Top-10 Myths in Link Building

Many SEO optimization tools help us to rank websites in the Google SERP. Link Building is among the most effective methods to do that. But on the internet a lot of myths and misleading information about that. So we decided to bring them together. This article is about the Top-10 myths in link building that lost their sense.

Myth #1. Don't get backlinks from websites where DA is lower than yours.

DA (Domain Authority) - is a metric that shows an approximate score of your site's ranking by search engines. But DA doesn't count the quality of websites that have editorial links. This peculiarity can be a decisive factor for the ranking, but the system will not count it during the calculation of the metric.

Domain Authority will help with the selection of websites only if the selection of such sites will be secured by other features in the complex. So, when you choose a donor for the backlink, it's more important to look into the following points:

• Moderate link building pace;
• Sufficient number of quality backlinks;
• Heathy anchor texts profile;
• The ratio of Dofollow and Nofollow backlinks;
• Good daily website traffic figures;
• Ahrefs DR;

This method is rarely used by top-level experts. Mainly, it's used by junior SEOs who are trying to maximize the speed of selecting donor websites.

Myth #2. Backlinks from directories are harmful

This myth has its origins in the launch of Google's Penguin anti-spam algorithm. The launch of this algorithm has led to mixed results. A lot of websites lost their positions because of the low-quality backlinks in their profiles. So, SEO experts began to remove their backlinks from the directories and noticed a positive shift in positions. This is what led to this myth.

In fact, this myth has a correct basis. Websites that get different kinds of low-quality backlinks have a bigger chance of falling under the anti-spam algorithm. But it doesn't mean that you need to avoid any directories. If you make unique company pages on Yelp, Best of the Web, Foursquare, Yellow Pages, and many others, it will not damage positions. By doing so, you will dilute the backlinks profile and it will not hurt the website positions.

Myth #3. The rapid accumulation of backlinks has a negative impact on positions

This myth can be safely refuted. Search Engines treat negatively only backlinks with a questionable reputation and quality. Good backlinks are not harmful. If they grow too fast, they simply skip by search algorithms. Examples of this are news articles. If the news article is hot and gets a lot of backlinks, search engines just don't count them. To make a positive result, it's enough to get the backlinks twice a month. Do it regularly, follow your link-building strategy, and forget about fears.

Myth #4. External backlinks are dangerous

Once upon a time, this myth was true. But today it is absolutely no longer relevant. This is due to the fact that the index Page Rank every year is losing its power. New algorithms are no longer penalized and are even encouraged if you put some useful external links. Many novice SEO specialists refuse such a privilege. They do not put external links because they are afraid of sanctions from search engines. Because of this, their websites may rank lower for some search queries.

Myth #5. Links exchange and "broken backlinks" strategy run down any link building efforts

Some SEO specialists firmly believe that it is possible to fall under sanctions if you ask an external site to place a link to your website. This is not true if your link will be relevant to a third-party resource. So if your link is useful and relevant, feel free to place your backlink there. On your part, you will only acquire additional traffic and "juice" without violating search engine rules.

Myth #6. No more than one link from one site

One popular misconception in link building is that ranking metrics are only measured by unique domains. SEO specialists often reject repeated links on the same websites. If the guest or crowd backlinks produce good results, you can put a few of them on the same trusted source.

Note that link building alone will not pump your website to the top positions. So, we recommend you to work also on content, behavioral factors, on-site optimization, and experiment anchor texts to achieve high results.

Myth #7. Backlinks from irrelevant websites will not bring any results

Every time there is a new backlink to a website, search engines get a signal to analyze it. They will consider the relevance of the backlink and try to understand the sudden reason for its appearance. If the backlink was editorial and led to a trusted source then this backlink will be counted as a useful one, and it wouldn't harm the strategy.

Myth #8. Compliance with the well-known "standard" proportions of anchors texts

Off-Site SEO optimization has a "standard" proportion of descriptive and non-descriptive anchors. Usually, some SEO blogs suggest using a 20/80 ratio. In their eyes, this proportion has a big role, but the real picture may be different. You have always to do anchor texts analysis before you start link building. Incorrect proportions of anchor texts can hurt or erase the desired results.

Myth #9. Nofollow backlinks are useless

This myth is relevant only among newbie SEOs, who believe that the nofollow links are useless. In fact, everything is exactly the opposite. With the nofollow links in tandem with dofollow, you can dilute the link profile. Both types of links are important to search engines. A proper nofollow link will also produce some results.

Myth #10. Crowd marketing backlinks are spam

This myth doesn't correspond to reality at all. Crowd-marketing is a popular way of link building, and it will work if you follow these rules:

• Choose only trusted websites with the same or similar topics.
• Get into the target audience of the selected website/forum. Identify the pains and offer solutions.
• Post the most useful, interesting, and high-quality info on platforms where you think potential customers can be found.
• Never get into conflicts with members.
• If you work with forums and other social media, be sure to fill out your profile and pump it up with posts for about two weeks before using crowdfunding marketing.
• Also, don't forget about the media saturation of your posts, relevant photos, and videos.

If you stick to the recommendations of these rules then crowd marketing will justify your efforts.