Are We Doing Link Building Right? Do Certain Links Actually Matter?
-
I've been thinking about this as I go through my daily link building activities for clients. Do we really know as much as we hope/think we do about how Google values inbound links, which links actually matter, and how much these link signals play into rankings?
For example, does Google REALLY value the fact that a business is paying to sponsor a local sports team, or to join a local chamber? For local businesses, link building is rather difficult because they don't necessarily have the resources or ability to implement ongoing Content Marketing initiatives to earn links naturally. How can we be sure that the things we recommend actually make a difference? I had my family real estate business featured in almost a dozen articles as expert sources, with links from authoritative sites like Realtor.com and others.
Does Google distinguish between a profile link on a site like Realtor.com vs. being featured as an expert source on home page news?
Just second guessing a lot of this today. Anyone can to share thoughts and insights?
-
Hey Ricky,
Just to answer the straightforward questions - yes - profile links vs expert source reference are weighted differently. Though there are tons of other factors in play like the anchor text (does it show as repetitive generic spam or organic linking), the reputation of publication, and whether they made it a rel=nofollow link could hurt the reputation of the publication causing it to be less than a profile link.
Profile links can help with the exact brand name but not as much for the general search terms you're going for.
Local business SEO is tougher to be sure - make sure to check out the Moz local tool: moz.com/local and be sure to register with Google Business to manage how you show up.
Big picture! Do all of these small actions matter, especially when you can't see the ROI on day 1 = yes. SEO is the ongoing act of optimization - not a one and done action. Keep in mind that you are also crushing it for awareness and reputation when you land those press hits and thought leadership placements, regardless of the SEO value. Doing the little things the right way will add up over time. Here is a solid backup of link building as a strategy: https://moz.com/blog/state-of-links
Hope that helps!
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
-
Can anyone please explain the real difference between backlinks, 301 links, and redirect links?which one is better to rank a website? i am looking for the help for one of my website
Can anyone please explain the real difference between backlinks, 301 links, and redirect links? which one is better to rank a website? I am looking for help for one of my website vacuum cleaners
Intermediate & Advanced SEO | | hshajjajsjsj3880 -
My Link Building Strategy Good or Bad?
Okay I am new to SEO and I have read a few SEO beginner guides and have been practicing SEO over time now. I am trying to do SEO for a new clients site that is a completely new site with no MR and MT and here is my current link building strategy. Can you please review my link building plan and help me out with suggestions and corrections 1. Directory Submissions- From what I understand since the new google penguin updates this isn't as effective of a method but I am trying get high PR directory list, but a lot of them require paid standard submission reviews, otherwise it takes 2-3 months 2. Local Directory Submissions- Such as yelp, angee's list, whitepages, and other local directories. 3. Social Bookmarking- submit links to social bookmarking sites with target keyword(s) as anchor 4. Article Writing & Submission: create articles and submit to high pr article directories with different article titles and also wanted to see different submissions I can make with each article 5. Press Releases- submit to high pagerank press release directories, also wanted to see how many submissions is generally the rule of thumb for press releases. 6. Blog Outreach for Product Reviews: Submit products to blogs with PR 2+ to get review and backlinks 7. Forum Profile Creation- create forum profiles and engage in topics with signature with a link, I understand that since the penguin update this isn't something I should emphasis on 8. Blog Commenting- comment on relevant blogs that have dofollow links and nofollow links for link diversity 9. Guest Blogging- Write unique content and outreach to related blogs for guest posting opportunities 10. .edu & .gov links- How do I gain .edu & .gov links I have read several articles and I am having a hard time understanding this concept, would commenting on .edu & .gov blogs and profiles be an effective method or the correct method for gaining these types of links?
Intermediate & Advanced SEO | | azokaei0 -
Unnatural Links Removal - are GWMT links enough?
Hi, When working on unnatural links penalty, is removing and disavowing links shown on the GWMT enough or should the list be broaden to include OSE and Majestic etc.? Thanks
Intermediate & Advanced SEO | | BeytzNet0 -
Clickable links in Google SERP
Hi, I came across clickable links appearing below the meta description in Google SERP. The links are not necessarily the top pages for that particular domain and sometimes tend to reflect the newly added stock. Is there a way to determine what factors account for this? Thanks, mryxN.png
Intermediate & Advanced SEO | | RaksG0 -
How does a competing website with clearly black hat style SEO tactics, have a far higher domain authority than our website that only uses legitimate link building tactics?
Through SEO Moz link analysis tools, we looked at a competing websites external followed links and discovered a large number of links going to Blog pages with domain authorities in the 90's (their blog page authorities were between 40 and 60), however the single blog post written by this website was exactly the same in every instance and had been posted in August 2011. Some of these blog sites had 160 or so links linking back to this competing website whose domain authority is 49 while ours is 28, their Moz Trust is 5.43 while ours is 5.18. An example of some of the blogs that link to the competing website are: http://advocacy.mit.edu/coulter/blog/?p=13 http://pest-control-termite-inspection.posterous.com/\ However many of these links are "no follow" and yet still show up on Open Site Explorer as some of this competing websites top linking pages. Admittedly, they have 584 linking root domains while we have only 35, but if most of them are the kind of websites posted above, we don't understand how Google is rewarding them with a higher domain authority. Our website is www.anteater.com.au Are these tactics now the only way to get ahead?
Intermediate & Advanced SEO | | Peter.Huxley590 -
Removing Canonical Links
We implemented rel=canonical as we decided to paginate our pages. We then ran some testing and on the whole pagination did not work out so we removed all on-page pagination. Now, internally when I click for example a link for Widgets I get the /widgets.php but searching through Google I get to /widgets.php?page=all . There are not redirects in place at the moment. The '?page=all' page has been rated 'A' by the SEOmoz tool under On Page Optimization reports and performs much better than the exact same page without the '?page=all' (the score dips to a 'D' grade) so need to tread carefully so we don't lose the link value. Can anyone advise us on the best way forward? Thanks in advance.
Intermediate & Advanced SEO | | jannkuzel0 -
Link Acquisition - link building
When using Site Explorer to find out my competiters links so I can do some link aquisition SEO do I look for the "inbound" links or or "linking domains"? Also, what filters should I choose? I want to make a spreadsheet as Rand suggested in his video and start to prioritize my link building.
Intermediate & Advanced SEO | | musicforkids0 -
Outgoing affiliate links and link juice
I have some affiliate websites which have loads of outgoing affiliate links. I've discussed this with a SEO friend and talked about the effect of the link juice going out to the affiliate sites. To minimize this I've put "no follows" on the affiliate links but my friend says that even if you have no follow Google still then diminishes the amount of juice that goes to internal pages, for example if the page has 10 links, 9 are affiliate with no follow - Google will only give 10% of the juice to the 1 internal page. Does anyone know if this is the case? and whether there are any good techniques to keep as much link juice on the site as possible without transferring to affiliate links? Appreciate any thoughts on this! Cheers
Intermediate & Advanced SEO | | Ventura0