What Are SEO Backlinks?
A backlink is a hyperlink that points to the Crawler, such as a website, blog article, or social post. If a backlink is placed on your website and you are in the top 10 of search engine rankings for your keyword phrase, it could increase your chances of being ranked higher than websites that don’t have any links pointing to them.click here
SEO backlink analysis, or link analysis for SEO, is a process that helps with understanding the quality and diversity of links pointing to your website. Many webmasters depend on third-party tools to measure the quality of their websites’ backlinks, but it’s important to remember that the results are only as good as the data you feed into the tool.
In this post we’ll cover 15 unconventional facts about backlinks that may help you understand what they mean in connection to search engine rankings and improve your websites’ chance at ranking higher.
The 15 Unconventional Facts About SEO Backlinks
1. No Number of Backlinks Will Get Your Site to Rank by Itself
If you’ve been on the marketing scene for a while and you’re thinking about building links, you might have heard that there are “secret formulas” that can get your website to rank higher in the search engines without any effort.
The truth is, no backlinks will get your website to rank alone — at least not if you want it to stay ranked for long. Remember: The more backlinks there are, the greater chance you have of being ranked higher on search engine result pages (SERPs).
2. Connections Are More Valuable Than Backlinks
Number of links is not the only thing that matters when it comes to ranking high in search engines, especially when your target keyword is competitive and you have a good chance at being found. A great connection will give your website a competitive advantage over other websites, which can grow your rankings.
3. The Longer Your Backlinks, the More Power
When someone links back to your website, they are essentially saying, “I like this.” The longer your backlinks are, the more you can leverage that connection. Also, if you have two websites linking to yours from a similar location and the same niche, it can be an indication that one website is linking to you for the benefit of the other.
Linking out of a good relationship is always a win-win for both parties – their visitors will appreciate it. Remember: The longer your backlinks are, the stronger your relationship with other websites.
4. All Backlinks are Not Created Equal
The higher the quality of your backlinks, the more likely you will see an increase in traffic and rankings. Quality links come from trusted sources that have already established strong relationships with other websites.
The anchor text used can also play an important role in your backlink’s source value. Anchor text is the visible text inside a link. When someone links to another website, they use one or more anchor texts to describe what page they’re linking to and why.
5. Content Backlinks are the Most Valuable
The majority of backlink sources are content-driven in nature. The higher the quality and quantity of content on your website, the higher your chances of ranking lower in search engines. Less content on your site also means less power for each backlink you acquire. Remember: Content-driven backlinking is more valuable than link building for long-term results.
6. The Quality of the Link May Be Better Than the Source
If you’ve ever had a website link to yours and you found it totally irrelevant to your business, chances are that link was posted there by a backlink spammer. Spam links are worthless in terms of long-term rankings because they don’t add value to the quality of your site’s backlinking profile.
From the spammer’s perspective, though, it makes sense – they’re trying to leverage traffic from sites that don’t do anything to their rankings. Remember: All backlinks are not created equal.
7. Authority Backlinks Are the Most Valuable
There are two types of backlinks to consider — authority and non-authority. Authority backlinks have the potential to generate more traffic and exposure for your website. If a link is coming from another website that has already established a strong presence in your niche, you might be able to leverage some of their authority. Remember: The higher the authority, the better your backlink’s potential value.
8. Social Signals are More Valuable than Backlinks
There’s nothing wrong with getting social signals, but you need to understand that they’re not as valuable as backlinks when it comes to being ranked in search engines. A single backlink will carry more weight than tens of thousands of social signals. Remember: It is not the number of social signals that matters, but the type.
9. Internal Links are Backlinks
There’s a lot of confusion about internal links. Your site might be filled with backlinks and still not rank high in search engines if there are no internal links anywhere on your site. Internal links designating your pages as important – so make sure that you link properly whenever possible and consider using rel=”canonical” for the best results.
10. Backlinks Can be a Double-Edged Sword
On one hand, the more backlinks you have the better your chances of ranking high in search engines. On the other hand, you can be penalized for having too many incoming links to your website. The most common reason is keyword overstuffing – if there are too many keywords being used as anchor texts on too many different pages, it can be indicative of an attempt to manipulate rankings.
11. Trust and Reputation are Key
The quality of your backlinks will depend on the reputation of the sites linking to you. Websites with a good reputation will make sure their backlinks carry a positive message, while low-quality sites can do more harm than good.
12. How Long Your Backlinks Last Matters Most
Your backlinks will have the most value if they have been established for at least several months. The longer a backlink has been established, the more power it will have over your website’s search engine rankings.
13. A Good Link to Your Website is Better Than 10 Bad Ones
A backlink can be extremely influential for a website. The more links you have, the better the chance of getting your website ranked higher in search engines. However, if you acquire 10 low-quality links from websites that don’t have any authority or trustworthiness, you can expect that most of them will be harmful to your ranking rather than positive.
14. Trust and Authority are Highly Correlated
The higher the Trust Score, the better your chance at ranking well in search engines. The algorithm used by Google is designed to recognize websites with strong trust and authority signals. Since they tend to follow similar patterns, it’s hard to tell them apart from one another.
15. What Other Websites Are Linking To You Matters Most
A link from a website that already has an established backlinking profile will have more value than a link coming from a site with no backlinks of its own. Even within a niche, it’s important to know about the backlinking networks and sites that are worth your time.
