for). Frequently, the messages of your different candidates will have some overlap, but each has to offer something they stand for that differs from the others. Keep in mind the scope of the political party, your candidates should still differ, just not completely. Remembering everyone is playing for the same team creates more achievable goals (this is where politics falls apart, but your website doesn’t have to).
The next step in the process becomes getting endorsements (powerful links) and votes (average links). Remember you are the mastermind behind it all so your goal is to find your strongest candidates and promote them. An endorsement is much more powerful than an individual vote and usually comes from a trusted source. With each endorsement you obtain the votes will start to pile up. This basic analogy hopefully gives you a new perspective on viewing your site as a group and giving the most attention to your strongest candidates.
