Link Building

1. Build them! – Inbound links continue to be one of the primary factors Google uses to rank web pages.

2. Links from authoritiative domains pass more power – The more trust and authority a domain has, the more beneficial a link from it is likely to be to your rankings. You can use the Domain Rating figure (DR) in Ahrefs Site Explorer to quickly assess the relative strength of a domain (high DR = high authority). Other metrics to consider include DA (Moz) and Trust Flow (Majestic).

3. Links from topically related sites assist rankings – Links from quality sites within your niche, or pages which are topically related to your content are beneficial for rankings. 

4. Links from within content are the most valuable – Editorial links from within content are considered to be the strongest links.

5. Steal your competitor’s links – An analysis of your competitor’s backlink profile is a great starting point for any link building campaign. Use Ahrefs Site Explorer to easily uncover your competitor’s links and go ahead and grab them for your own site.

6. Low quality link building may cause penalties – Low quality and automated link building may cause your site to be penalised by Google. 

7. Diversify your link profile – A strong link profile should include several different types of link. 

8. Diversify your anchor text – Keyword usage is anchor text is still a ranking factor, however, it is important to diversify it. A mixture of branded, generic, and keyword based anchors is desirable. (further reading)

9. Regularly audit your link profile – Conduct a regular audit of your link profile and look out for suspicious/unnatural looking links. While a small number should not do you any harm, large quantities of low quality links may be an indication of low quality link building by an SEO company, or even a negative SEO campaign from a competitor. If this is the case then you should consider removing or disavowing these links.