What’s the best link velocity rate?
In order to achieve a healthy backlink profile, it’s common knowledge to only get links from high-quality relevant domains. However, there’s less conversation about the rate at which you get them. In this SEO Premier Blog, we will understand what link velocity is, how not to fall prey to over-optimisation, and ways to monitor your link outreach campaign performance.
What is Link Velocity?
Link velocity is the measure of how quickly you acquire backlinks to your domain in a given period. The number is often measured by how many backlinks you gained every month.
Because link acquisition is often trumpeted as a game of quality over quantity, marketers will tell you that there’s neither a limit nor a Goldilocks zone to evade suspicion from Google. When a piece of content goes viral, it often causes a spike on the number of links pointing back to the website. This doesn’t ring Google’s alarm bells because the uptick is caused by a diverse set yet authentic links.
Google will not penalise you for acquiring links over a brief period of time after years of inactivity. However, it brings into sharp focus the quality of links you received and the method by which you received them. For your domain to be penalised, it must have employed manipulative tactics to get backlinks such as link-buying or indiscriminately leaving links in irrelevant forums. Google’s algorithms put its ears on the ground for a sudden influx of links that came from suspicious sources; it benefits you to only exchange links with high-quality domains.
A Victim of Over-optimisation
As a digital marketer, you may be tempted to flex your link acquisition skills and mount an outreach campaign that will accrue for your client a massive amount of inorganic links. If you ever fall into this trap, you might be on the receiving end of an algorithm penalty, for which recovery might be hard.
Before you commit this mistake, consider the wasted resources you’ll use to what could be a fool’s errand. Low-quality backlinks may give you a short boost in rankings, but the benefit will most likely be short-lived.
The general rule is that link building should be a marathon, and not a sprint. A long tactical strategy requiring consistent effort instead of sporadic ones. When building a healthy link profile, it’s best to acquire links naturally and gradually. This scenario will free you from a potential hit once Google detects the suspicious activity.
Monitoring Link Velocity
If you ask us, is there value in monitoring your domain’s link velocity? The short answer is yes. Monitoring how your links grow can give you a glimpse of how effective your tactics are thus far. After all, link velocity is but a small component of your overall SEO metrics, along with traffic, domain authority, keyword rankings, etc.
You can use tools that will help you perform backlink analysis. Among other things, the right tool should be able to offer extensive backlink profile stats, manage your link-building prospects, and use automated outreach capabilities to expedite delivery of results from your campaign.
Back to Basics
When it comes to best practices in link-building, the tradition still holds true. First, vastly improve the quality of your content. Your website can only attract external links if you produce content that webmasters want to link to. However, if you’re into paid advertising in exchange of links, request that they carry the “nofollow” attribute so that Google knows it’s paid for and it won’t penalise you in the future. Last, develop a cadence for backlink growth. For example, if you aim for 3 high-quality links every month, adjust your effort and allocate resources depending on that goal.
Even if the importance of link velocity is largely disputed, especially by Google officials, building a healthy backlink profile - one that is built on quality and consistency - is still a factor to bumping up your website to the top of the SERPs!
