While the amount of backlinks is important, it’s not necessarily the most important factor. Google recognizes this and prioritizes the quality of backlinks over quantity.
This strategy makes sense when considering that the more important the backlink is to your page’s content and ranking purposes, the more carefully you should approach building it.
If a backlink brings you a good result, you should work hard to ensure that it’s high-quality.
Why Focus On Quality Rather Than Quantity?
The short answer is that you should focus on quality rather than quantity when pursuing backlinks. The long answer is a bit more complicated.
In most cases, more backlinks are better. However, this is not always the case, as Google recognizes.
To determine the “quality” of a backlink, Google examines several factors, such as the source website’s domain authority (DA), page authority (PA), and the similarity of the two domains.
The more factors in which the two domains match, the better.
Sometimes, the link can even be considered “spammy” if it doesn’t match the target page’s content.
For example, if you’re trying to link to an infographic on how to bake a cake, but the source website’s primary content is recipe-related, the link probably isn’t going to do much for your SEO.
On the other hand, if the two domains are highly relevant to each other and the content is somewhat connected, you can bet that this is a good backlink.
In this case, the recipe for the cake could become a piece of content on the linked page or vice-versa.
The bottom line is that it’s important to understand how Google calculates the “quality” of a backlink so that you can properly weigh the pros and cons of a specific link.
For the above reasons, we can conclude that, in most cases, the quality of a backlink is determined by the source domain’s authority.
This simply means that, in most instances, the more authoritative the domain, the more quality it contributes to the link.
How To Build Backlinks To Maximize Your Results
So you want to know how to build backlinks to maximize your results? Take a look at the below tips.
- Attracting Experts
The first and most fundamental rule of linking is to attract experts.
If you’re new to SEO, you might think that you need to focus only on attracting a high quantity of links. However, this is not necessarily the case as long as you link to reputable resources.
In other words, no matter how many backlinks you have, if any of the sources are low quality or untrustworthy, it’s not going to do much for your SEO.
Instead, you should try to attract as many experts as possible because, in most cases, the more experts that link to your page, the more reputable the page becomes.
When Google examines the domains that point to your page, it will consider the domains of your linking partners, along with its own domain in determining your overall rank.
In other words, the more experts that link to your page, the more Google will trust it.
- Be Unique
Another important rule of backlinks is to be unique.
Just because a website or brand exists doesn’t mean that you have to link to them. As a matter of fact, the more unique you are, the better.
This is especially important if the website or brand that you’re linking to is relevant to your niche.
In other words, if you’re a dentist and you’re linking to a dermatologist’s website, you probably shouldn’t do it.
The point is to avoid using links that are already established and, instead, find new and unique people or websites to link to.
Reduce The Number Of Backlinks From High-Authority Domains
When someone decides to link to your site or brand, they’re usually after something in particular.
Typically, they want to increase their site’s traffic or, at the very least, promote their product or service through your channel.
If they’re seeking an informational article about your niche, they last want a massive list of links pointing to other informative articles about your niche.
This is because, in most cases, this will be considered “noise” by Google, which might hurt your page’s overall positioning in the search results.
In other words, if you’re seeking to establish a beachhead in a new area, you may want to consider limiting the number of backlinks from high-authority domains.
Suppose a higher authority domain links to your page.
In that case, this increases the likelihood that the link will be considered “significant” by Google and, in turn, increases your chances of appearing in the search results.
- Focus On Long-Tail Keywords
While broad, general keywords should represent the bulk of your content, you should also be sure to include a significant number of long-tail keywords throughout the copy on your pages.
When a user searches for a long-tail keyword, your content will appear in the results, even if it’s not been optimized for that particular keyword.
In other words, if you have a blog post about “how to bake the perfect pie,” but the keyword is “baking,” Google will still think that your content is relevant and display it in the results. In this case, the phrase “baking the perfect pie” could become a long-tail keyword.
Include related long-tail keywords throughout the copy on your pages so that they, too, become searchable topics.
In addition to this, you should look for ways to cross-reference your long-tail keywords with one another so that your content is as searchable as possible.
For example, if you’re writing about the best types of shoes for hiking, you might want to include the keyword “hiking” as well as the brand names of the shoes so that both terms can be searched together.
- Avoid Using Keywords That Are Too Broad
While broad, general keywords should represent the bulk of your content, you should also be sure to include a significant number of long-tail keywords throughout the copy on your pages.
When someone searches for a broad keyword, their content will appear in the results, even if it’s not been tagged with that particular keyword.
In most cases, a broad keyword represents a topic rather than a product or service.
These are usually the kind of keywords that you should avoid using because they’re not specific enough.
Instead, look for niche-specific long-tail keywords such as “best green juice for energy” and “types of sunglasses for men.”
Focus On Quality Rather Than Quantity
If you want to improve your SEO, the last thing you should do is simply stuff your pages with as much content as possible. Building high-quality links should be your priority instead.
Whenever a backlink determines that your page is worth linking to, even if it is just a few words or an image, you should thank them and build a high-quality link to them. In many cases, quality will win out over quantity.
