Inbound Link Analysis And How To Ensure Safe Linking - Semalt Expert
For someone who has never been interested in link building before, the topic of link analysis may seem a bit complicated. In our article, we have presented the subject of broadly understood link acquisition and its analysis in an accessible way. In addition, we suggest which tools are worth using and how to ensure safe linking.
Where to start?
It is worth starting the analysis of incoming links with Google Search Console. This free tool from Google allows, among other things, to examine incoming links found by Google crawlers. From GSC, we will also learn about the possible negative effects of obtaining links. This information can be found in the "Search Traffic" tab by selecting the "Links to your website" option.
Unfortunately, this tool is only good for cursory link analysis. We will not receive full information from GSC about the links to our site. Even if we receive a penalty for the so-called weak link profile, GSC will only show us a few (dozen) examples. This shows how much we have to be careful where we add links! It may turn out that we will be penalized for a link that we forgot or have no idea that it exists. Therefore, other tools should also be used.
It is worth noting that monitoring incoming links is not only about avoiding negative situations. When running an effective content marketing campaign, you may also see those definitely positive links that you should also keep an eye on. It may turn out that we will get a link from a valuable place that will not only provide us with quality traffic, but also improve our visibility in search results.
You can also ensure higher visibility in search results by creating a Google My Business listing.
Thanks to the information about the link obtained, we can contact the owner of the website who links to us and ask him / her to add, for example, an interesting call to action. Thanks to a good CTA (call to action), there is a chance that the traffic obtained by the link will be even more focused on the performance of the action on our site.
The alternative to GSC
However, how to get information about links if we do not have a full view of our links profile in Google Search Console? Fortunately, searching for links is possible not only by Google robots, but also by other tools, completely unrelated to the search engine. There is a system that is currently the most popular: the Dedicated SEO Dashboard.
A basic description of how the DSD works is available in the guide How to benefit from the DSD. The system is intuitive and easy to use, and the greatest difficulty is drawing appropriate conclusions from the received data. Without basic knowledge, it is difficult to deduce from the information received whether the links displayed on the DSD are good for our site or not.
The ability to distinguish between good and bad links, or even toxic ones, is very important in building an effective, safe and long-term website promotion strategy in Google search results. This is important because, with the constant changes and updates of the algorithm responsible for displaying search results, it is worth focusing only on obtaining high-quality links. Thanks to this, positioning in Google will be relatively safe.
What is a "good link"?
Good links are used to call those links that increase our visibility in the search engine, i.e. to put it simply - they help position our website. What if you look at the link from a slightly different, wider perspective?
A good link - in the context of content marketing activities - is one that will support our SEO activities and direct traffic to our website. It is good for such a link to be placed on a trusted website. Thanks to this, we can be almost sure that we will not be punished by Google and that nothing bad will happen with our website.
How to share links?
Sample breakdown of links. Links can be:
- Brand links
- With the exact keyword
- With the associated keyword
- Another
Brand links
Brand links are those that contain the name of the website or company. Most often, such links are harmless regardless of their quantity and quality. The most common texts that can be found under such links are:
- Company name
- Website address
- Product name + company name
Usually, a "healthy" link profile contains the majority of branded links.
Links with the exact keyword
Even before the first major updates in the Google search engine - Penguin - you could often find websites that had obviously artificially generated links. They were obtained with such calculation that, by looking at the percentage share of a given keyword in the chart, it was possible to determine how much involvement of an SEO specialist in a given keyword was. It was not uncommon to see charts where there were only 10 keywords, and each of them had a 10% share in the pool.
Such cases can be found very rarely nowadays for two reasons - it is no longer profitable and does not raise the position in the search engine, and people who used these techniques in the past simply changed the way they operate. Naturally, some people still act this way. For them, we recommend an article on Dofollow link building - The best way to level your web business up
What does a link with an exact keyword, the so-called "exact match anchor" look like?
- Beauty salon in London
- Loans without bikes
- GeForce 4 MX drivers download
The texts of the links are keywords formulated in such a way that they best match the queries asked by users to the search engine.
Links with related keyword
When conducting activities aimed at acquiring links, everyone tries to make these links look natural, i.e. as if they were added by a user independent of us.
Most often, users are not able to insert a link that will support our efforts to be higher in the search engine. It does not matter for the Internet user whether the link looks like:
- Click here
- AdressSemalt.com
- Company name
- This should help you with your problem
The link is the answer to some needs. Often, these needs are implemented in comments or discussion forums, where you can meet large groups of users. Such links are very useful. On the one hand, they "strengthen" our website in the search results, most often supporting long-tailed keywords, on the other hand, they show how recognizable our website is among users.
Others
By "other" I mean anchors that come up for a variety of reasons. Sometimes it's a matter of users, and sometimes it's a bad link campaign. I am talking about the links that most often look like this:
- read more
- click here
Of course, a distinction has to be made between Call to Action (CTA) links, such as "check new offer". Such links are most often found, for example, in content marketing campaigns. They bring traffic, but also increase your visibility in the search engine.
Something else about links
Links, apart from the fact that they can be text, can also be multimedia. Links can also be seen by users and Google robots. You should avoid situations where the link is visible only to Google robots and not visible to the user. In extreme cases, this may lead to the imposition of a penalty on the part of the search engine.
Links can have follow and nofollow attributes. By default, links have the "follow" attribute, meaning - to use jargon - they pass power from one side to the other. Links marked as nofollow do not convey any power.
Power-transmitting links are most often used for website positioning.
What link profile is safe and will ensure our success?
There is no answer to this question. Remember that apart from the link profile, it is also very important how your website is optimized! It basically depends on how much work you will have to put into linking.
However, it's good to think of links as links that can pass traffic from one side to the other. Just imagine that Google Search will be turned off tomorrow. How will you then drive traffic to your website?
If you are not sure if your link profile is appropriate, it may be the right time to speak to an experienced SEO specialist.
If you need to learn more about the subject of SEO and website promotion, we invite you to visit our Semalt blog.