How many back links a day?
-
I am the owner of a very small business who can not afford a decent SEO company. So I am doing my SEO myself. I am producing good amount of content. But at the same time I am way behind my competition in back linking. Can you please let me know as a rule of thumb, how many external do-follow links a day I should make to be on the safe side?
Thanks all
-
The mindset of "get as many backlinks as you can" is now old school SEO. This type of SEO is likely to be completely ineffective or at worst, can get you penalized or have Google look at your site unfavorably through the Penguin algorithm.
While links are still an important part of the algorithm, Google has gotten really good, in most cases, at determining which links are truly earned links and then counting those.
One really good earned link can be worth hundreds of self made links. Rather than concentrating on how many links a day to make, I'd work on finding ways to get people to link to your content truly naturally.
-
any links you can get daily, Are probably not worth anything, if you can just get a link on demand then why would google value it?
-
Thanks Andy
-
Thanks Moosa
-
Thanks a lot for your time. I try to hit on that from tomorrow. Seems difficult but we will see.
-
Don't bother about the quantity. Focus on quality. A back link from a quality site is equal to 1000 back links from poor/less authoritive sites.
Sites can beat you with less links, but higher quality ones. This is because links from high authority domains, from blogs or news sites for example, can be substantially more effective for your ranking. High Authority sites can give you great link equity - sites with lots of juice and not too many links can pass on more authority to your site.
This is why unique content and engaging articles are essential for your site if you want to really push up the rankings - you can't buy links off the BBC website or Yahoo News, but make a unique discovery or post an interesting article or tool and you may well find you the link building can run itself!
Today, where each and every single link is being scrutinized to the highest extent by the powers that be. Not only will backlinks that lack credibility or are outright fakes earn zero credit for the site, they can also result in penalization and a swift plummet to the lower echelons of search ending rankings.
Although site owners have become increasingly aware of the value of link building towards higher rankings, there still seems to be a demand for “higher quantities” of links.
I’m sure just about every SEO expert and link building specialist probably has told you by now to focus on quality when it comes to acquiring links. For the most part, that is true. However, I’m going to ask you to slightly modify your paradigm of thinking when it comes to evaluating your own link profile.
Understand that Google is always looking for domain authority and link popularity within niches. Niches are essentially keywords and search queries. The question they ask themselves before serving their search results is: “Which sites are the most authoritative when it comes to this particular keyword?”
“Quality of Links vs. Quantity of Links,” we see that the answer to the question is much more sophisticated. Instead, you’re better off placing yourself in the proper mindset and looking to build authority as best as possible for your site. Target the most authoritative sites that you can find for your niche. Target tons of sites that have some credibility. Target a balance of sites that are somewhere in between. More than likely, to build the most authority, you’re probably going to need both. Thus, the terms domain authority and link popularity now make much more sense!
If you want to quickly establish a clear plan for your link building campaign, do proper keyword research and identify your competitors. Take a look at their link profiles using some of the free link building tools available. Do they have tons of moderate quality links? Do they have a strong social presence? Do they have just a few super authoritative links? Do they have a strong combination of the above 3? Whatever it is they’re doing, you need to be do the same because that’s what Google thinks you need to do to show authority within your niche. Evaluate your competitors and look to improve on the tactics they’re doing.
Hope this helps
-
This is not a dieting plan or a gym exercise that you have to do atleast this amount of work out on daily basis. Link building is more about quality then quantity so if you get 100 directory links every day… this might hurt instead you spend some time writing a good piece and get it published on a website like Moz (every industry have a Moz like websites).
Instead of spinning articles all day long better spend days and convince the journalist in your local area to cover your story and this will give you a better return on investment instead of 10 links a day kind of schedule.
Hope this helps!
-
Hi Armin,
First of all, try not to focus on quantity. Look only for quality and don't worry just about do-followed links.
Google now likes to see sites with a very natural looking link profile, so don't bother with the likes of blog commenting or article marketing. Instead, focus on what you have to offer a potential link partner, and if this is nothing, perhaps look to create an article or study that is specific to your industry / specialism.
Link building changed a little while ago, so please be careful, otherwise you will end up with a penalty in the shape of a Penguin!
EDIT-----
Adding a few links that should provide you with additional information:
- Google: Link Schemes
- MOZ: Link Building ideas to get more customers
- MOZ: Scalable Link Building tactics
-Andy
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
-
Expired Domains for Back Links - any good?
I've read that PBN's have been targetted by Google and a recent update may have been brought out targeting these. I was going to search for an expired domain with good backlink profile in a similar sort of niche to me. I was going to buy that domain and build a mini website. I would have registered with a paid shared host of £2-3 per month and have it as a site of its own. Then when ranked on Google so i know its not blacklisted I'd link one link back to my money site. I cant see how Google would be able to penalise this. Im presuming a PBN is a large network of these that are used to link to multiple sites rather than doing what I was planning. Is it a good idea to use the tactic I was going to use or am I asking for trouble?
Intermediate & Advanced SEO | | paulfoz16090 -
Value of no-follow links
I'm curious to understand roughly how much % of value a no-follow link has in building authority relative to a do-follow link? I understand that Google seems consistently and growingly focused on value - ie. is the link valuable in growing the business, irregardless of SEO - and perhaps therefore the no-follow / do-follow distinction is becoming a more unnecessary dichotomy. How does Google look at do-follow vs no-follow links? And how much weight now is really given to one compared to the other?
Intermediate & Advanced SEO | | Gavo0 -
Link Brokers Yes or No?
We have a client who has asked us to talk to link brokers to speed up the back linking process. Although I've been aware of them for ages I have never openly discussed the possible use of 'buying' links or engaging in that part of the industry. Do they have a place in SEO and if so what is the MOZ communities thoughts?
Intermediate & Advanced SEO | | wearehappymedia0 -
Thousands of Links from mrwhatis.net
Google WMT shows that there are thousands of links pointing to the pages of my website from mrwhatis.net. Among the links, hundreds of them have the same anchor text. Here are some examples. http://mrwhatis.net/a-canon-in-music-for-kid.html
Intermediate & Advanced SEO | | pianomother
http://mrwhatis.net/canon-chords-piano-in-c.html
http://mrwhatis.net/canon-d-major-piano-chord.html
http://mrwhatis.net/canon-d-major-piano-mp3-free-downloa.html
http://mrwhatis.net/canon-d-major-piano-sheet-fre.html and more.... The links pointing to my site on the above pages share the same link title "Canon In D Sheet Music | Canon In D Music Score". My question is - are these links considered unnatural links by Google based on your experience? Why and why not? I want to get some ideas before I ask Google to disavow these links. Thanks. John0 -
Wikipedia links - any value?
Hello everyone. We recently posted some of our research to Wikipedia as references in the "External Links" section. Our research is rigorous and has been referenced by a number of universities and libraries (an example: https://www.harborcompliance.com/information/company-suffixes.php). Anyway, I'm wondering if these Wikipedia links have any value beyond of course adding to the Wiki page's information. Thanks!
Intermediate & Advanced SEO | | Harbor_Compliance0 -
Billing for results not by the day. Thought?
Hi, We are searching for a new SEO provider for www.compoundsecurity.co.uk and I notice that some SEO providers are now billing against results rather than days spent doing the work. Considering the high prices and lack of work done for those fees by current provider, this is of interest to me. Does anyone have experience of working this way and or have any advice please? Thank you
Intermediate & Advanced SEO | | DaddySmurf0 -
Bad links
Well just set up SEO Moz to find out someone thought it funny to build a load of links to our site http://bluetea.com.au/ with the anchor txt "Buy Cocks" .... PLEASE PLEASE let me know how much I should worry about this and how can I get rid of it?
Intermediate & Advanced SEO | | Intrested0 -
Maximum number of links
Hi there, I have just written an article that is due to be posted on an external blog, the article has potentially 3 links that could link to 3 different pages on my website, is this too much? what do you recommend being the maximum number of links? Thanks for any help
Intermediate & Advanced SEO | | Paul780