How much is too much?
-
I am aware that Google's Penguin 2.0 update is looking to tackle the increasing numbers of links from poor quality websites & blogs.
The advice since Penguin 1.0 has been to create a natural backlink profile, ensuring that there is a balance between keywords-rich anchor text and brand terms.
I tend to link using Branded anchor text to the homepage of my website and use keyword anchor text sparingly to link to subpages/categories elsewhere on my website.
My question is what exactly is too much in terms of anchor text? If for example I have 5 or 6 keyword-rich links inbound to a sub/category page, do I need to also get some brand anchor text into these sub/category pages too?
-
The best advice is, as you say, to be 'natural'. Hard to 'emulate' a natural backlink profile? - Then I hate to say it, but try to earn some natural backlinks
Add UGC to product pages (reviews etc), try to make product pages (assuming this is an eCommerce site!) more interesting (soem great stuff on MOZ about this - including a whiteboard Friday from a while back, I think!).
If you ARE 'building' links, I would recommend avoiding exact match anchors. In terms of what anchor text % to use for each type, and what would look natural, I very strongly suspect that this is different in each industry/niche. Google is pretty good at spotting what other websites any given site is 'related' to, and so would also be able to calculate what, on average, looks dodgy and what looks natural. I would be very surprised if this data didn't at least influence it's algorithm's a little.
Who ranks at the top in your industry? What sort of anchor text do they have pointing to similar sub-pages? - Check this for 3 or 4 top-ranking sites in your sector.
Link like a Journo or blogger
Consider using a mix of brand, url, and natural anchors such as in-sentence links (read a few New York Times blogs to see how they handle citation links (or follow the example i just made! hahaha). Whilst on the NYT blog, why not follow the links from the NYT blogs to their destination URL, and then run an OSE check on those URLs? That will likely show you other examples of natural linking
The long term goal should be to earn links, not build them - I accept this can be a tough call though!
-
You're stating "I tend to link using Branded ...", are these links internal or coming from external websites? If they are internal, there isn't anything to worry about. When you have actively 'build' those links from other websites, I would be more cautious with pages that you're giving keyword-rich links, and indeed mix it up a little.
What you would want most is to have a natural overall profile. Not necessary a perfect profiles for each page (which, ironically, would be unnatural), but a pattern that would look perfectly diverse, skewed and chaotic in all its natural perfection.
Got a burning SEO question?
Subscribe to Moz Pro to gain full access to Q&A, answer questions, and ask your own.
Browse Questions
Explore more categories
-
Moz Tools
Chat with the community about the Moz tools.
-
SEO Tactics
Discuss the SEO process with fellow marketers
-
Community
Discuss industry events, jobs, and news!
-
Digital Marketing
Chat about tactics outside of SEO
-
Research & Trends
Dive into research and trends in the search industry.
-
Support
Connect on product support and feature requests.
Related Questions
-
How much time wait to do Link Building to a new page?
We launched a new page 2 weeks ago, and we want to know how much time should we wait to do Link Building and how many links should we try to generate to not get penalized by Google. Thanks! EDIT: Thanks to all for you answer! Very helpful!
Link Building | | carlostinca0 -
What is the importance of root domains linking to your website in Google's rankings? I notice our competition has a much higher number on keywords I'm analyzing. Thank you!
I've noticed our competition has a much higher number of "root domains" linking to their page than we do. Is this simply a result of more websites linking to them? How long does it normally take to build up these numbers/rankings? (I'm assuming it's a concerted effort, which I'll be researching.) Thank you!
Link Building | | mjfinet0 -
I'm thinking about buying a competitor and 301 redirecting? How much SEO value?
I'm thinking about buying a competitor and 301 redirecting their site to mine. The high level stats are as follows. My site has a DA of 46 and the homepage has a PA of 55. 375 root domains, 170,000 links. The site sells millions of dollars worth of product each year. The competitor (who I had never heard of) has a DA of 58 and a homepage PA of 64. They have 634 root domains and 260,000 links. They aren't selling much of anything (less than 100,000 per year). We might be able to operate their site but I'm concerned about maintaining 2 platforms. My question is about the value of buying this site and 301 redirecting it to my site. Would this create long term SEO value or not? Any examples that have been documented are greatly appreciated.
Link Building | | bradwayland0 -
How Much Should I Worry About NOFOLLOW Links?
I've got many unnatural backlinks that have the NOFOLLOW tag. How much should I worry about those links? Could Google penalize my website for these links?
Link Building | | sbrault740 -
Multiple LInks from the same domain - how much benefit do they give?
I'm wondering how much added benefit there is to gaining multiple links from the same domain? For example when looking at a competitor in open site explorer I see they have 239 linking domains but 5,066 links. How much additional benefit are they getting over just having 239 links from 239 domains? Also how many links is an optimal number from a domain in that case before there become no more point seeking links from that domain? 5? 10? Thanks
Link Building | | performagen1 -
Blog traffic / link ratio? (Esimated of how much traffic will result in a link)
Hi, Was wondering if people could please tell me some estimates of how much traffic is likely to gain links to a blog post? For example 1,000 hits = 1 link, Hence 10,000 hits = 10 links to a blog post? I understand there is no magic ratio I just want to know what people have achieved. I’m after averages not just a one off really successful blog post too. Please specify the topic you achieve this in e.g. SEO, photography, business, heath... etc.
Link Building | | charles10 -
How much would you be willing to pay per published guest post?
Suppose you hired a company that could write and publish an unlimited number of quality guest articles on relevant sites. How much would you be willing to pay for each guest post?
Link Building | | ProjectLabs0 -
How much Link Building?
I'm wondering how much additional directory links to a site, on a monthly basis, would be too much, and potentially seen as too manufactured in Google's eyes. I am referring specifically to good quality, or relevant, directory links, nothing very spammy. I know there is no specific number, just wondering what the consensus is. Would a 10% monthly increase in linking root domains generally be considered too much? 5%? Thanks for your input!
Link Building | | NiallTom0