For many web admins, building links with other websites is a big part of their online marketing strategy. However, you might be over-optimizing your website and not reaching as many people as possible. In this blog post, we explore what link-building strategies were effective in 2018. What creates a beautiful connection? Isn’t one that’s natural, doesn’t have a lot of anchor text, comes from a reputable source, and is relevant relevant relevant relevant relevant relevant relevant relevant relevant relevant relevant relevant relevant relevant relevant relevant relevant relevant relevant relevant relevant relevant relevant That, of course, you already knew. It’s a subject that’s been covered extensively. I even have a 30,000-word book that teaches you all you need to know about link development. But what about the speed with which links are built? How many links should you create, and how quickly should you do so? Don’t worry—I’ll tell you how many links you should construct and at what speed you should develop them.
What is the optimal number of connections to build?
Isn’t it true that the more links to your website, the better? There is a widespread belief that more is better. You shouldn’t be concerned with the number of connections your rivals have. You should prioritize quality above quantity. A link from CNN, presumably from a relevant part and story, will be worth considerably more than ten links from small-town websites. In other words, you should strive to develop as many high-quality links as possible, preferably to internal sites rather than your homepage. What is the purpose of internal pages? It’s simpler to add them to deep pages than adding to add your homepage. Consider this: would you instead connect to a piece of instructive information on an internal page or to a homepage that sells a product or service? Isn’t this an inner page? In terms of number, you won’t be able to outrank sites with 10,000 links if you use this strategy, but you will have a lot more authoritative links, which will help you outrank your competitors. And this is how you’ll do it: via outreach, publicity, and networking with authors.
When it comes to developing links to your website, how quickly should you go?
You usually don’t have to worry about velocity if the connections you’re establishing are clean. In general, even if you generate a lot of links quickly, you should be alright. However, I’ve seen a pattern throughout the years… Specifically, new sites or those with less than 100 connections. You may see a temporary dip in your rankings if you establish 500 links in the first 30 days to a brand new site or a site with less than 100 inbound links. Eventually, they’ll get to a more excellent position than they started, but building too quickly is unnatural. I’m not sure how Google’s algorithm handles velocity, but this is at least what I’ve seen over the previous four or five years. So, whether you have a new site or one with many inbound links, try to develop 5 to 10 in the first 30 days. After that, you may gradually increase it over the next several months. Here’s what I’d aim for in terms of velocity:
- Month 1: Create 5–10 inbound links (ideally to your homepage)
- Build 10 to 15 inbound links in the second month (mix it up between your homepage and internal pages)
- Build 20 to 30 inbound connections in the third month (mix it up between your homepage and inner pages)
- Build 30 to 40 inbound links in the fourth month (focus on internal pages)
- Month 5: Build at least 40 links each month (focus on internal pages)
- Build as many high-quality connections as feasible in the sixth month (focus on internal pages)
As you can see, you concentrate on generating links to your homepage and internal pages for the first few months, but then you move your attention only to internal pages afterward. Why? Because having the bulk of your links directly to your homepage isn’t natural. I was hoping you could look at Quick Sprout; for example, I don’t construct links to the blog, and the overall number of links going to the whole site is as follows 9,143. Only 19.8 percent of the 9,143 links lead to the homepage.
In other words, internal pages account for nearly 80.2 percent of my entire link count. You may develop as many links as you like each month if you have an older site with over 100 inbound links. I mention this because it’s pretty improbable that you’ll be able to produce more than 50 in a month. It takes time to ramp up your link building, but it’s also difficult to gain more than 50 new links in a month unless you purchase them or write a popular blog article.
What happens if you construct too many connections in a short period?
Don’t worry if you establish too many connections too quickly. If your links are high-quality, relevant, and don’t have a lot of anchor text, you shouldn’t incur a Penguin penalty or anything like that. The only thing that may happen is that your search traffic will remain level or perhaps decline for a few months, but after three months, you should observe a significant increase in search traffic. If you aren’t experiencing a considerable increase in search traffic, it is likely that the links you generated aren’t of good quality or that your content is lacking. If it’s none of these, you’ll need to expand your website and change how your internal pages are linked. Nonetheless, these are minor adjustments that should result in increased traffic. Don’t get too worked up if you don’t see an immediate spike in traffic. Even when you generate high-quality connections, the effects often take three to six months. So, if you’re putting in a lot of time and effort into link building, don’t become discouraged or give up if you don’t see results after two or three months.
Conclusion
I’ve ranked for dozens of competitive phrases on the web using the technique above. For example, I used to operate a blog called Online Poker Lowdown, and within six months, it had climbed to the top of Google’s search results for the keyword “online poker.” I just followed the six-month strategy outlined above. Sure, the site isn’t as popular as it once was, but that’s because I sold it and ceased updating it years ago. As you begin to create links following the strategy above, your website will start to rank for more long-tail phrases. Over time, you’ll rank for more head keywords, but three- and four-word search phrases will provide the bulk of your search traffic. Remember that the simplest type of link-building is via content marketing when using links to increase your search traffic. Rather than asking for links, you can boost the probability of others sharing and connecting to your material by providing excellent content. It’s one of the key reasons I make so many infographics for Quick Sprout.
Frequently Asked Questions
How many links should a website have?
A: There is no hard and fast rule. The answer will vary depending on the topic of the website you are building or if it’s a personal blog that only has one link to your Patreon page because we can’t have too many!
How many external links should a website have?
A: The answer to this question is highly dependent on the website. A general rule of thumb would be having over 400 external links per 100 pages, but there are exceptions for specific websites.
How many backlinks should your website have?
A: This depends on the type of website. A news website would have thousands, while a coffee shop blog might only need one or two links per article.
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