Link building has been a major force in the SEO industry for the past 5+ years. Google led the way with its PageRank algorithms and other major players have followed — by recognizing links as “votes of confidence & trust”. Unfortunately, all votes (or links) are not counted equally. The brain trust at SEOMoz, has just released one of the more insightful articles on links we’ve read in quite a while, specifically addressing 10 Major Factors that Influence the “Valuation of Links” by Search Engines.
If your business is constantly trying to get its website ranked above the fold in Google, Yahoo & Bing — then you know the importance of link building. Below is a recap of the Top 10 Factors discussed in the SEOMoz article. As you read this list, think about your own link building practices and determine if your company is heading in the right direction. The types of link building services we provide to online retailers, fortunately, meet the majority of these criteria and our clients’ ranking results speak for themselves — that’s why we’re such a fan of supporting this list!
- Links Higher Up in HTML Code Cast More Powerful Votes
- External Links are More Influential than Internal Links
- Links from Unique Domains Matters More than Links from Previously Linking Sites
- Links from Sites Closer to a Trusted Seed Set Pass More Value
- Links from Inside Unique Content Pass More Value than Those from Footers, Sidebar, Navigation
- Keywords in HTML Text Pass More Value than those in Alt Attributes of Linked Images
- Links from More Important, Popular, Trusted Sites Pass More Value (even from less important pages)
- Links Contained Within NoScript Tags Pass Lower (and Possibly No) Value
- A Burst of New Links May Enable a Document to Overcome Stronger Competition Temporarily (or in Perpetuity)
- Pages that Link to Webspam May Devalue the Other Links they Host
There are obviously many other factors that influence the Link Graph and Value of Backlinks in a competitive landscape — but take the above list to heart when auditing the successes or failures of your past link building efforts and look towards the future with a closer eye to detail. After all, SEO is all about the execution and standing apart from your closest competitors.
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