Analyzing Backlinks: How Many Do You Need?

We’ve discussed web page optimization, link building, and an effective link building strategy… so you know that you need backlinks to your pages in order for them to rank well in the major search engines.

But how many backlinks do you need?

The answer is: the number it takes to out-rank a competing page. If both pages are equally optimized for the same keyword phrase, and in most cases even if they’re not, it’s the number of backlinks that will determine who ranks highest for that search query. But not just the number of backlinks…

Why Some Sites Rank Higher Than Others… With Fewer Backlinks

Often, when analyzing backlinks, you’ll notice that a page with fewer links outranks a page that has more. The reason for this is in the quality of those links. Link Popularity is the number of inbound links, Link Reputation is the quality of those links. Quality is determined by a number of factors:

The type of link – article directory, social bookmark, etc. The variation in link types. The location of the link (content area vs footer, for example). The relevancy of the page linking to it, the anchor text used in the link, etc.

Another factor is the total number of unique domains linking to that page. Three links from one domain will not carry as much weight as three links from three different domains.

A little digging in the competing page’s list of backlinks can usually tell you exactly what it would take to outrank that page with your own. All you need is more total links, or higher quality links than theirs.

How To Analyze Backlinks

This method works well whether you want to analyze your own backlinks, or those of a web page you are competing with for placement in the search results.

Since inbound links (off-page optimization) carry so much weight in Google rankings, this is the one area you’ll do most of your competition analysis.

Here’s the quick & easy process I use to analyze backlinks:

Search your chosen keyword phrase at Google.com.
Click through the top results, and view the web page.
Copy the URL of that page from the address bar.
Go to Yahoo.com and use the search bar…
Type in “link:” and then paste in the URL of the page.

example- link:http://www.clicknewz.com/1993/how-to-write-a-blog-post/

That will take you to Yahoo Site Explorer and will show you the total number of inbound links to that specific web page (URL). Once you’re there, you can use the drop-down box to select “except from this domain” to exclude all of that site’s internal links and see only the inbound links from other domains.

It’s easier than it sounds once I type it all out – give it a try and you’ll see it actually only takes a minute tops. A lot of people use fancy software programs, browser plugins or various other methods. I like to keep it simple.

Let’s walk through this together so you can see exactly how it’s done:

Tip: use the buttons in the lower right hand corner of the video to view it in HQ (high quality), or to view it in full screen mode.

What you’re looking for is the total number of backlinks to that page, and the total number of external backlinks (not including the site’s own internal linking). I tend to go for less competitive keyword phrases, and rule out competing with large numbers of backlinks and/or obvious authority sites.

That said, sometimes the number of backlinks alone can be deceiving so you may want to dig a little deeper. If they have a lot of backlinks and you really want to compete for their spot, then you can analyze the quality of those backlinks.

When analyzing a list of backlinks, count the actual number of unique domains linking to that page. If there are 5 links from one domain, count that as just one. You can also click through each link in the list, and look for the backlink.

See where it is placed on the page, as links within the content area carry more weight than links in static areas of the site: sidebar, footer, navigation, etc.

How relevant is the content to the page it’s linking to? Is it a pet site linking to a dog page (relevant), or a gardening blog leading to a dog page (not relevant)?

Also see if they are using your keyword phrase as the anchor text for that link.

The most important part of that research is to count the number of instances they use your keyword phrase in the anchor text. The total number of those links… will tell you how many links you need with that exact anchor text to out-rank the page.

While you’re analyzing the backlinks of competing web pages, you’ll often find great sources for inbound links for your own page. Look at who is linking to their page, and how, and make notes of places you can get your own link on that page – or on similar pages. Your competitors backlinks are a goldmine of link sources!

Watch the video, try it out, and see for yourself how simple this is

Best,

p.s. Next we’ll look at ways to get high quality inbound links, and exactly what types of links you’ll need for your pages to rank well in the major search engines.

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Effective Link Building: One Major Ingredient

An effective link building campaign requires one major ingredient: variation.

If you are getting backlinks for the purpose of higher rankings in the major search engines, then you need a variety of links from a variety of source types.

The goal is to get organic, natural backlinks. The kind that both visitors and search engines love most. The kind that happen naturally on their own, but that you must also push along a bit for proper content marketing…

A common mistake that bloggers and webmasters make when promoting their content is to stick to one type of link-building only. Some do mainly article marketing, others prefer social bookmarking, some blog commenting, etc.

But ideally you’ll want a variety of links, coming from a variety of source types – with variation in the anchor text of the links as well.

It’s unnatural, and therefore appears spammy, to get 100 new backlinks all from social bookmarking sites only, and all with the exact same anchor text. This is likely to send up a red flag, and do more harm than good to your seo strategy.

This is not effective link building. It’s similar to running for a political office, and visiting all of the voting booths yourself… to cast votes for yourself.

An effective link building campaign is one that appears more like a natural buzz. Google counts links to your site as ‘votes’ for your content, and they are most interested in what other sites/people have to say about it than what you say.

In order to create that natural appearance for your inbound links, you use variation. You’ll want to get links from blog posts, blog comments, social bookmarking sites, social media sites such as Facebook and Twitter, web pages, press releases (if appropriate), article directories, niche directories, discussion forums, etc.

You’ll want a variety of anchor text in those links as well. This is best achieved by using longtail keyword phrases, or by using more than one keyword phrase that is relevant to the content on that page.

The advantage to using variation in your anchor text is that not only do your links appear more natural, which means they’ll carry more weight with the major search engines, but you can achieve top rankings for more than one search phrase.

For example, I have one web page that ranks in the Top 3 for three different keyword phrases. I make sales from that page every single week (and some weeks, every day). This is due to using the three different phrases as the anchor text, and switching it up each time I get a new link to that page.

You can create an effective link building campaign by kick-starting the buzz, and with great content you’ll end up with many more natural backlinks in addition to those you create yourself.

This is not something you want to do for every single web page or blog post, but it’s well worth it for those pillar articles – or those pages/post you most want to rank well in the major search engines.

An effective link building strategy might include:

Create internal links from related pages on your blog/site
Tweet the link and ask for feedback
Publish the link on your Facebook profile or page
If a blog post, create pingbacks to related blog posts
Comment on related blog posts, using your specific link in the URL field
Published a related YouTube video, include the hyperlink in the description field
Add the link to your niche discussion forum profiles
Include the link in your forum signature on niche forums
Submit relevant articles to article directories with the link in the byline
Submit a press release (if appropriate for your content piece)
Write guest blog posts on niche blogs, with the link in your signature
Engage in Cross Blog Conversations with other bloggers on the topic
Include the link with 5-10 other related links on a social bookmarking list
If the link is to the main page, add it to niche directories
If the link is to the main page of a blog, also add it to blog/RSS directories

If you have a really good piece of content, these strategies will kick-start a natural buzz and new unsolicited links from a variety of sources. People may find and like your content and then stumble, tweet, bookmark, or blog about your link. And that’s exactly what you want.

Sure, this is work – particularly in the beginning. But once you identify your best sources you’ll find that it becomes faster and easier with time. You’ll have a list of blogs in your RSS Reader, a list of niche forums you’re engaged with, etc. And you can also outsource the tasks once you get a working strategy in place.

The variation in anchor text and sources is incredibly important for effective link building. Never dismiss a linking opportunity due to PageRank, Nofollow attribute, lack of option to include anchor text, etc. You need these to offset your highly optimized links… to avoid the dreaded “over-optimization” (ie: search engine manipulation, spam).

Best,