Blog Posts: 1 link per 125 words?
-
I've seen this "1 link per 125 words" for blog posts suggestion pop up a variety of places. I wanted to know if that's "correct" or a best practice? In my posts, I generally write between 800 to 1200 words with about 4 to 6 links in the body of the post. However, (and this may be a problem) I add about 13 links in my closing paragraph, "if you have any legal questions, etc etc, click here for your "Tampa personal injury attorney, Clearwater Personal Injury Attorney, etc etc for all the areas we practice in related to that blog post."
Should I stop doing that? Does that come off as spammy? (The blog is hosted on our site, if that matters for this question at all).
Thanks,
Ruben
-
If it is natural, and all about UX, then there is nothing to worry about, in my opinion. Sounds like you are doing a great job!
-
I think people misinterpreted my question. I didn't "start boiling articles down to numbers," I just posted what happens to be the averages for my posts. When I write them, most come out to about 800-1200 to answer the question, and I end up citing about 4 to 5 sources. When I saw a few "1 link/125 word" suggestions, I wanted to see if there was any validity to that and if the numbers that I naturally produce could be a problem...other than the footer links, of course. I now see why that's a problem.
-
I get why I shouldn't use the footer links anymore, but I don't understand the comment 'sounds like a great way to get a Penguin attack." For my posts, it takes about 800 to 1200 words to answer the topic, and I usually end up citing/linking to 4 outside sources. I don't plan on this framework, but that's basically the average.
Are you saying the posts have too short a word count or there are too many links? Yes, I do understand I should be focusing on content and ux first and foremost, but since you said that in relation to the number I gave, I was wondering if that triggered some red flag I need to know about.
Thank you for your advise and input. I appreciate it very much.
Ruben
-
Doug says... "Ignore the links".... I agree....
If this is an "on site" blog you should be focused on the message. You should be blogging to educate your readers or present your point-of-view. Link to another page on your site only when needed or when you want to let the reader know that you offer a service (and this should be limited to genuinely relevant links).
Blogging on your own site isn't about generating links to other pages. It is about demonstrating your expertise. The links that you should be after is the ones that people read what you have to say, are impressed by it, and link to it from their own website because what you have said is so important that they want THEIR readers to know about it.
-
Got to agree with EGOL here. As soon as you start boiling articles down to numbers like this you're going to lose. There's no magic formula that will protect you from bad copy.
Ignore the links for a moment. Think about how your blog post is going to help promote you business/service. Is it being posted somewhere your target audience are going to read it? Is it useful/interesting to that audience. What's the one thing above all else that you want the reader to do once they've read the article...
-
I've seen this "1 link per 125 words" for blog posts suggestion pop up a variety of places. I wanted to know if that's "correct" or a best practice?
Where are you reading this stuff? I wouldn't read that author any more.
In my posts, I generally write between 800 to 1200 words with about 4 to 6 links in the body of the post.
Wow... that sounds like a great way to get a Penguin attack.
However, (and this may be a problem) I add about 13 links in my closing paragraph, "if you have any legal questions, etc etc, click here for your "Tampa personal injury attorney, Clearwater Personal Injury Attorney, etc etc for all the areas we practice in related to that blog post."
I would stop doing this right away.
-
Hiya,
Firstly it depends if you are linking out of your site or keeping the linking pointed inwardly. Google recently decided it didn't like press releases and guest postings (which upset a few people!) so don't put all of your guest posts in one basket!
For me I'm of the opinion (or style of content marketing) that blog posts should be about the content not the links (obviously its still good to link to things relevant to the post). You should make a blog post that will want people linking to it.
I would say keep links natural looking.Hope this helps and best of luck.
-
Hi Ruben!
I would say that this seems a bit "too much". How about adding a "location" area to the site, and link to it from some sort of main menu instead? Or perhaps one location area to every law section?
Best regards,
Anders
-
Yes, it looks spammy too and really isn't helpful to users and visitors who are reading the information you are writing and sharing. Don't scare your users away with spammy looking links. It's probably affecting the on page elements as well as constantly reproducing the same (internal or external links) on all these blogs posts. These type of 'footer' links at the bottom of all the posts also look spammy to the engines. If you do keep them there, select only 1-2 that are of importance and rel=nofollow the others. I
My recommendation if to link naturally inside the site and blog. Don't just link to yourself., your products, or your pages. Be bigger than that Link to other outside sources as well. Don't be afraid to expand on the type of links you use inside your content. Most people are, but when you link intelligently, and for the benefit of the user, the page's performance, click through, time on page/site, etc will improve. It's a win/win for you and your users experience. Not only will you see in time that you are linking to other really valuable sources for your clients, those sites will be watching who is linking to them, and might garner the attention of the staff there for a natural link mention on their site, or request for a 'quest post'.
Hope some of that helps! Cheers
Got a burning SEO question?
Subscribe to Moz Pro to gain full access to Q&A, answer questions, and ask your own.
Browse Questions
Explore more categories
-
Moz Tools
Chat with the community about the Moz tools.
-
SEO Tactics
Discuss the SEO process with fellow marketers
-
Community
Discuss industry events, jobs, and news!
-
Digital Marketing
Chat about tactics outside of SEO
-
Research & Trends
Dive into research and trends in the search industry.
-
Support
Connect on product support and feature requests.
Related Questions
-
Locating Guest Blogging Niches
Hey Folks, Does anybody have advice on tools I could use to locate blogs on specific topics? My plan is to approach the webmasters and offer guest blogging services. I know I could just do a google search for something like "KEYWORD blogs" but I thought I'd see if there is anything more sophisticated out there. Thanks, Rich
Content Development | | Rich-O0 -
How many categories should you have within a blog / Wordpress Site for SEO?
Hi Guys I am just wondering whether or not for SEO purposes it is better to have a small number of categories for your blog posts to fit into as opposed to numerous ones. The reason I ask is that I have one site which is fairly new to the search engines - 8 months old which has 7 general categories within the blog for instance "rail contractors", "railway construction" "airport construction" etc I have another site which is 10 years old which has built up 25 different types of categories for instance brand design, brand development, brand management (i guess you could put all these under 1 category "branding"? We've been writing lots of press for both sites... yet the younger site is getting more coverage on Google page 1. Would this be because the blogs / press are more concentrated under a specific category as opposed to being spread thinly throughout the site? Any help would be appreciated. Debs 🙂
Content Development | | lethalmarketing0 -
Question about SUB DOMAIN. step 1 says enter your subdomain? Create 1st campaign.
Does that mean the article in my blog address bar link? I have a blog with many posts focussed on different keywords. What does step 1 mean for me? Does it mean I should publish my post on my blog - copy the url in the address bar - and then enter it in SUBDOMAIN? Your help is appreciated. Thanks
Content Development | | coffeecup0 -
Blog and keyword advice
Hi, i am going to add a blog to my site to encourage more visitors as well as encourage google to visit the site more often but i am concerned on a couple of things. The blogs will be on weight loss hypnotherapy, anger management therapy and also gastric band hypnotherapy and i am concerned that by writing a number of articles on this topic that by using the keywords it will lower my rankings for the following keywords, gastric band hypnotherapy, anger management therapy, weight loss hypnotherapy. To help you understand more, i have three sections which are gastric band hypnotherapy, anger management therapy, weight loss hypnotherapy, which rank well with google and i am worried that if i write about these subjects in my blog that it will reduce my rankings. Should i reduce the number of times i use the word gastric band hypnotherapy in my new blog articles and say only say the word once or twice so google does not thing that is my main page on the subject. any help would be great.
Content Development | | ClaireH-1848860 -
I started a Wordpress blog, google indexed it...
How long before I can see those links show up in SEO Moz for my website? What elements is SEO Moz looking for before they add the wordpress site to my linking domains report? Regards, Jeff
Content Development | | biggieshaws0 -
Is it OK to delete a blog from a blog site and post it somewhere else ?
I posted a blog on blogger 4/5 days back, though blog is good quality but site is useless and i want to remove it and put it some other site. Is it ok for Google ? I believe it might be indexed already
Content Development | | Personnel_Concept0 -
Best way to get my Blog traffic
I've recently began blogging on my site. The content is all unique and useful and written properly without keyword stuffing... My question is, how do i go about getting people to see the blog (getting traffic to it) so that it can get linked to. I've created content that i believe people will naturally link to, the only problem is they're not finding my blog. Any advice on how to get my blog out into the world?! thanks
Content Development | | Prime850 -
How do blogs affect seo?
Could you help me understand how blogs affect seo and how this works specifically when a blog is located within a site? Thank you!
Content Development | | derrickkuhn0