What is exactly a relevant backlink?

by Haship
28 replies
  • SEO
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What is exactly a relevant backlink by google bot? How it can see which backlink is relevant and which is irrelevant?

If we publish a link with anchor text for example "backlinks" , so that means on that page where it will be, we also must have that word "backlinks" in a title? Also that word must be for example in articles body text? Also that page we are linking to must have a word "backlink" somewhere on that page too?
#backlink #relevant
  • Profile picture of the author paulgl
    A link on a page that is geared for the same keywords as the linked page
    in conjunction with anchor text. No relevant anchor text, and you get
    what should be only half (perhaps a tad more) of the package.

    Get them both, and that could be golden.

    You can even fine tune this even further by putting the link in the middle of
    an article. A sidebar/footer link could be discounted.

    If you are just talking "relevant," then just the first part above holds. The
    rest is about helping.

    Paul
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    • Profile picture of the author Haship
      Originally Posted by paulgl View Post

      A link on a page that is geared for the same keywords as the linked page
      in conjunction with anchor text. No relevant anchor text, and you get
      what should be only half (perhaps a tad more) of the package.

      Get them both, and that could be golden.

      You can even fine tune this even further by putting the link in the middle of
      an article. A sidebar/footer link could be discounted.

      If you are just talking "relevant," then just the first part above holds. The
      rest is about helping.

      Paul
      Can you explain a little bit more detailed about your first paragraph?

      What exactly is that "geared" means? I mean not about what that word means, but what it means for getting a relevant backlink.

      An example would be fine.
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  • Profile picture of the author Steve Waller
    Originally Posted by Haship View Post

    What is exactly a relevant backlink by google bot? How it can see which backlink is relevant and which is irrelevant?

    If we publish a link with anchor text for example "backlinks" , so that means on that page where it will be, we also must have that word "backlinks" in a title? Also that word must be for example in articles body text? Also that page we are linking to must have a word "backlink" somewhere on that page too?
    In my opinion, a "relevant" backlink is pretty much what internet marketers mean when they are trying to mimic a natural link.

    If you think about it, any real link that is given editorially (that is without being paid) by the author of an article or owner of a website is a relevant link, otherwise they simply wouldn't be putting it there in the first place.

    But since you are probably talking about links that you build yourself, I would say a relevant link is from a page (and less so a website) that is so closely related to your own page (or website) that the backlink you include would actually add value to the reader.

    More specifically, I guess the on-page factors you want to consider are: whether your keyword (or a related phrase) appears in the page title, H1, H2 etc.

    Make sense?
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    • Profile picture of the author Haship
      Originally Posted by Steve Waller View Post

      In my opinion, a "relevant" backlink is pretty much what internet marketers mean when they are trying to mimic a natural link.

      If you think about it, any real link that is given editorially (that is without being paid) by the author of an article or owner of a website is a relevant link, otherwise they simply wouldn't be putting it there in the first place.

      But since you are probably talking about links that you build yourself, I would say a relevant link is from a page (and less so a website) that is so closely related to your own page (or website) that the backlink you include would actually add value to the reader.

      More specifically, I guess the on-page factors you want to consider are: whether your keyword (or a related phrase) appears in the page title, H1, H2 etc.

      Make sense?

      It makes sense, but i have another question in mind.

      Lets say i publish an article with a title "top 10 best countries in the world" what anchor text i should use if i want my link to be considered by GOOGLE BOT as a relevant backlink?

      My link with anchor text should be for example "best countries" or "top 10 best countries"? what if i put a link with an anchor text for example "best countries today" is it still can be considered as a relevant backlink? Or if i put a link with an anchor text "what country to visit" in article's body?
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  • Profile picture of the author Backlinko
    A relevant link is pretty self-explanatory.

    It's a link from a site closely related to yours in topic and theme.

    In my experience, relevant links are CRUSHING it right now. PR, DA etc are nice. But I'm finding that a handful of super-relevant links are doing wonders for me.

    One reason Google is moving towards relevancy is because it's harder to game. It's super easy to get a "high PR" link from some crappy network.

    But getting an authoritative link from a site that's closely related to yours?

    That's a lot harder to pull off.
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    • Profile picture of the author yukon
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      Originally Posted by Backlinko View Post

      A relevant link is pretty self-explanatory.

      It's a link from a site closely related to yours in topic and theme.

      In my experience, relevant links are CRUSHING it right now. PR, DA etc are nice. But I'm finding that a handful of super-relevant links are doing wonders for me.

      One reason Google is moving towards relevancy is because it's harder to game. It's super easy to get a "high PR" link from some crappy network.

      But getting an authoritative link from a site that's closely related to yours?

      That's a lot harder to pull off.
      What do you mean "One reason Google is moving towards relevancy..."?

      Google SERPs has always been about relevancy. Own a few sites in the same exact niche & you'll see what I mean. Rank the first page/domain & the rest of the same niche domains/pages will trail in the SERPs picking up more traffic for the same keywords.

      That's another reason I tell people to build out multiple pages per keyword, aim to rank small groups of web pages & SEO gets easier (passing relevant links back & forth).
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      • Profile picture of the author Backlinko
        Originally Posted by yukon View Post


        Google SERPs has always been about relevancy.
        Really?

        A former Google employee would disagree:
        hxxp://inchoo.net/ecommerce/relevance-is-the-new-pr-says-an-ex-googler

        He states:
        (…)getting a link from a high PR page used to always be valuable, today it’s more the relevance of the site’s theme in regards to yours, relevance is the new PR.
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        • Profile picture of the author yukon
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          Originally Posted by Backlinko View Post

          Really?

          A former Google employee would disagree:
          hxxp://inchoo.net/ecommerce/relevance-is-the-new-pr-says-an-ex-googler

          He states:
          (…)getting a link from a high PR page used to always be valuable, today it’s more the relevance of the site’s theme in regards to yours, relevance is the new PR.
          So your going to be one of those guys, hanging on to whatever Google public relations tells you to do for SEO?

          If you did your own testing you would have known about relevancy years ago, a simple Google search for Bruce Clay would have shown you what's possible with relevancy. I bet Bruce is old enough to be that ex Google employees daddy, lol.

          Search my oldest comments here on Warrior Forum, you'll find me talking about relevancy helping to rank pages. Relevancy is nothing new, it's old school SEO that still works today.

          If people would slow down & think, they would see that relevancy is the one thing that Google has never changed since the 1990's, it won't change for the next 20 years either. Without relevancy Google SERPs would be a cluster $#@% of off the wall random pages (won't happen).

          Here's a tip for building relevant links (ex: related:warriorforum.com SEO). With that search operator Google has classified that list of domains/pages as being relevant to each other for a specific keyword (ex: SEO). Now get links on those pages for your own site/page (piggyback) & Google will group your page/site in with domains that have authority for whatever keyword your targeting (ex: SEO).

          BTW, PR still matters for link building, relevancy is the icing on the cake, more bang for your buck...
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          • Profile picture of the author Backlinko
            Originally Posted by yukon View Post

            So your going to be one of those guys, hanging on to whatever Google public relations tells you to do for SEO?
            You obviously didn't read the interview. This was a FORMER Google employee. He has no reason to spin things in Google's favor like Matt Cutts.

            You can believe what you want. I'm going with the guy who actually helped design the current iteration of the algo and what I've seen from my personal testing.
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            • Profile picture of the author paulgl
              A link from a page on student loan consolidation that links
              to a page to paying student loans, is a relevant backlink.

              A link from a page on dog grooming to student loans is
              a non-relevant link.

              They both have value, theoretically. Put the link inside an
              article on the topic, and you get even more relevancy.
              Make the anchor text similar in keywords, and you get 100%
              relevant backlink, theoretically.

              Any link in a sidebar or footer, is downgraded. Maybe even
              taking "relevancy" out of the equation.

              Google has all sorts of ways of detecting link swapping and
              selling, further degrading any value of the link.

              Relevancy has to do with the page, not site.

              Funny thing. Google does not make any of this stuff hidden.

              Paul
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            • Profile picture of the author yukon
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              Originally Posted by Backlinko View Post

              You obviously didn't read the interview. This was a FORMER Google employee. He has no reason to spin things in Google's favor like Matt Cutts.

              You can believe what you want. I'm going with the guy who actually helped design the current iteration of the algo and what I've seen from my personal testing.
              Your delusional If you think relevancy is anything new for helping to rank pages in Google SERPs.

              I've seen your testing, remember the 200 SEO infographic with 100 opinions? I also see the coattail riding being done on the authority sites trying to jockey your own site.
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              • Profile picture of the author Backlinko
                Originally Posted by yukon View Post

                Your delusional If you think relevancy is anything new for helping to rank pages in Google SERPs.
                I'm not saying it's new. I'm just saying that it's becoming more and more important.
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          • Profile picture of the author nik0
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            Originally Posted by yukon View Post

            So your going to be one of those guys, hanging on to whatever Google public relations tells you to do for SEO?

            If you did your own testing you would have known about relevancy years ago, a simple Google search for Bruce Clay would have shown you what's possible with relevancy. I bet Bruce is old enough to be that ex Google employees daddy, lol.

            Search my oldest comments here on Warrior Forum, you'll find me talking about relevancy helping to rank pages. Relevancy is nothing new, it's old school SEO that still works today.

            If people would slow down & think, they would see that relevancy is the one thing that Google has never changed since the 1990's, it won't change for the next 20 years either. Without relevancy Google SERPs would be a cluster $#@% of off the wall random pages (won't happen).

            Here's a tip for building relevant links (ex: related:warriorforum.com SEO). With that search operator Google has classified that list of domains/pages as being relevant to each other for a specific keyword (ex: SEO). Now get links on those pages for your own site/page (piggyback) & Google will group your page/site in with domains that have authority for whatever keyword your targeting (ex: SEO).

            BTW, PR still matters for link building, relevancy is the icing on the cake, more bang for your buck...
            Any idea why that phrase ONLY returns my site in the list?

            https://www.google.com/#q=related:se...om+seo+service

            Lol it's not even my site in the result, it's a competitor.
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            • Profile picture of the author yukon
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              Originally Posted by nik0 View Post

              Any idea why that phrase ONLY returns my site in the list?

              https://www.google.com/#q=related:se...om+seo+service

              Lol it's not even my site in the result, it's a competitor.
              The related: search is doing what it's supposed to do, it shows other domains related to the domain your currently searching. Example, searching related:www.warriorforum.com will return other domains besides www.warriorforum.com.

              In your example, your searching for a domain singular keyword & the related: search is returning one instance of the same domain name only it's a plural version.
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  • Profile picture of the author tcrews
    It's simple.
    If a Weight loss page have a Make money link, that is not "relevant backlink".
    If a Weight loss page have a Weight loss link, that is "relevant backlink".
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    • Profile picture of the author Backlinko
      Originally Posted by tcrews View Post

      It's simple.
      If a Weight loss page have a Make money link, that is not "relevant backlink".
      If a Weight loss page have a Weight loss link, that is "relevant backlink".
      That's not actually it.

      Relevancy isn't just the page your link is on...it's the theme of the entire site.
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      • Profile picture of the author tcrews
        Originally Posted by Backlinko View Post

        That's not actually it.

        Relevancy isn't just the page your link is on...it's the theme of the entire site.
        I am sorry I could not agree with you. Take makeuseof for example. They cover everything from blogging to gaming. They have no particular theme. If they write an article about top IM blogs, I don't believe anybody would refuse backlinks from their site. OP asked what relevancy is, don't get him confused.
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        • Profile picture of the author Backlinko
          Originally Posted by tcrews View Post

          I am sorry I could not agree with you. Take makeuseof for example. They cover everything from blogging to gaming. They have no particular theme. If they write an article about top IM blogs, I don't believe anybody would refuse backlinks from their site. OP asked what relevancy is, don't get him confused.
          Don't get him confused?

          So you're saying that the relevancy of the site you get a link of doesn't matter?

          Looks like you're the confused one in this thread...
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          • Profile picture of the author tcrews
            Originally Posted by Backlinko View Post

            Don't get him confused?

            So you're saying that the relevancy of the site you get a link of doesn't matter?

            Looks like you're the confused one in this thread...
            Read my post again. If you still don't get it what I meant, then please move on.
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          • Profile picture of the author nik0
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            Originally Posted by Backlinko View Post

            Don't get him confused?

            So you're saying that the relevancy of the site you get a link of doesn't matter?

            Looks like you're the confused one in this thread...
            Somehow there are a lot of people who claim that the relevancy comes solely from the page the link is on, like Google isn't able to figure out what the rest of the site is about.
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            • Profile picture of the author Backlinko
              Originally Posted by nik0 View Post

              Somehow there are a lot of people who claim that the relevancy comes solely from the page the link is on, like Google isn't able to figure out what the rest of the site is about.
              This is exactly what I'm saying.

              tcrew or whatever his name is was saying that the relevancy of the site doesn't matter. Both the page AND the site's relevancy make a difference.
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              • Profile picture of the author nik0
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                Originally Posted by Backlinko View Post

                This is exactly what I'm saying.

                tcrew or whatever his name is was saying that the relevancy of the site doesn't matter. Both the page AND the site's relevancy make a difference.
                I suppose site relevancy is partly or in whole determined by the surrounding pages possibly linking to that page.

                That way you can have a very relevant link at a site that covers many topics, think of Amazon for example with all their subsections, the sections contain so much relevant products that it automatically gets a higher relevancy value.

                Compare that to a site with 100's of one page topics (like the typical blog network site) and the relevancy isn't worth much really, although the link still passes tons of value due to the high PR.

                Anyway one of the reasons why I focus more on domains that I turn into niche relevant ones with a few categories, for example:

                Niche 1 covers Finance, Insurance, Legal

                Niche 2 covers Home Improvement, Local Contractors, Decor, Interior

                Niche 3 covers Health, Medical, Weight Loss

                Niche 4 covers Internet, Web Design, Hosting, SEO, Marketing

                etc.

                That way it's not hyper relevant but as all the posts end up in relevant categories it should be relevant / connected enough to give the link more value.

                Lately I also started to actually do some keyword research for the blog posts that we write (and longer blog posts) so that the sites actually receive some real traffic, this with the eye on monetizing it at a later phase.

                It's such a waste to post article after article and just let it rest there while it has a ton of potential in attracting long tail traffic, even if the phrases only get searched like 50-100 times per month. It keeps on adding up.

                I do have to admit that at this phase we haven't seen the results getting much better opposed to a blog posts on a site that covers 100's of complete different topics. I suppose that the site actually ranking for relevant terms will be of more influence, and ranking it obvious becomes easier when it's all more related instead of a scrattered pile of crap.
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  • Profile picture of the author RuthStewart
    But if you make a hundred backlinks with the same keyword, wouldn't Google get suss?

    Is it better to have a relevant backlink with the keyword included in the anchor text such as if you were in weight loss, something like: "new weight loss product" as the anchor text?

    Just thinking about this out loud.......

    Best wishes,

    Ruth
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  • Profile picture of the author danielcollins
    Relevant backlink means you are getting the link from the same niche domain which your business have..
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  • Profile picture of the author kiransulebhavi
    It is depend upon what type of backlinks you are building. As if you are doing SBM or directory relevant category is really important same conditions applied to article submissions. In blog commenting you have to choose really relevant blog to comment.
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  • Profile picture of the author faria18000
    Relevant backlink means you have to create links within the sites whose category is related to your site's category. I agree with another one else that when you will use social bookmarking submissions or directory submissions for back link then you will select the related category.
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  • Profile picture of the author lizaharley
    Building backlinks are placing a link from your website on another site that isn’t yours. For example, Let’s pretend that you have a site about dog training, what you’ll do is look for a site that is related to dogs, It could be about dog bones, dog leases, dog houses, etc., it don’t matter as long as it’s about dogs.

    Then you read the website, and when you’re done just leave a comment on that webpage. It’s that easy. If the person that own that website like your comment and approve it, then you just created a backlink.
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  • Profile picture of the author Dimitris
    There are several description of relevant backlinks and their values. A lot of examples in this thread is about backlinks from non relevant pages, however this doesn't mean that they are irrelevant, they have some value, but it is not considerable.

    On the other hand, there are relevant backlink from two different sources, and the source determine their value. If you get backlink from relevant blog post it does have a high value, but if you get backlink from niche related site and a niche related blog post in it, the value of your backlink will be higher, even highest, and buy that the relevancy is higher.
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