In building your SEO strategy, the off-site part weighs heavily in the balance. Google has always attached great importance to backlinks (inbound links), which it determines as the main criterion for judging the notoriety and popularity of a site. What should be remembered is that net linking is devilishly effective in strengthening your SEO strategy! Focus on the different net linking strategies and the types of links to know and use, with the moderation of course.
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| Different strategies and types of links |
Definition of net linking and types of links
Netlinking: what is it?
Since the beginnings of the internet, links in the basic sense of the term have always been important. By definition, the web offers an interconnection of different networks, logically linked together by… links! It is through them that visitors, and robots, understand the logical links between several contents and can navigate between different articles, pages, and sites in total autonomy.
In the real world, we estimate brand awareness in relation to word of mouth, and on the web, the quality of net linking is one of the main indicators.
Why is net linking important in SEO?
Before getting to the heart of the matter, it is important to understand the usefulness of a net linking strategy for your site and its SEO benefits. Netlinking consists of obtaining and/or creating links on other sites to strengthen the authority of a target site.
Google's path to define site ranking is based on a simple observation: if a site of strong authority speaks about you, then your site gains in credibility and also deserves to gain in authority. By obtaining external links, your site benefits from ' SEO juice ', and it is according to this criterion that your popularity will be measured!
SEO juice
Developing your net linking brings several benefits, which flow from each other:
- greater credibility according to Google;
- an improvement in the positioning of your site on the SERP;
- higher and more qualified organic traffic;
- gain notoriety for your brand;
- growth in your turnover!
Google's recommendations are straightforward about net linking: “The ranking of a site in Google search results is partly based on the analysis of sites that have links to its pages. The quantity, quality, and relevance of links influence rankings. Sites linking to the pages in question can provide information about the purpose of your site, and may indicate its quality and popularity. "
Nofollow and Dofollow links: what are the differences and what impact on the net linking of a site?
These two types of links are used to tell bots what to do when they crawl a site and detect links. On the one hand, Dofollow is a way of telling bots: `` Follow this link and take it into account '', and on the other, Nofollow invites Google to ignore the link despite its existence and not give it importance in terms of SEO. Generally, when we talk about backlinks, they are in DoFollow because we want them to be taken into account and bring value to our SEO. Logic.
HTML code level, here are the two types of link attributes:
Dofollow links
As part of your net linking strategy, you must ensure that your links are in "Dofollow" if you want to benefit from their juice. If some links that point to your site have a negative impact on your SEO, for lack of consistency with your theme, in particular, it is necessary to intervene. Two solutions are available to you:
- disavow of links that you do not have control over through Search Console ;
- passage of links to Nofollow if you have access to the code.
When designing your net linking strategy, the question of the ratio of Nofollow and Dofollow links must necessarily arise. To take stock of the types of links in your net linking, you can use Ahrefs, Majestic, or SEMrush to name a few.
Ditto in your search for backlink partners: make sure that the targeted sites indeed practice a policy of Dofollow links. Otherwise, look elsewhere!
The idea that it is relevant to make sure to respect any percentage of NoFollow anchors to make your link profile legitimate is widely held in the SEO world. But at Semji, frankly: we don't really believe in it! Only 2% of sites worldwide contain natural NoFollow links… NoFollow transmits even a tiny fraction of the juice: the debate is open!
A natural backlink: what is it?
Above all, it is important to know that there are good and bad backlinks but also different link acquisition techniques, more or less laudable besides.
Among all the net linking methods, natural backlinks remain the most appreciated by Google and therefore the most effective but also the cheapest! A natural backlink is obtained naturally (as the name suggests) when a site, blog, or internet user decides to talk about you because they like your content, your services, or your products. This type of link does not engage any counterpart (financial, backlink, shipment of product, etc.). The backlinks obtained in a natural way are moreover the only ones authorized, as Google specifies very clearly in its support on the " Systems of links ". The Mountain View firm warns: any technique aimed at creating artificial links will be severely punished.
The 3 characteristics of a qualitative backlink
To define the quality of a backlink, several criteria come into play:
- the origin of the backlink, which determines its power: semantic and thematic consistency, notoriety, authority, ranking ...
- the anchor of the link and the words that surround it: the anchor text should contain strategic keywords but without falling into over-optimization, the words before and after the anchor should ideally be semantically close to the anchor text;
- the investment in the tree and content: is that the link is on a page near the home? Above the waterline?
Keep in mind that by benefiting from natural backlinks, you cannot intervene on these different criteria!
What ratio of optimized anchors for a solid net linking strategy?
Calculating the ideal ratio in anchor text is a very important part of your SEO strategy, although it is often overlooked. By respecting the right ratio of anchors in your net linking strategy, you, first of all, avoid incurring a penalty but you can also easily grab valuable positions on the SERP, so: why deprive yourself?
Here are our recommendations:
MAXIMUM 3% of the total links must contain anchors optimized on the strategic keywords of your activity;
MAXIMUM 5% of anchors designed with a long-tail approach;
The rest of the anchors, or 92% of the rest of the backlinks, are to be divided between raw URLs and URL variants, brand names and various poorly optimized anchors such as '' Click here '', '' Consult our site '', '' Find out more ''…
By optimized anchors, we must understand the anchor texts on which everyone seeks to position themselves, especially via Adwords.
To develop a solid and effective anchoring strategy, carefully observe those of your competitors by targeting all the sites on the first page on your main keyword. Then, analyze the anchor texts of the different pages that emerge via Majestic, for example, take the average for each category of anchors, this will give you an index on the temperature of the SERP in terms of the percentage of anchors to set up.
What about internal net linking?
When we talk about net linking, we mostly talk about external links, so backlinks, which point to the site in question. However, taking internal net linking into account is also important. Also called internal linking, internal linking robots navigate through your different content and understand its logical and semantic links.
Google penalties related to backlinks
If backlinks represent great opportunities for your SEO, they are nonetheless in the crosshairs of Google! And for good reason: there have been many cases of abuse on the part of SEOs. Be careful, because a strategic error, a bad partner, a sudden acquisition of links, or an over-optimization of anchors can be harmful to you.
Since 2012, the Penguin algorithm does not give gifts. Many sites were penalized because they had many backlinks, certainly, but of poor quality! This filter takes into account several criteria to determine whether or not a site practices an `` acceptable '' net linking strategy according to Google:
- the anchors of the links
- authority of referring domains
- the theme of the site and the pages
- how often a site gets new links
- the ratio between Nofollow and Dofollow links
- the distribution of Top Level Domain
- Sitewide links are present in the header, footer, sidebar ...
The different net linking strategies
To build a successful net linking strategy, you can (and should) use several methods. The objective is to find the right balance and to remain natural so as not to attract the wrath of the Penguin algorithm while building a solid and varied link profile as quickly as possible.
guest blogging: boosting your SEO thanks to the notoriety of bloggers
guest blogging, also known as sharing guest articles, can be extremely profitable in SEO as long as your site is also of interest to the guest in question. This technique consists of forging partnerships with influential bloggers on themes close to or complementary to yours. The idea is to identify an influencer and offer them to write content that will be published on your site in their own name, then to do the same on theirs. This partnership must be genuinely win-win.
Are you regularly contacted to do guest blogging? Well done, these requests suggest that you are a reference in your sector and that you are therefore in a position to negotiate the terms of the partnership.
Apart from reciprocal links, it is also possible to base GuestBlogging on the exchange of goods. Not all activities are suitable, but this form of compensation can be applied to many areas, with a little imagination! For example, it is possible to offer free products (cosmetics, food, transport, etc.) or services (meals in a restaurant, hotel accommodation, massage in a spa, tourist visit, attraction, etc.) in exchange for a review on the blog of an influencer.
If your selection of partners is sharp and consistent, your site will attract new qualified visitors and your content will benefit from a better resonance on social networks!
Content marketing: focus on link baiting with press relations and influencer networks
Tedious to set up and maintain, but which pay off very well over time: developing press relations and link baiting are excellent ways to obtain natural backlinks. The strategy is based on the production of qualitative, original, and unique content.
If you want to develop your press relations, note that this is a long-term job that will lead to very qualitative links, but generally in small quantities. You have no control over link recurrence, anchors, or targeting ... But your links are 100% natural!
Advantages:
- Links acquired on a regular basis
- Quality semantic content
- Trust
Disadvantages:
- Difficulty recurrence
- Anchor
- No / little targeting possible
- Time spent VS number of links obtained
When it comes to link baiting, two solutions are available to you:
- The first is to self-promote and distribute content on its own channels, in the hope of being naturally picked up. And it can be very long ...
- Second solution: directly solicit the media in the hope of being relayed free of charge. Media sites have great stats and a lot of value to Google, in addition to getting a lot of traffic. In addition, the high costs of sponsored articles on this type of site make this same strategy difficult to achieve in the event that all links have to be purchased ...
By offering your content to influencers, you get the same benefits with a more targeted audience as a bonus! The advantage of link baiting is that the 'snowball' effect can be very fast and that the links are very diverse in addition to being supernatural.
Advantages:
- Potentially very effective
- Fast
Disadvantages:
- Expensive
- Banned by Google
- Difficult to find good quality
- Durability
Depending on your industry, this method is more or less suitable. In some cases, the theme readily lends itself to "buzz". You must therefore be able to offer regular content in order to maintain enthusiasm. Another method, which remains the most qualitative: producing premium content that will position itself on strategic keywords over the long term. The challenge is to establish itself as a benchmark in its sector in order to obtain regular qualitative links. Being located in a niche or being a player in a growing sector can clearly make it easier for you.
In any case, the production of ultra-qualitative content marketing is an essential condition if you want to make your strategy fruitful!
Manual link building: a good method for a balanced link profile
Long and tedious but free and completely mastered, the creation of artisanal links is also very effective.
To develop your link building, you can launch a search by criteria based on the notion of Footprint. By exploiting a selection of Footprints, you can very easily identify interesting platforms, forums, press release sites, thematic blogs. Once this research work is done, all you have to do is go and leave a few small links here and there… These links are easy to obtain and free, but their SEO impact remains relatively low.
For an effective Footprints search, you absolutely need to master the intricacies of Google Search with Boolean Operators.
Example of a footprint:
- inurl: forum intitle: DIY site: en
- intext: powered by WordPress intext: leave a comment
Advantages:
- Easy to get
- Disadvantages:
- Positioning at the bottom of the article
- Number of NoFollow sites
- The good plan already overused
- Harder and harder to find
Another solution: staying on the lookout for the different mentions that are made on your site is a great way to acquire new backlinks! Use the Ahrefs, Mentions, or simply Google Alerts tools to keep track of what is being said about you, and where. As soon as you identify a site that cited you as a source, which took part of one of your content, an image, an infographic, in short, any element that legitimizes the presence of a link: contact the webmaster of this site and ask him to create your backlink! The image search on Google is also very effective in listing these sites and blogs. You can also take this opportunity to kindly suggest some ideas for anchors that would suit you well!
Last tip: harness the potential of 404 pages! Find all the pages that have backlinks and that no longer exist. Then two solutions:
- set up 301 redirects,
- contact the sites in question by suggesting the URL of a new nearby page to which you will redirect the juice.
Buying sponsored articles and exchanging links: a rapid rise for your target site
Buying sponsored items is more about showcasing your brand than aggressively promoting it. fast and effective, this technique can however quickly cost you, dear, even very expensive… Count between 100 € and 3000 € for a backlink on a site with strong authority! Likewise, if your site is recent, this technique is not suitable. But if you have the budget, here are the solutions available to you:
- Direct sponsored article purchase: you contact the site (s) you are interested in directly and negotiate your terms;
- purchase of sponsored articles via specialized platforms such as Rocketlink, Getfluence, Reech, to name a few: you comply with the prices announced by the platform.
In any case, always find out about the conditions beforehand: number of possible links in the articles, number of words, internal editorial support or not ... line, tone, form, etc.).
Be careful, however, not to rush to a site that generates a lot of traffic. If this traffic is not qualified, you will certainly benefit from a new backlink, but probably no new visitors to your site, let alone conversion!
Although expensive, this method makes it possible to obtain visibility on a site with high notoriety which would not have been accessible otherwise. Let's face it: most big influential webzines no longer relay content for free, even if they are original, unique, relevant, and related to the theme… Business is business.
Advantages :
- Potentially very effective
- Fast
Disadvantages:
- Expensive
- Banned by Google
- Difficult to find good quality
- Durability
If your site has good statistics (Trust Flow, Citation Flow…), consider offering link exchanges! This will save you money and feed your blog with new content: all-beef '! Be careful, however, not to use this reciprocity technique indiscriminately because Google is not fooled ...
Build a blogging network from expired domain names
This tactic requires a certain initial investment but once implemented, it clearly allows you to establish your net linking and to fully control the anchors of your links, the words, and expressions that surround your anchors as well as the frequency of acquisition of new backlinks.
A Private Blog Network (PBN) is an ecosystem of blogs ranging from 20 to 300 sites built from expired domain names. By buying strategic domain names, you will be able to benefit from their notoriety…. and all the backlinks acquired by old sites in the past! The objective of this technique is to redirect as many links as possible to your target site, also called Money Site, to offer it the best possible visibility.
If a PBN is very effective, it must be handled with care ... Your various satellite sites should not be used to make only backlinks to your site, they require a regular supply of content and must be carefully studied on many aspects:
- choice of keyword families,
- choice of target pages,
- distribution of anchors,
- quality and themes of domain names,
- choice of IPs and hosting,
- construction of PBN to be spread over the medium / long term ...
This technique is rather intended for people who have a solid knowledge of SEO to ensure the effectiveness and sustainability of PBN. Uncontrolled, your network of sites can very quickly produce the opposite effect of that expected ... It is also possible to be accompanied by SEO experts to better control this tactic.
Advantages:
- Anchor controls, choice of landing pages
- Dedicated juice
- Control of all risks possible
- Scalable
- Ultra-powerful
- Adaptable
- Bonus over time
- Very many possible strategies
Disadvantages:
- Many technical prerequisites to meet
- Infrastructure management
- Its cost in “homemade”
- Decisive and demanding strategy
The essential ingredients for an effective and… juicy net linking strategy!
- ONLY turn to sites that are relevant and consistent for your business to strengthen the semantic relevance of your site. Off-topic backlinks are unnecessary at best, and detrimental to your SEO at worst.
- Systematically analyze Trust Flow and Citation Flow using Majestic and Spam Score with Moz before planning to acquire links. These tools give valuable indications but the results are nevertheless to be taken with hindsight. Ditto for repurchases of expired domain names: it is essential to verify that errors or harmful SEO actions have not been made in the past.
- Standard directories and link farms are to be avoided: these massive link acquisition techniques worked before, but not anymore! A few good quality directories (Trust Flow of 20 minimum and Citation Flow of 30 minimum) can accommodate your links, but don't overdo it!
- Maintain, whatever happens, a good ratio between optimized and non-optimized anchors
- Favor complex links exchange schemes over reciprocal or triangular links as far as possible, for better use of each person's SEO juice.