Hello, community! One of the main driving forces in website optimization is backlinks. Search engines pay attention to both internal linking and — even more importantly — your external links. These external links form what’s known as a backlink profile, and it should be growing constantly — both in quantity and quality. That’s what we’ll talk about today.
Also, a quick reminder — we recently published an article on the key SEO trends in 2024. We highly recommend checking it out!
What is a backlink profile?
A backlink profile refers to the external links pointing to a website, which have been indexed by search engines. These links matter not just in terms of quantity but also quality. Links from low-quality or spammy sites (sometimes called “link farms”) can hurt your SEO. On the other hand, if an authoritative source (as recognized by search engines) links to your site, your rankings are likely to improve.
To build a high-quality backlink profile, keep the following aspects in mind:
- Anchor quality. These are the keywords you plan to rank for. Choose them based on your site’s semantic core and current trends, to ensure the queries are relevant and popular;
- Donor quality. If the site where you’re placing your link has become a dumping ground for backlinks, it will hurt your ranking. Prioritize sites that have few external links but rank highly themselves. Buying links on such sites may be expensive, but the impact from even one link can be significant.
You should also check how the donor site is indexed and whether it’s under any penalties. This isn’t just about SEO performance — it’s about making sure your money is being spent wisely. Free backlinks are nearly impossible to get these days, so if you’re paying, make sure you’re building a high-quality profile.
Types of external links
It’s important to understand what makes up your backlink profile. External links can be divided into two main categories:
- Natural links — those that complement the main content. Essentially, contextual backlinks.
- Artificial links — blatant ads that have no real connection to the page where they’re placed.
Obviously, natural links carry more weight in your backlink profile because search engines evaluate whether the link enhances the content and provides value for users. We covered how backlinks are created in more detail in our link building guide.
Both natural and artificial links can also be categorized into two key types:
- Permanent — links that stay on the donor site indefinitely;
- Rental or temporary — more budget-friendly and useful for short-term projects or cost-effective campaigns.
Webmasters can also apply tags when publishing your link. One common tag is nofollow — but these days, Google treats it more like a suggestion than a rule. The default tag, dofollow, signals that bots should index the link and follow it.
The type of link and its tags should be agreed upon with the site owner directly or specified when creating tasks on link marketplaces where you can buy backlinks.
How to avoid mistakes when building backlinks
There are many ways to build backlinks: you can buy them directly from webmasters, use backlink marketplaces, suggest link exchanges, or even spam links on social media if you’re feeling desperate. But avoid making the following mistakes:
- Don’t buy only expensive links. Some webmasters inflate their prices to create the illusion that their sites are superior. Instead of focusing on cost, evaluate the donor site’s actual metrics: spam score, trust level, and so on;
- Don’t overlook the quality of the surrounding text. Search engines want to see that the content and all links within it are relevant. Well-written and unique content is more likely to rank in search, which means you could also gain some bonus traffic in addition to higher rankings;
- Don’t buy links without analyzing the donor site’s metrics first. Use tools like Ahrefs to assess quality before making a purchase.
And don’t forget about your anchors — they must be relevant both to the page they’re placed on and the page they point to. When you account for all these factors, you can be confident that you’re building a high-quality backlink profile that will help your site climb the rankings!
Conclusion
Search engine algorithms are constantly evolving, and their databases are always updating. To avoid having to adapt on the fly, it’s best to build your backlink profile smartly and thoroughly from the start. We hope this helped you understand what matters most and where to focus your attention.
Have you ever worked on building a backlink profile, or is SEO optimization still completely new to you? Share your experience in our Telegram community, where we cover all things affiliate marketing!
As always, respectfully yours — Your Geek!