Google was one of the first search engines to place significant importance on link building for SEO optimisation. We know that dozens of factors go into Google’s ranking, but the top three remained a mystery, until now. In a Q&A with Google’s Search Quality Senior Strategist Andrey Lipattsev, he stated that the top three Google ranking factors are content, RankBrain, and links.
You want to ensure that your links are considered high-quality to rank well with search engines. There are several small things you can do to get Google’s attention and raise your page in the rankings.
Ensure Your Link’s Quality
If you weren’t feeling well, would you accept advice from a team of five doctors or advice from random people you met on the street? Unless you’ve had a very bad experience with a doctor’s office before, you’d probably put more weight on their advice than the random stranger’s advice.
This advice applies to search engines like Google as well. While Google or other search engines may count all links that point to a specific website, all links don’t carry equal value or weight. Usually, a high-quality link is one that comes from a high-quality or authority website. They’re going to rank higher in SEO rankings than a link you may get from blog or article comments. Additionally, links that come from your website’s niche industry may count as higher-quality.
Pay Attention to Your Anchor Text
Big sites like Amazon have millions of links leading back to them. However, you’ll notice it doesn’t rank for things like “boats,” but it ranks for “books.” This is because many of the anchor text phrases that are linked contain the word “books.” Only a few have the word “boats” because Amazon sells books and not boats.
The word or words in your link are called the anchor text. Search engines see anchor text as the way a website describes another website. Although you usually can’t control how someone else links to your website, you can capitalise on any opportunity you have to influence what the anchor text is. This can help raise your website’s standing as being a more high-quality and authoritative source, which will help to increase your website’s SEO rankings.
When you’re starting to build your online presence with links, remember you want quality over quantity. Avoid spammy links and work on building your website as a high-quality authority in your specific niche.
