Backlinks are important in SEO because they signal to the search engines how to find your site and, in particular, how to find valuable content on your site. All of this works well to improve the strength of your domain and increase your rank. Similarly, it builds credibility for your site, particularly when you have good backlink quality over quantity.
The quality of your backlinks can increase the authority and trustworthiness of your website also drawing a better audience. There are common misconceptions about backlink quantity though, and this article will highlight the importance of backlink quality vs. quantity and provide strategies for prioritizing high-quality links.
What is backlink quality?
Backlink quality refers to a follow link that comes from the body text of another website, pointing to your website. Backlinks are important for driving traffic to your website and to your content but, it has to be good backlink quality vs. quantity.
– Relevance of the linking site
Backlink quality comes from the relevance of the website to which you are being linked. If you run selling car repair parts but have backlinks on food blogs and party supply stores, those links aren’t particularly relevant.
– Domain authority and trustworthiness
Similarly, the links you have should come from domain authorities and build your trustworthiness. Paid links that come from unrelated events or websites don’t stand out nearly as much as links that come from industry directories, city council websites, or other relevant pages.
– Link placement and context
The link placement and the context are critical factors here. When you are looking at backlink quality over quantity, one of the things you need to consider is where in the text of another website or another article is your link placed.
For example:
If you own a website providing plumbing services, a high-quality backlink might be a top-rated roofing company in the area with a blog post on the roofing company’s website about potential causes of roof leaks. In the list of potential causes, one of the issues might be outdated plumbing, which the roofing company can’t fix, but your company can fix it.
As such, in the midst of the authoritative list of potential causes and their solutions, you might have a high-quality backlink to your website for those readers who might have a plumbing problem instead of a roofing problem.
What is backlink quantity?
Backlink quantity refers to the number of backlinks you have pointing from other websites to yours. When you look at link-building quality vs. quantity, one of the biggest considerations businesses might face is whether to spend money on a few or even one source of high-quality backlinks or to spend the same amount of money on hundreds, if not more poor-quality backlinks.
– Number of backlinks
The number of backlinks you have is important when it comes to SEO purposes. Google will evaluate the backlinks you have. However, Google evaluates quality over quantity.
While there was once a time when it was all a numbers game, now, having too many backlinks might actually cause some red flags and make your website look as though it uses manipulative practices to get a higher rank.
For example:
If your company has high-quality backlinks from reputable, authoritative sites, you might only have 40 backlinks to your homepage. If you have five backlinks total, Google might not see your website as relevant because it doesn’t have enough quantity. But, if you have more than 100, Google might see that as spamming.
– Different sources of backlinks
There are several sources of different backlinks, such as guest blogging backlinks.
- Guest blogging backlinks are where you have a guest blogger put a backlink into their website copy, like the example of the roofing company blog with the backlink to a plumber. Guest blogging should still be of high quality and somewhat related to your services or your company.
- Editorial backlinks are where a blogger or other publisher links to your website. These are considered the most authentic because they come from another journalist or publisher who has decided that they want to share something about your company.
- Business profile backlinks are those that come from things like free business directories and other platforms that link to your main business profile with information like your name, phone number, and hours of operation.
- Acknowledgment backlinks can come when you support a specific event, have a giveaway, or donate to a charity, and they acknowledge you publicly.
Possible consequences of over-prioritizing backlink quantity over quality
If you decide to over-prioritize backlink quantity over quality, you can face several possible consequences, not least of which are being penalized by Google, losing your website traffic, and not generating the revenue that you want.
Backlinks quality vs quantity: why quality matters more than quantity?
So why does quality matter more than quantity?
- Firstly, it has a positive impact on your search engine rankings. More high-quality results will boost your rankings, whereas low-quality backlinks will hurt your rankings.
- Secondly, it offers enhanced website credibility and builds user trust. When users see high-quality links rather than spammy links, they are more likely to trust your content and your company.
- Thirdly, it provides a better user experience. Users will know when they see spammy or toxic links from an irrelevant website, but they’ll equally understand when they see high-quality websites with good backlinks. This gives you enhanced social proof and competitive advantages and has a positive impact on your conversion rates.
Strategies for acquiring high-quality backlinks
So, how do you acquire high-quality backlinks if that becomes your priority?
- First, you need to create valuable, shareable content. The more valuable your content is, the more likely other companies are to share it.
- Second, you need to build relationships and focus on networking, particularly with tangentially related industries.
- Third, consider guest blogging and collaborations that benefit not only you but also other companies.
Summing up
When link building quality vs. quantity is an important factor. You should always monitor and manage your backlink profile so that you have high quality backlinks not just a high number of backlinks. Focus on sustainable, ethical link building practices and work with high quality SEO companies to help you prioritize the right types of backlinks you need for better SEO results.
FAQ section
#1: How can I identify if a backlink is from a high-quality source?
You can identify if a backlink is from a high-quality source by assessing how relevant that website is to your company, how naturally the link is placed in the copy, and, of course, what visibility that website has.
#2: What are the risks of focusing too much on the quantity of backlinks?
Focusing too much on the quantity of your backlinks can harm your rankings. Google will check for things like toxic backlinks and even sometimes conduct human audits of your website, and if you have too many, this can raise a lot of red flags.
#3: Can low-quality backlinks hurt my website’s SEO?
Yes, it absolutely can. Focusing too much on unrelated websites or spammy websites that are low quality will hurt your rankings because they look like bad or toxic backlinks in the eyes of Google. It also looks more like you are trying to manipulate your links, which raises a red flag.
