Part of the guide: Blog Traffic
Every backlink is unique. A single high-quality link can be worth 50,000 low-quality links. It all comes down to six factors. Six factors Google uses to measure the authority of every page on the Internet. These factors never change, they always remain the same. It’s near impossible to build links where every factor is perfect. It’s also a bad idea, you always want to build a diverse link profile with a variety of link types and quality.
However, you want to use your most powerful links to target your toughest keywords.
1. The Authority Of The Site
The authority of a site is the most important factor. Nothing comes close to authority, not even Page Rank. If you get a backlink from The New York Times or Yahoo i.e MASSIVE authorities, your ranking are going to jump.
While it has a lot to do with their ridiculous link profiles; it’s the authority that matters. Google KNOWS these sites don’t link to junk. They only ever link to quality, and because of that you’ll always get a rank boost when you get a link from a known authority site.
2. Page Rank
Page Rank is one of the oldest ranking factors and backlink metrics. For as long as I can remember, the higher the PR of a page, the more powerful the backlink.
Google gives every page and domain on the Internet a PR from 0-10. You can also get PR N/A (worthless), but that’s usually only given to new sites/pages.
The PR of a page is controlled by the sites linking to it. If a few PR4 sites are linking to a PR0 site, upon Google’s next PR update that site might become PR3 or even 4 given enough links.
The important factor to note is that it doesn’t matter what PR the domain you’re getting a backlink from has. The PR of the page your link is on is the only factor of any consequence.
Squidoo may be PR7, but when you sign up and post an article on the site; you’re going to get a PR0 backlink. The PR of a domain gets distributed throughout the site’s pages. Most of a page’s ‘PR Juice’ is kept on the page, while some of it flows through the page’s out-bound links.
PR1-3 are generally low-value links. PR3-4 are mid-value and PR5+ are HIGH value.
3. Site Type
Google uses the site type metric to calculate the worth of a backlink. How?
Google knows some links are easier to obtain than others. They know bookmarking sites give out links to anyone who submits them. They also know article directories, wikis, web2.0 sites and forums give out links to anyone who signs up
They know these types of sites are easy to obtain links from, so obviously they aren’t a sign of authority. On the other side of the spectrum, Google knows blogs, authority sites and press release sites are difficult to obtain links from.
4. Relevance
Since the creation of SEO, relevance has been a highly important factor. Backlinks from a relevant site within relevant content are a lot more powerful than getting links from sites with no relevance. For example, if you run a dog training site, links from other dog training sites would be worth twice as much as links coming from cat training sites.
5. Link Location
The location of your links is another critical factor. Knowing all of the above 4 factors; you might think it’s a good idea to go out and find relevant authority sites with high Page Rank and comment on their blog posts, right?
Those links would be useful to a degree, but Google knows blog comment links are easy to obtain. So because of this, Google places very little worth on all links in the comment section of a website.
The hardest link location to obtain links from is within content. Within the actual written content of a website. These links are called contextual backlinks.
When a site links certain words, a keyword or phrase to your website (like this), it gives you a contextual backlink. These are the most powerful links you can get from a page. Also, if you can get a contextual link within the first sentence or paragraph of the content, it’s even more powerful.
6. OBL’s
The number of OBL’s (out-bound links) directly affects the power of a site’s Page Rank. Page Rank gets distributed between the links on a page. So the more links, the less ‘link juice’ is passed through each one.
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Start free →While this has been proven to be true, it’s not as important as other factors. I have ranked a lot of pages getting high PR links that have a ton of OBL’s, getting similar results as with backlinks from pages with few OBL’s. Just remember, the less OBL’s the better.
Knowing all of this, the best type of link would be:
- Contextual
- Relevant
- High PR
- Low OBL’s
- From An Authority Site
In Prosperity,
David Wood
P.S. Leave me your thoughts, comments and questions below.
Comments
Sarah Thompson, July 30 2024, 21:20
Thank you for sharing this detailed guide, David. The explanation of the six factors is clear and practical. I’ve been focusing on building backlinks but wasn’t aware of the importance of site authority and OBLs. This post provides a clear roadmap to improve my strategy. Keep up the great work!
Michael Lee, July 30 2024, 21:25
Great insights, David! I appreciate the breakdown of each factor. It’s refreshing to see actionable steps that can be implemented immediately. The part about contextual backlinks is particularly interesting; I hadn’t considered the importance of link location before. Thanks for the valuable information!
Emily Richards, July 30 2024, 21:30
Could you provide more examples of high-authority sites that are good for backlinks? Your insights are always so practical, and seeing specific examples would be incredibly helpful. I’ve tried a few of these strategies before with mixed results, so I’m curious about what has worked best for you. Thanks for another great post!
John Peterson, July 30 2024, 21:35
This post is very informative, David. However, I’d like to hear more about the potential challenges and how to overcome them. For example, what are some common pitfalls with building backlinks, and how can they be avoided? Also, how do you ensure the quality of backlinks? Your advice would be greatly appreciated.
Daniel Kim, July 30 2024, 21:40
Hey David, great insights as always. Let’s catch up soon and discuss these strategies over coffee. I find the idea of contextual backlinks particularly intriguing. It seems like a smart way to boost SEO performance. Looking forward to hearing more about your experiences with this approach. Cheers!
Laura Martinez, July 30 2024, 21:45
I’ve had success with some of these strategies in the past, especially focusing on site authority. Your tips are spot on and very helpful. One thing I’ve found effective is maintaining a diverse link profile. Thanks for sharing these insights; I’m excited to implement more of them!
Mark Johnson, July 30 2024, 21:50
I recently started implementing some of these strategies, and I’ve already seen positive results. The method of focusing on high PR backlinks has been particularly effective for me. Your advice on link location was very helpful. Thank you for the valuable insights, David!
Rebecca Lee, July 30 2024, 21:55
I’m still skeptical about the effectiveness of some of these strategies, especially the relevance factor. Do you have any case studies or concrete evidence to back up these claims? It would be helpful to see some real-world examples of these methods in action. Your posts are always thought-provoking, and I appreciate the effort you put into them.
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‘Most of a page’s PR Juice is kept on the page, while some of it flows through the page’s outbound links.’ Translation: the fewer links crammed onto a page, the more of that page’s authority you actually get. Took me two read-throughs to realise he’d already said the same thing in the OBL section too.
We called it ‘link juice’ in 2009 too, Gail, not ‘PR Juice’ – nice rebrand.
Six factors, and five of them describe links almost nobody trying this actually gets. A contextual link in the first paragraph of a relevant PR5 site isn’t a strategy, it’s a stroke of luck most site owners will never hand you for free. Worth saying plainly: the realistic outcome for someone starting from zero is a pile of PR1-3 links, not the ideal stack at the bottom of this post.