The Value of a Balanced Link Profile
Since Google’s algorithm is mostly based on links, it makes sense to watch your link profile. Your link profile is based on the domains and pages where your links are at, which pages your links point to, and the anchor text of your links.
Search experts say that sites receiving a lot of search traffic are more likely to have balanced link profiles than unbalanced ones. So, what makes a link profile balanced? To answer this question, here are examples of a balanced link profile as well as an unbalanced one.
Balanced Link Profile
- Your links come from a large number of domains.
- Your links come from a variety of sites (blogs, forums, social media sites, static websites, etc.).
- Your links point to a wide variety of pages on your site (not just the homepage).
- Your link have a wide variety of anchor texts including non-keyword anchor texts.
Unbalanced Link Profile
- Your links come from a few domains.
- Most of your links come from one type of site.
- Most of your links point to your homepage.
- Most of your links have the same anchor text.
Google’s Changing Algorithm
Build a balanced link profile because Google is constantly changing their algorithm.
For example, I recently got an email from a friend saying that static websites are the highest value links. I don’t think this used to be the case. In the past, blog links seemed to be weighted more than links from static websites. However, with the advent of sites like Pay Per Post and Review Me, Google has realized it’s become much easier to buy links from blogs. Also, I’ve heard there are now penalties for having a large percentage of your links coming from blogs.
Here’s another example. While anchor text is still important, there is evidence that getting non-keyword anchor text will cause your whole site to rank much better. In other words, non-keyword anchor text will greatly increase your domain authority. In the past, Google did not give so much weight to domain authority. And going back to anchor text, wouldn’t it be easy for Google to implement an anchor text spam filter?
As you can see, you’ll have a greater chance of surviving Google’s new algorithms by building a balanced link profile.
So, why does Google like balanced link profiles? Well, in a search engineers’ mind, a site with a balanced link profile has less paid links, more natural links, and hence, probably higher quality. Also, spam sites are known for their unbalanced link profiles. Whether or not you agree with Google’s search engineers, the reality is we have to play by Google’s rules.