Establishing a sturdy backlink profile is an inevitable part of off-page SEO. It helps you gain standing and paves the way to your growth in the digital ecosystem. Moreover, it is said to be one of the vital ranking factors. However, creating a robust backlink profile is not an easy task at all. Because getting links is not just enough. The link should make sense. Or your act can backfire. And it calls for a proper strategy as there are numerous things to check.
“…The objective is not to make your links appear natural”; the objective is that your links are natural.”
Matt Cutts
Having seen that, it is time to get into details and find more about backlinks and backlink profile creation.
Before we get to know about backlink profile, why not see what is a backlink?
Also known as an inbound link, a backlink is a link from one website to the other. For example, you have a website abc.com. Now, if you are getting a link from another website or web page to your website, it is an incoming or inbound link (backlink) for you.
Okay!
And the combination of backlinks to a website is known as a backlink profile. It can be both good or bad.
Yes, because there exists a concept of toxic backlinks.
In the simplest sense, toxic backlinks are the links that can negatively affect your SEO efforts and ranking. It can be in multiple forms like irrelevant backlinks, low-quality links, etc.
We have already discussed how important is the creation of a backlink profile. It indicates your credibility to the search engine and enables you to obtain a better position in the SERP.
Well, do you already have a backlink profile? Or are you looking forward to creating one?
Anyway, this read is going to help you. Because here, we are going to highlight the activities or steps, which contribute to the creation of a bad backlink profile. Let’s begin.
PBN, as the name indicates, is a network or group of websites, giving a high number (more quantity) of links to one another or a single website within the network. These links provided by such a network are, generally, low in quality. The intent here is to steer the system cleverly to indicate the search engine about authority for obtaining a better rank.
This way, an individual can fulfil the intent. But the outcome may be temporary. Also, it is not a good idea as it violates Google’s guidelines on link schemes. You can end up doing more bad than good this way if Google’s algorithm succeeds in catching you. And there is a higher probability that it happens. So, avoiding getting into PBN is the best.
It is tough to get a high-quality backlink, naturally; we know! And people, instead of putting more efforts into the same, have found an alternate. Purchasing a backlink, it is. Here, you pay a sum of money to another website owner for getting a backlink from that. It is a shortcut to building a backlink profile.
Well, do you think this is the way out?
Unquestionably, no. Exchanging links for money is not advisable at all. It is one of the black hat SEO methods and can put you into double trouble. How? Firstly, you are using an unauthentic method and becoming prone to facing a penalty for violation. Even if you manage to escape this situation and links come out to be spammy, your ranking will, anyway, get a hit. So, you are wasting your money, less or more.
Registering with directories is one of the popular methods of getting a backlink or creation of a backlink profile. However, desperate efforts in this direction can produce undesirable results. Thus, before going for directory submission, don’t forget to check the quality of the directory. And how can you do that? Some quick ways are: check the directory layout and quality of the content (registrants in this case), consider the popularity of the directory, pay attention to how they manage the listings, etc. Also, see how they accept the submission; the auto mode of acceptance is not a good sign.
Additionally, do not go on submitting links to every other directory. Also, there is a big no to random submission. Check if a particular directory belongs to your niche or not.
Again, it is a dangerous act, sending a wrong signal to Google. The quality of the backlink is significant. However, a backlink from a high-quality but irrelevant source can spoil the quality of your backlink profile. In other words, the link should make sense. For say, a web page is talking about the benefits of yoga. Here, backlinking this web page with the one talking about the importance of financial security won’t make any sense.
Is this also an incorrect method? Well, it is a logical area, and a straight ‘yes’ or ‘no’ answer to this question won’t be justice. Here, we don’t mean an international website. Instead, we are talking about websites in a foreign language. Now, it is vital to understand the context. Suppose, your website language is English. Now, with the intent to improve global ranking, you are backlinking it with a web page in the Russian language. What would happen? It would help you if the content is relevant. But otherwise, it is a poor practice.
That’s it for now.
In case you are looking forward to making a backlink profile, ensure that you don’t use any of the above ways for the same.
And, if you already have one, audit it to ensure its perfectness.
Because, like a good backlink profile can help you rank well in the SERP, a poor backlink or bad backlink profile can hit your ranking hard. Too many low-quality backlinks in your profile can fetch you a penalty as well.
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