Inbound links matter. A lot.

In a correlative study analyzing searches for over 10,000 keywords, it was found that inbound links account for over 40% of the weighting factor on search engine ranking. To put the gravity of inbound links into perspective, on-page and on-site keyword use barely accounts for 25%.

Now, before you jump on the careening ‘buy-links-bandwagon,’ remember this marketing geek’s search rule-of-thumb- The harder it is to get, the more it matters to great ranking.

Signals of Quality

Quality is more important than quantity, especially for long-lasting, sustainable results from your efforts. Some links are worth more than others. Quality is a measure of the linking site’s clout, content and context.

Clout

In search circles, we used to talk a lot of PageRank. Page rank was Google’s scoring of a website’s quality based on on-page signals such as keyword usage in content, domain authority and, yes, inbound links. While we don’t use the term PageRank that often anymore, the authority of a website still matters. Websites with authority tend to rank highly in their own searches and are often the go-to website in their field. A good reference, in the form of a contextual, in-content link, is a signal of your own site’s quality.

The ‘recipe’ for an authoritative site is robust, but it boils down to ‘trust.’ A respected publication is worth more than a personal blog. A master of your industry is worth more than a master of something completely different. A single link from a respected government website (.gov) is worth far more than a handful of links from a ‘cheap’ low-quality exotic domain often used by spammers, such as .info, .ly, and .ws.

Content

Being referenced in the content of a page, rather than as a link listing or menu item, is a signal to search engines that you just might know your stuff. To Google, you’re a research source on that topic… so long as the content is relevant.

Earning a link from myfishingblog.com stuffed inside an article on ‘building a better tackle box’ is so out-of-context that it would (literally) flag an alarm at Google. If it would be suspicious to a user, search engines have designed their algorithms to also be suspicious.

Context

Anchor text is the blue, underlined part of a link, and it’s what gives the link context. A keyword-rich link to your website is much more useful (and valuable) to search engines than a simple URL. Examine the links below.

www.silvertech.com | NH Ski Deals | SilverTech, a Digital Marketing Agency

Which link is the link for a digital marketing agency? While link A and link C will both take you to the same destination, link C’s context is much more useful for those trying to classify the link –be it a user or a search engine.

Also note that ‘click here’ is not a desirable keyword for any industry.

Jumping the Shark – Bought Links and the Demise of JC Penny

Quality is better than quantity… but what if there is a LOT of quantity? A hundred-pounds of copper is worth much more than a few karats of gold, but nobody has ever proposed marriage with a scrap heap.

For a price, you can buy a figurative ton of low-quality inbound links, but that’s not a great way to romance search engines. In fact, it’s what led to the very public, very messy breakup of Google and JC Penny.

In an effort to earn a fast rank increase on highly competitive keywords, such as ‘sweater,’ JC Penny’s SEO firm purchased thousands of links. The results were instantly phenomenal, with the retailer appearing in top ranking for a majority of their desired keywords, including ‘sweaters.’ Job well done, right?

Ask any baseball player about the long-term repercussions of quick-performance boosters, and you’ll find a story similar to JC Penny’s.

The ranking was short lived, and within days, their search performance began to sink. The links, while used in the right context, were from sites without much clout and without the right content. Google’s algorithm began discounting the weight of these links automatically, and flagged it for manual review by Google’s special-forces quality team, led by the amazing Matt Cutts.

Within hours, JC Penny dropped from top-spot ranking to ranking even lower than when they had started, and they were lucky to have only lost their reputation with a primary website traffic channel as catalog sales plummeted –it could have been worse. In baseball terms, it was just sent back to the minors.

Many who try similar schemes earn placement on Google’s blacklist, where the offending site is no longer eligible to appear on any search, even a search for the URL itself. In mafia terms, it’s dead to Google.

Getting Away with ‘Boosting’ Search Marketing

The aim of a quality search engine is to understand what the user is looking for, and return exactly that. It does this be using its own research from ‘crawling’ the internet to match the search to the best match in its memory, called an index. The algorithm is how the search engine conducts research, and how it ‘recalls’ the best results from its index.

Link schemes try to ‘hype’ the value of a website.

Some sites get away with it. There are thousands of sites link-scheming their way to higher results. It can be tempting to try it for yourself –to get an edge with the newest ‘untraceable’ boost.

With nearly 600 changes to their algorithm each year, Google is constantly working to provide better search results to their customers, meaning they’re looking for ways to constantly destroy attempts to ‘game’ their systems. Search engines are being tuned to get past the hype, and focus on the quality.

The best ‘boost’ for a baseball player is practice. It takes longer, but the results are more sustainable, and more likely to earn the respect of management. The best ‘boost’ for a website is to build a digital strategy for attracting quality inbound links.

There is no ‘best workout,’ despite the infomercials, because every player and every goal is different. What we do know, is that the best start is with a qualified, experience personal trainer.

There is no ‘best link building strategy,’ despite the ads, because each business and business goal is different. What we do know, is that the best start is with a qualified, experienced digital marketing agency.

Final Thoughts

Practice is time consuming and damned hard work, as is proper link building. In both cases, it’s not a ‘task’ as much as it is a lifestyle change with gains that make all the efforts well worth the pain. A proper strategy will balance your business goals and abilities, setting attainable, realistic targets as your begin to take your brand to #1 –and keep it there.