The SEO PowerSuite conducted a survey of 628 SEOs to determine what’s still working in link building. The results were consistent for veterans and new players. Here are the highlights:
- 72 percent said backlinks are significant when it comes to ranking factors
- 24 percent thought backlinks a just somewhat important because of the many other factors in the ranking algorithm
- 4 percent believed backlinks barely influence rankings
The majority of SEO firms are obviously taking backlinks into serious consideration when building campaigns for clients.
“Market research helps to see what keywords are being searched for the most often and what the competition is for each. This allows us to focus on the most relevant and beneficial keywords that should be implemented into your SEO strategy,” according to SEO company Ed Kent Media.
What Is Backlinking?
A backlink, or inbound link, is a link on another site that links back to an organization’s site. An outbound link is a link on an organization’s page that goes to another site. It’s important to know the difference. Backlinks are an important part of search engines ranking algorithms. They show relevance and help establish domain authority (DA) that helps a site appear on the first page of a search result, which is the ultimate goal of all SEO-related efforts.
Can a Website Rank with no Backlinks?
The general consensus (it’s always a bit of a guess since none of the search engines publish their algorithms) is that a website cannot rank without inbound links. This is because:
- links are Google’s main ranking factor
- multiple backlinks indicate you have great content
- Google confirmed that search results for sites with no links would be anomalies
What are Google’s Rules for Link Building?
Building a successful linking campaign is tricky. Hooking up with the wrong websites can drag down a site’s ranking instead of boosting it. In general, if businesses build links that benefit their customers, they can’t really go wrong. This type of link building keeps a company’s site relevant for years to come and helps build mutually beneficial relationships with related but non-competing entities.
After a company secure links on prominent sites that relate back to their site, it’s time to keep the good content flowing. The reason for this is simple. Once the customers know about the site, it’s important to give them reasons to keep coming back. Also, if a site posts a page full of fluff, it’s easy for Google to conclude that they’re manipulating the search algorithm – and that’s definitely not going to be good for rankings.