In the world of SEO, or Search Engine Optimization, countless variants increase or decrease the ranking of a given page. After having already talked about the factors that determine this ranking, it is time to move on to a topic that is little talked about but is extremely important.
As previously mentioned, one thing that helps to increase your SEO ranking is the creation of links that connect several posts, this technique is called “Link Building”. The first thing that should be said about the subject is that this technique is really useful for readers as it allows them to have direct and organized access to all the content that your blog can make available.
This help given to readers is something that Google values and this is proven in the enormous importance that is reflected in the blog’s SEO.
So that the evaluation of the ranking of a blog or website was as fair as possible, and was not just dependent on the amount of content as was previously the case, PageRank was created, which evaluates many other aspects, all of which have already been referenced in this blog, and the which one is the number of links from other sites pointing to yours.
To make this evaluation fairer, the algorithm is capable of evaluating spam systems to artificially increase the number of links, so it is not worth thinking about alternative schemes because you will not be able to do so. Furthermore, when Google identifies one of these systems, it takes a lot of quotes from the blog.
For us to take full advantage of this ranking system, we will give you some information here on how to build a healthy Link Building that will help you grow.
"The older the better!"
In Japanese culture, it is considered that older people have more knowledge because they are older. Google uses the same logic, that is, it values older links over more recent ones.
This happens because it is considered that if a link is older it is because it was able to maintain itself and is a sign that there was investment on the part of the owner. This is highly valued, so never make the mistake of closing a blog or website when you think it is going wrong, instead make corrections, improve the content, and continue the effort as it will pay off in the long term.
Another little trick that can help a lot in this aspect is the pages that exist within a blog, and not to be confused with posts, these should never be deleted either as they count equally towards Google’s evaluation.
In short, whenever you have a page, never delete it!
Quantity and Quality
As is well known, Google highly values quantity, be it the number of posts, links, images, videos, or information that a blog has. This concept also reduces the number of links referring to your page, in other words, the more people talk about your blog, the better it is for your ranking.
There are however some limitations, let’s imagine that someone made 20 posts on their blog in which they referenced you, these 20 links only count as one because they all come from the same blog. This happens to combat the creation of fake pages to artificially increase the ranking of a given blog.
Following the same logic, the number of internal links, that is, links that take the reader from one post to another within the same blog, is also something highly valued by Google. Once again, it is important to emphasize that Google evaluates the content of all pages and posts, so internal links must take the reader to content that directly relates to each other.
As already described, evaluations are not just based on quantity, quality also plays a fundamental role.
Google uses a tool that is defined as “website predictability”, that is, it evaluates sites that are connected through links and evaluates their content to see if they are related. This rule is important to take into account when we ask someone to share, or reference, our blog because if the links that refer to our blog are from other blogs that cover the same topic, then the Google ranking will go reward us.
This rule exists to prevent the reader from being redirected to dubious websites whose sole purpose is to create artificial links. This scheme was widely used, and in part still is, to artificially increase the number of times a particular blog or website is referenced.
Another important factor is that Google devalues links coming from social networks or forums that reference your blog. This happens because in these environments it is very easy to run spam campaigns that do nothing to help the reader have a better experience.
A small detail that many people are unaware of, but which is also important, are broken links, that is, those that when a person clicks are no longer working. This happens a lot and is more common in older posts, however, it is something that blog owners should be aware of. In our post about the 100 Best Plugins for WordPress, there is a plugin called “Broken Link Checker” that automatically checks broken links, it is an excellent help.
Anchor Texts
The importance of internal links that help the reader find what they want within the same blog has been mentioned several times. However, this has some small tricks that are important to take into account, otherwise it will not only not work, but it could even be a disadvantage for your blog.
Anchor Text is the name given to a word, quote, or phrase that contains a hyperlink to other posts on the same blog. The question is whether Google evaluates the phrase selected to place the links. Most people tend to put Anchor Texts such as “see here”, “click here”, or something similar and that is a terrible mistake. Google’s algorithm, when carrying out the evaluation, understands that the anchor text and the content of the link are not related and therefore gives a negative evaluation.
The solution and this part is really important, is to link to other pages using phrases that contain the keywords used in these posts! This way you will value your blog and make Google increase its ranking.
However, it is important to remember that in terms of SEO, an external link is worth more than an internal one, so you should not forget the importance of trying to get other blogs to cite your content.
Location of Links
One aspect that is often ignored is where the Anchor Texts are placed throughout the post. This question may seem irrelevant, however, it is not.
According to Google’s algorithm, the information at the beginning of posts is more relevant than that at the end, as such, the same logic applies to the placement of links. When these links are attached to phrases with good keywords and inserted into a well-written and informative text, then you have all the elements to have a good ranking.
Of course, this does not mean that it is mandatory to place internal links, or to external websites, all at the beginning of the text, but it is worth paying some attention to this.
Another thing that is important to pay attention to is never to place internal links that link to posts that are not related to each other. Google makes this assessment and if it finds this situation it will identify it as “user-generated spam”, which will result in a very negative assessment of your blog.
Did you already know all these elements? Which ones do you usually pay special attention to? Comment below.
Ricardo D’almeida
