Lower Quality Backlink Profile Asking for Sure Trouble? What to Do?

Google algorithm works in two ways while ranking a web page. It measures the relevancy of a web page and it measures the popularity of a web page. These two big metrics “Relevancy” and “Authority” or “Popularity” decide which pages should rank high on Google based on the search query entered by the user. Now, here we are not talking about the first metric but instead, we are more concerned about the second metric in place that is the authority of a website. Backlinks are the criteria for measuring the authority of a website. If a site has whole lot of low quality backlinks which are only gained to increase the number of links pointing to a website instead of increasing the value of those links then this is what termed as a low quality backlink profile. A site having this kind of profile is asking for sure trouble. On the other hand, if a site has backlinks from high authority resources which Google looks up to as highly trusted domains then your link profile can get a real boost. Having a cleaner and authoritative link profile would make your site stand apart from your competitors. Now, let us look at these two link profiles more clearly.

Are you building the right backlinks? (Image credit – doncaprio.com)

Low Quality Link Profile

This kind of link profile contains links from sources mentioned below:-

– Low quality web directories
– Article directories
– Low quality Blogs
– Links from same ip address
– Links from same domains
– Forum signature links
– Links from sites that sell links
– Too many site wide links
– Links obtained via link exchanges
– Links obtained via blog commenting
– Low Quality Guest Blogging Links
– Links having too many similar anchor text mentions

In short, each and every link that has been easily obtained without adding any editorial value. These links only serves the seo purpose and not the user purpose.

High Quality Link Profile

This kind of link profile contains links from sources mentioned below:-

– Links from trusted web directories like Yahoo, Dmoz, Business.com
– Links from high quality blogs that adds value to the user, has high PageRank and DA
– Do Follow Links from Authority sites
– Natural links obtained via people genuinely sharing your content on social media sites, forums, Q/A sites etc.
– Links from trusted domains like CNN, Techcrunch, Chicago Tribune, Huffington Post etc.
– Links from educational or government websites
– Links obtained by trusted authors having high author rank on Google Plus
– Links from high quality guest blogging
– Links following a varied anchor text pattern

My Competitor is Having Low Quality Backlinks and Ranking High – Should I Follow Him?

It can happen that your competitor is outranking your site by building low quality backlinks to its site; but, do not fall in the trap of following his backlinking strategy. Google is frequently making changes to its Penguin algorithm in order to target more and more sources of web spam which its missing at present. So, if your competitors site is ranking high even if it has low quality backlinks then it won’t rank high for so long.

The second case would be that you might not have the full knowledge of the type of backlinks that your competitor is having. Remember a single high quality backlink is enough to outrank many sites. Hence, it is possible that you might have missed that source of backlink and considering all the links to be of low quality.

The Safer Side

The best bet is to contribute towards the user and engage in safer link building practices like high quality guest blogging, increasing author rank and sponsoring some events to get media coverage.

Also See:–

Seo Strategies for 2013
Seo Tips and Tricks
How Does Google Identify Which Links are Paid?
Paid Links are a Violation of Google’s Guidelines
Seo After Panda and Penguin
What Does Google Thinks of Links of Article Marketing Sites
Drop in Site Rankings
High TrustRank can Raise Your Site Rankings
Importance of Backlinks
Create Links that Google Loves
Backlink Watch for Spying Your Competitors
Use Link Baiting Effectively