Link Building Myths

Link building is an important part of any SEO strategy, and with Google’s ever evolving search engine it is important to understand the facts from the fiction.

The last few weeks, we have witnessed turbulence in Google’s search engine, as they rolled out the latest Penguin update into the core algorithm. This means Penguin now works in real time, crawling and analysing links live.

This update also means Penguin is more granular, in the sense that Google could penalise parts of any given website based on spam signals, rather than the whole domain. Furthermore, the new Penguin rollout has the ability to discount links coming from weak sources, meaning negative SEO is becoming increasingly harder to perform.

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Therefore, links are clearly still an essential part of Google’s ranking system. As SEO experts it is an encouraging reminder to ensure all our client’s link building strategies are on-point.

There is still much speculation and misinformation in regards to how to build links and to what link building activity could damage your campaign. Rand Fishkin (Founder of Moz) tackled many of these issues on his whiteboard Friday last month.

Here we look at 5 link building myths:

“Don’t have more than one link from the same website”

There is a fair an argument to say diversity of linking domains is important. If a client had 10 links from 10 different domains, compared to a client with 10 links from the same domain. The first client would most likely have a stronger backlink profile.

However, this should not stop you wanting to have multiple links from the same site. If that site is clearly one of value, then go get those links. If your target site is editorially sound, with strong metrics you should want as many good links as possible from that domain.

Simple.

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“Links from non-relevant sites will not help you rank better”

Links from outside your niche won’t help you rank better? If a link is from a high quality source, then Google bot will still count it, simply because there is no system in place that has the ability to discount or devalue anything that lacks relevancy.

Penguin is designed to detect spam and link networks, to stop those trying to cheat the system. So if Google doesn’t view the link as some sort of sketchy ploy then that link will be counted. If an off-topic site wants to link to you for some reason, then it should not be something to worry about.

In many ways off-topic links should be considered as useful, as they are harder for your competitors to get.

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“Don’t get links too fast”

There are many murmurs which suggest getting links too fast could be detrimental to your SEO. However, there is no set number or velocity that could indicate to Google you are getting links “too fast”.

Companies who have massive marketing, SEO and PR budgets may put a campaign together which lands them hundreds of links in one month, would Google see this as unnatural? I doubt it.

However, a pattern of poor links may mean Google reacts in order to take a closer look to what is going on. But there is not a specific number of links over a period of time that leads to a negative reaction by the search engines.

As long as your links are from good sources, the pace you get the links shouldn’t matter.

Quality over quantity.

Be as fast as you want.

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“Don’t get links from websites with a lower DA than your own site”

Domain Authority has been developed by Moz to understand how well a site will perform in Google rankings, and is based on a wide range of factors. This does not necessarily indicate perfectly how good a site is to be linked from. DA should be considered as one of a range of metrics to decide a websites value in relation to rankings.

In context, it would be true to say Domain Authority sub 10-20 may not add as much value as a DA 80 website. However, you should not be scared of new websites that give links editorially, if you feel they offer value. Ultimately, websites with a lower DA than your own will still provide value and strengthen your own domain.

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“Just write great content, you will get links”

The idea that simply writing fantastic content will automatically lead to many links pointing towards your website is simply not true. Although writing quality content is key to doing this, it takes time and effort directed into promotion to achieve link building aims.

You could have the most perfect, ground breaking piece of content on your site. But, if nobody reads it you are never going to get any links.

Therefore, ensuring your content is promoted to the right audience is an important job to earning links.