There is certainly no dearth of SEO companies and link farms crying themselves hoarse trying to elucidate the importance of the backlinks to the novice website owners. Although most experts suggest that link building should form an integral part of page rank improvement efforts, the million dollar question remains do backlinks still hold the same importance that they once did? After all Google is constantly upgrading its algorithm, so there is always a possibility that the big G may have changed the way in which their search bots scrutinize the links to a site to decipher its popularity. A patent filed by the company in 2004 was recently granted and has shed some light on how the company handles the backlink factor.
The link building mistakes that even the experts make
- One of the most fundamental and glaring mistakes that even the experts are prone to making is using only PR6 and above sites for their back links. It is important to understand that ‘au natural’ is the operative phrase when dealing with Google and it certainly does not seem natural that only the high hitting sites want to link to you. It will be obvious to the spiders that you are trying to scam the system and that’s not going to work in your favor.
- The secret to getting the giant G to love your site is to ensure that you have a healthy mix of sites linking back to your site, so while the PR6s and others look fabulous, including the PR0s and PR1s will keep things looking normal. However, you need to ensure that you do not go overboard with the easy backlinks. Although you certainly should include some web 2.0 sites, forum posts, blog comments etc just using those to fill your link spread is certainly not going to help your cause.
- The third mistake is getting links from a fixed number of niche sites; for instance, if you have a site related to gardening, you get backlinks only from 3 sites that have a good PR standing and are relevant to your niche; this again is a dead giveaway
- Finally, error #4 is a repetition of the first mistake; there are always people who scour around exclusively for backlinks from highly ranked domains such as .edu and .gov. If all the sites that link back to you are from these top level domains, your ploy is going to be ridiculously obvious.
Meet Mr. Righteous Surfer, he is your best friend
The central ethos around which Google wrote its search algorithm is that of Mr. Righteous Surfer, who is this guy you wonder? Well, he is the average Joe who goes site hopping looking for information and other things online.
A lot of businesses have been built around anticipating the customer’s next move or what he is most likely to do and Google has done something similar with the Mr. Righteous Surfer technique but the tech geniuses that those guys are, they have taken it several steps farther.
You do not have to get a written explanation of how the Google algorithm is designed as long as you understand this simplistic yet ingenious concept. When people rummage through websites and come across links, they are more likely to click some over the others. For instance, if you have an automobile related website, with two links on the home page, one which leads to the ‘about us’ page and the other which takes the visitor to a page on car repair tips, which page do you think Mr. Righteous Surfer is more likely to visit?
The way Google views this conundrum is that a link which has a higher likelihood of being clicked on and visited, should enjoy a better rank. This is of course the most simplistic explanation of the Mr. Righteous Surfer Model and Google has tweaked it enough to turn it into a commendable search engine force. However, the central theme still remains constant, Google trying to offer the best services to its customers. So, this brings us to the trillion dollar question, what would be the perfect link as described by Google.
Google on what is the perfect backlink
Here are some valuable insights on the right way and place to put your backlinks in, so that they can garner the much needed attention from Google.
The aesthetics: So, do the font size, color and how the link stands out against the background really make even an iota’s difference to the standing of the link? You would be flabbergasted, but the answer to that question is a resounding ‘yes”.
Think like Mr. Righteous Surfer here, would you not have a higher propensity for clicking on a link which has a larger font than the surrounding text and one which stands out because of the contrasting colors used for the link font and the background? In all likelihood, the answer to that question will also be positive. This brings us to another crucial point, do not try to hide links in the text; it will do more harm than good. Also, always make sure that the links are highlighted, so that your visitors can clearly demarcate them from the rest of the text.
The anchor text: While the importance of using anchor text which is related to the theme of the page has been elaborated umpteen times, few know that Google also checks for the commerciality of the anchor text. Although the company has not warmed up to anchor texts with overt commercial intent; unfortunately, you cannot always circumvent this factor, especially if your keyphrase includes the word ‘buying’ or ‘for sale’.
The surrounding text and the page attributes and how they connect with the link: Another elementary point that Google takes very seriously is the relevance of the link to the content of the text on the source page. So, adding a link to a loan site on a page that offers home cleaning information is definitely not going to earn you brownie points from the big G. While this factor is painfully obvious even to the new kids on the block, what even the experts fail to tell you is that Google has taken their scrutiny deeper.
Not only is the overall relevance of the page checked but also that of the text that surrounds the link. So, you will need to ensure that the link fits in perfectly with the surrounding text, in terms of the niche. To check Google’s views on a page that you are linking to and its relevance to your link, use Google’s external keyword tool. Simply add the url of the page where you intend to place your link and if the keyword that you are targeting appears, your selection is spot on.
Image links: For the image links, it is vital to ensure that they not only have the right tag but should also link to a relevant page. For instance, using the image of a flower linked to a gardening page will certainly be a hit with the spiders and will definitely earn a place in Google image search. Make sure that the name of the image file has the keyword that you are targeting. The aspect ration of the image is also an important consideration, so you need to ensure that your images are not so puny that they go unnoticed. For example, a pixel size of 200 X 200 will certainly get noticed.
The target URL: Google does not take kindly to techniques that try to undermine the efficacy of their algorithm. The bots are not just looking for the relevance of the target url to the source page which has the link on it, but they also want to ensure that the links do not point to a site on the same host, which may very well belong to the same person. In other words, any attempts to cheat the system by link masking or pointing to a deeper page on the site or placing a link on one of the other sites that you own, will not work.
The position of the link on the page: It would do you good to understand early on that Google does not think highly of comment links, footer and sidebar links and forum links. So make sure that your link is in the main body of the page and high up in the list if one has been used.
The visitor’s choice: Google also has a system in place whereby every link on a page earns a positive point when a visitor clicks on it, increasing its rank while the other links on the page earn a negative point because they were not clicked on. This proves a very vital point, that if you place your link on a page which already sports several dozen other links, you will just end up getting a lot of negative points.
The dubious claims about ‘no follow’ links: This one has been doing the rounds of the internet for a while, with many experts claiming that “no follow” links are worthless, but are they really? Let’s go back to Google’s core mantra again; does it not say that you need to have a healthy mix of sites in your link profile? Then, why should pages that offer “no follow” links be exempted from this rule?
Where to find the ever elusive perfect backlink?
Do not let anybody convince you that spending hundreds of dollars for an automated link building tool will get you the perfect link. It simply isn’t going to happen. As opposed to this, the semi automated tools out there are a better bet.
Also, it is imperative to understand that while Google will point you in the right direction by showing you all the sites that are relevant to your niche in a search, you will need to do the heavy lifting on your own and this involves building rapport with the owners of the sites and gaining credibility in your niche community.
Do not expect webmasters to fall over each other vying to get you to place a guest post on their site. However, if you build up a relationship with them first, project the image of being a friendly person who is genuinely interested in the niche and the various sites dedicated to it, you may just be able to get your foot in the door.
To Your Success,
Joerg Weishaupt
P.s. Get more information on social media and marketing in my free primer "Building A Successful Marketing Strategy". Sign up for your free copy today.