Links for SEO – it’s about quality, not quantity
Think you need more links to get to page 1 of Google?
Think Again.
Back in the old SEO days, having a large number of incoming links from other websites was the fool-proof way of getting your site to have a higher domain authority and rank better. Even though Google has dramatically reduced the importance of links in the last few years, having high-quality links is still important. The new focus, however, is on quality and not quantity. Link distribution is much more important than the amount of links you have. To illustrate this point, we will discuss two hearing healthcare practices with different link profiles.
Example 1
Joe’s Hearing Aid Center spent many years building up links. He currently has 300 incoming web links, which used to guarantee him to placement in Google rankings. The link distribution is as follows;
5 high quality links
20 medium quality links
275 low quality links
Example 2
Heather’s Audiology Center has received only 75 links through the years, mostly though her events and local news organizations. Her link distribution looks like this;
25 high quality links
25 medium quality links
25 low quality links
Which website would you rather have?
Which link strategy is the likely winner based on recent search engine updates? Example #2, Heather’s Audiology Practice, would likely have a better link profile in the eyes of the search engines. We have seen many sites like Joe’s slip in SERPs (search engine ranking placements), while sites like Heather’s are typically on an upward trajectory.
The point is that links from larger, more established sites will have a much more positive impact on your search rankings than links from small unrelated sites. Large directories and review sites fit this criteria.
We recently took on a new client that had been using an audiology-focused digital marketing firm. Even though they were a client for years, they were buried in pages 3 and 4 of search engine results. Within 90 days, we were able to move this client to the top of page 1. We did it without generating any links for the practice. Our AuDSEO site ranks better than our competitors, many of whom have more links and a higher domain authority. This shows that you can rank well, even without the quantity of links that your competitors have. Sometimes they are necessary, and sometimes they are not. We can tell you in which boat you are in. Contact us today for a free audit at 1-800-269-5433.