Have you ever scrolled through an informational website and found hyperlink text? If you were to click on that text, you would most likely be taken to a page with similar or more in depth information related to the page you were already viewing. What most individuals do not know is that these links aid in your goal towards Search Engine Optimization. There are many factors that go into link analysis, that may help or hinder your SEO ranking.
Linking
It is not enough to just be linking to as many websites as possible; although quantity helps, quality is king. If you’re engaging in external linking the most beneficial sites to use are: relevant, credible and authoritative. Relevant sites directly pertain to the content that is being published. An example of a successful link would be if your post is about different types of coral being sold and there was a link provided with information on how the coral should be taken care of. A poor example would be instead of care information for coral, the link was for freshwater fishing areas near you. If you link to many irrelevant pages in hopes numbers alone will help you, they most likely exacerbate poor ranking. Credibility is the level of trustworthiness a website offers the viewer. If the site linking to your page is to a reputable journal publication, it is likely more credible than a blog post. Lastly, authority is how much power does the website you’re linking to have power on its own. Does that website have its own links that are relevant and credible, if so how many? Further understanding how to implement these concepts will assist in creating the proper link value strategy that is appropriate for your site.
Link Neighborhood
The sites that your page links to and what those sites link to is called the link neighborhood. Link neighborhoods consist of the pages that your site is linked to and in turn, what pages are linked to your site. These broadened neighborhoods are another determination of your search engine ranking. Here is a link that further explains link neighborhoods https://neilpatel.com/blog/seo-street-smarts/. Optimizing link value is essential to ensure that your site ends up with a higher quality ranking in order to show up more frequently in relevant searches. The same may be said or internal linking, ensure that all internal links are functioning properly and are navigating to different aspects of the site.
Hyperlink
Another aspect of link value to consider with what the link looks like to the user. Is the hyperlink actual text that contains information to what the following page would be or is it just a “click here”? If your hyperlink contains pertinent information, this may also have a positive effect on the search engines ability to evaluate your page. This is referred to as anchor text, anchor text is known to be keyword rich. If you choose to use text that is different from the standard “click here” be sure that your website has a balanced variation of links. It is less beneficial to have many links geared toward one topic, than to have links that cater to multiple sub topics of your site.
When it comes to link building, the ultimate goal is to have an efficient yet natural appearing page. Search engine algorithms are sophisticated and have the ability to sort through fabricated pages. When a site achieves the goal of being relevant and credible, this encourages other sites to backlink to that given site. Here is an in depth look into link building https://moz.com/beginners-guide-to-link-building.
-Olivia Harris