Backlinks help the search engines rate the importance of your site.
A "backlink" is, very simply, any link back to your site from another site. For example, if you post a comment on someone's blog, and add a link to your URL, you've just created a backlink.
Google, Yahoo!, Bing and other search engines look at the number of backlinks a particular site has built to help determine how popular and relevant that site is. The more relevant Google thinks you are, the better your "Page Rank". And a better Page Rank means you'll appear higher in the search engine results for your keywords.
According to Google, "PageRank relies on the uniquely democratic nature of the web by using its vast link structure as an indicator of an individual page's value." In other words, the more relevant links you've got, the more valuable your site is in Google's eyes.
So, how does content distribution and article marketing build backlinks?
Every time you submit an article, we distribute it to our list of publishers, site directory owners, bloggers, newsletter editors and others who have requested content in your particular cateogory. They receive your article, and publish it with that all-important About the Author information, including your URL and other links. Voila... backlinks.
Each article you submit has the potential to build hundreds of backlinks from relevant sites. It's an organic, "spam-free" way to build those links, and get interested readers in front of your content.