How to find quality backlinks for your website optimization campaign?

An SEO aspect we continuously work on is link building. This process refers to off-site optimization and affects your website authority and rank on SERP. Google uses backlinks as a ranking signal for keyword searches. However, in 2013 Google has changed its ranking algorithm flipped the whole digital world upside down. 

Some online merchants still do not know what exactly Google have changed in its algorithm and which role backlinks pay for today website optimization. In this article, we are going to open you some algorithm secrets and show you the difference between good and bad backlinks.

Far from all backlinks are of high quality

Not all backlinks can bring value to your website, even despite that fact that some optimization agencies tell you different information. There are a lot of black-hat SEO specialists who are engaged in wishful thinking as Google did not punish them for a long time and even reward with high rankings. Currently, the situation changed drastically. Google has updated its algorithms according to which websites that use spammy link building tactics fall under filters and get Google long-term penalties.

There are a lot of SEO consultants that have never questioned the status quo of backlinks and have not changed their link building strategies since Google last ranking update. Thus, links they provide to your site cannot be quality by default.    

Moreover, if you are provided with too many backlinks, it may also be a sign of fraudulent activity and quality link juice that comes to your site. Nowadays, Google is not concerned about your backlinks quality. Instead,  it highly evaluates the quality of backlinks which point to your site. So, if your site receives too many link juice, especially relevant, within a short period, Google will penalize you for fraudulent activities.

How can Google identify quality backlinks?

Nowadays, Google becomes more sophisticated and can distinguish spammy links from organic quality links. Google can track if users click on a link and evaluate what number of visitors follow a backlink which is placed on this page. If users click and stay on a page for at least half a minute, a link can be evaluated as to quality. However, if users open a particular page but do not follow a link, it can be a sign of fraudulent activity. 

You need to get rid of any spammy backlinks that place on your site as they can cause harm to your site SEO. You may check whether you have no quality backlinks on your website or not, using Google’s disavow tool. The process of removing not relevant and spammy backlinks takes some time and efforts. That is why you need to be accurate when hiring an SEO agency or consultant.

Praise quality backlinks (fortunately, there are some)

Quality backlinks are the links that come from relevant to your industry, long exited, reputable domains. If the website linking to your site place in the same market niche or has at least somehow related to your topic, such a backlink will contribute to your site SEO efforts. To make sure you obtain quality backlinks check a website that points to you. It should have high SEO metrics, especially click-through rate and conversion. 

Moreover, test the relevance of a website. It is essential as Google takes relevancy as the primary thrust signal together with site authority. Besides, it is reasonable to check the date of the latest website publications. If a website is not active, you will receive a quality and useless backlink.