As SEOs, we well understand the value links contribute to ranking websites in search results. So much so, it's something we study regularly here at Moz.
At their most basic, links are counted as "votes" of popularity for search engines to rank websites. Beyond this, search engineers have long worked to extract a large number of signals from the simple link, including:
- Trustworthiness – Links from trusted sites may count as an endorsement
- Spamminess – Links from known spam sites may count against you
- Link Manipulation – Looking at signals such as over-optimization and link velocity, search engines may be able to tell when webmasters are trying to "game" the system
One of the most important signals engineers have worked to extract from links is topical relevance. This allows search engines to answer questions such as "What is this website about?" by examining incoming links.
Exactly how search engines use links to measure and weigh topical relevance is subject to debate. Rand has addressed it eloquently here, and again here. Over the years, several US patent filings from Google engineers demonstrate exactly how this process may work. It's important to look at these concepts to better understand how incoming links may influence a website's ability to rank.
This is the "theory" part of SEO. As usual with these types of posts, a huge thanks to Bill Slawski and his blog SEO by the Sea, which acted as a starting point of research for many of these concepts.
1. Hub and authority pages
In the beginning, there was the Hilltop algorithm.
In the early days of Google, not long after Larry Page figured out how to rank pages based on popularity, the Hilltop algorithm worked out how to rank pages on authority. It accomplished this by looking for "expert" pages linking to them.
An expert page is a document that links to many other topically relevant pages. If a page is linked to from several expert pages, then it is considered an authority on that topic, and may rank higher.
"...a good hub is a page that points to many good authorities; a good authority is a page that is pointed to by many good hubs.”
– Authoritative Sources in a Hyperlinked Environment (PDF)
These were eloquent solutions that produced superior search results. While we can't know the degree to which these concepts are used today, Google acquired the Hilltop algorithm in 2003.
2. Anchor text
Links contain a ton of information. For example, if you link out using the anchor phrase "hipster pizza," there's a great chance the page you're linking to is about pizza (and maybe hipsters).
That's the idea behind several Google PageRank patents. Earning links with the right anchor text can help your page to rank for similar phrases.
This also explains why you should use descriptive anchor text when linking, as opposed to generic "click here" type links.
Beyond the anchor text, other signals from the linking page — including the title and text surrounding the link — could provide contextual clues as to what the target page is about. While the importance of anchor text has long been established in SEO, the influence of these other elements is harder to prove.
3. Topic-sensitive PageRank
Despite rumors to the contrary, PageRank is very much alive (though Toolbar PageRank is dead).
PageRank technology can be used to distribute all kinds of different ranking signals throughout a search index. While the most common examples are popularity and trust, another signal is topical relevance, as laid out in this paper by Taher Haveliwala, who went on to become a Google software engineer.
The concept works by grouping "seed pages" by topic (for example, the Politics section of the New York Times). Every link out from these pages passes on a small amount of topic-sensitive PageRank, which is passed on through the next set of links, and so on.
When a user enters a search, those pages with the highest topic-sensitive PageRank (associated with the topic of the search) are considered more relevant and may rank higher.
4. Reasonable surfer
All links are not created equal.
The idea behind Google's Reasonable Surfer patent is that certain links on a page are more important than others, and thus assigned increase weight. Examples of more important links include:
- Prominent links, higher up in the HTML
- Topically relevant links, related to both the source document and the target document.
Conversely, less important links include:
- "Terms of Service" and footer links
- Banner ads
- Links unrelated to the document
Because the important links are more likely to be clicked by a "reasonable surfer," a topically relevant link can carry more weight than an off-topic one.
"...when a topical cluster associated with the source document is related to a topical cluster associated with the target document, the link has a higher probability of being selected than when the topical cluster associated with the source document is unrelated to the topical cluster associated with the target document."
– United States Patent: 7716225
5. Phrase-based indexing
Not going to lie. Phrase-based indexing can be a tough concept to wrap your head around.
What's important to understand is that phrase-based indexing allows search engines to score the relevancy of any link by looking for related phrases in both the source and target pages. The more related phrases, the higher the score.
In addition to ranking documents based on the most relevant links, phrase-based indexing allows search engines to do cool things with less relevant links, including:
- Discounting spam and off-topic links: For example, an injected spam link to a gambling site from a page about cookie recipes will earn a very low outlink score based on relevancy, and would carry less weight.
- Fighting "Google Bombing": For those that remember, Google bombing is the art of ranking a page highly for funny or politically-motivated phrases by "bombing" it with anchor text links, often unrelated to the page itself. Phrase-based indexing can stop Google bombing by scoring the links for relevance against the actual text on the page. This way, irrelevant links can be discounted.
6. Local inter-connectivity
Local inter-connectivity refers to a reranking concept that reorders search results based on measuring how often each page is linked to by all the other pages.
To put it simply, when a page is linked to from a number of high-ranking results, it is likely more relevant than a page with fewer links from same set of results.
This also provides a strong hint as to the types of links you should be seeking: pages that already rank highly for your target term.
7. The Golden Question
If the above concepts seem complex, the good news is you don't have to actually understand the above concepts when trying to build links to your site.
To understand if a link is topically relevant to your site, simply ask yourself the golden question of link building: Will this link bring engaged, highly qualified visitors to my website?
The result of the golden question is exactly what Google engineers are trying to determine when evaluating links, so you can arrive at a good end result without understanding the actual algorithms.
About those links between sites you control...
One important thing to know is this: in nearly all of these Google patents and papers, every effort is made to count only "unbiased" links from unassociated sites, and discount links between sites and pages related to one another through preexisting relationships.
This means that both internal links and links between sites you own or control will be less valuable, while links from non-associated sites will carry far more weight.
Researching the impact of topical links
While it's difficult to measure the direct effect these principles exert on Google's search results (or even if Google uses them at all), we are able to correlate certain linking characteristics with higher rankings, especially around topical anchor text.
Below is a sample of results from our Search Engine Ranking Factors study that shows link features positively associated with higher Google rankings. Remember the usual caveat that correlation is not causation, but it sure is a hint.
Practical tips for topically relevant links
Consider this advice when thinking about links for SEO:
- DO use good, descriptive anchor text for your links. This applies to internal links, outlinks to other sites, and links you seek from non-biased external sites.
- AVOID generic or non-descriptive anchor text.
- DO seek relationships from authoritative, topically relevant sites. These include sites that rank well for your target keyword, and "expert" pages that link to many authority sites. (For those interested, Majestic has done some interesting work around Topical Trust Flow.)
- AVOID over-optimizing your links. This includes repetitive use of exact match anchor text and keyword stuffing.
- DO seek links from relevant pages. This includes examining the title, body, related phrases, and intent of the page to ensure its relevancy to your target topic.
- DO seek links that people are more likely to click. The ideal link is often both topically relevant and placed in a prominent position.
- AVOID manipulative link building. Marie Haynes has written an excellent explanation of the kinds of unnatural links that you likely want to avoid at all cost.
Finally, DO try to earn and attract links to your site with high quality, topically relevant content.
What are your best tips around topically relevant links? Let us know in the comments below!
FYI - big thanks to Abe Schmidt for his amazing animated graphics. If you like illustrated posts, here are 4 others useful at explaining SEO concepts:
All this mean "DEAD of linkbuilding" from non-authoritative or non-related sources as:
Of course only reason that people do this is because they're fast, cheap and easy. Of course tons of such links can went you into trouble - Penguin, Spam links, etc. And this is covered many times here in Moz.
Everyone knows that quality links are slow, expensive and hard. That's why many of websites owners/SEOs and other marketing gurus claim "SEO is dead" and jump into alternative bandwagons (SMM, PR, PPC).
In reality - SEO isn't dead, link building isn't dead. But are evolving!
After almost 4 years since the first Penguin update is strange that people still consider these type of backlinks.
I don't think they consider these type of backlinks because they are fast, cheap and easy, but because they are sold to them as effective. People buying these types of backlinks lack SEO knowledge.
Probably they are just looking for something affordable for their business and fall into the trap of false advertising, without knowing the real dangers of these type of backlinks.
There are businesses that can afford real SEO and there are businesses that can't. Maybe it's best to tell those that can't afford real SEO that no SEO is better then bad SEO.
Gaming Google to garner a higher organic rank has become increasingly difficult but certainly not impossible. Like with any profession that had its origins in an unregulated market link building for SEO purposes went from something anyone can do to the point we are at now where only a select few excel. You can find countless arguments from individuals bashing"black hat seo" with claims that link building is dead. The reason you cannot find contrarian articles is anyone who is successfully building links is not seeking attention.
True - but gaming is ok if you use some as blackhat tactics knowns as "Churn and Burn".
But - this isn't optional for long term.
@SorinaDascalu - Buna seara! (translated from Romanian - Good Evening!)
Strange is that some of SEO "specialists" (note quotes) still used this as link building techniques and provide such services to their customers. Some of "customers" knows that receive garbage, but this is what they pay for.
Later - "Oh, uh! Search engine penalize your domain!". And years later you still can't recover from this. Don't know how much this cost to you and/or your online business.
Cyrus, I've been reading your posts for a long time, and I think now is a great time for my first question!
Lately, my ecommerce website has been linked to from a variety of media outlets. Forbes, Associated Press affiliates, and various business outlets. These all have very high authority and typically link to me using branded anchor text.
The articles written have nothing to do with what I sell - they typically talk about my entrepreneurial journey and things related to ecommerce.
Based on your article, these would be non-topical. I am guessing that there's value in these links, mostly from people searching for my brand... but will any of these links actually help me rank for the keywords that searchers use to find the products I sell?
Absolutely they have value! Especially links from trusted news outlets - those are awesome.
The threshold for what is considered "topical" may be lower than you think. For example, do any of the the press articles mention what you sell, even in passing? Are they topically related broadly, i.e. eCommerce?
Also consider that links pass signals other than relevance, the most important being popularity. Every one of those links is a vote. If it comes down to ranking you vs. a competitor, those links are a strong signal of endorsement as to which should rank higher.
This reminds me of a post Rand wrote years ago. While Google has tampered down on certain domain authority signals, the concept still holds true today: The Rising Tide Lifts All Ships
Finally, congrats on all the new links!
Great article Cyrus. Following on from Allen's comment/question - sites that link to me just using my URL as the anchor text e.g. "Visit them at www.mybusiness.org" - though not optimal for me as a business (no keywords) - is there a danger that Google will see this as "over optimised" as many unique URLs all link to me using the same anchor text?
Nearly half of our hotel site's have links that are purely domain . com anchor text. They seem to perform just fine as far as links go. I'd say anything that reinforces who you are, your official .com and is contextually relevant to who you are/what you do (surrounding copy with the anchor) will treat you right.
Thanks Scott. I guess that's my question: How do you KNOW they perform just fine? I would assume they would perform better if they were keyword-rich, unique anchor-text links... but how much better is hard to quantify.
I'm competing against Hilton for their own hotel names and winning... But performance scale really depends on your vertical and the competition.
Are they strong enough to convince Google my .com should be the #1 result outside of a map pack (true organic), yes. Are they strong enough to top Trip Advisor or the other OTA's for a generic "hotel + city" keyword query? Sometimes... but in most cases, there's only 1 non-OTA on the 1st page of those searches anyhow.
I'd say it matters more often than not the type of link that determines if Google will consider the link over-optimized, as opposed to solely looking at the anchor text. I'd usually not worry about true, editorial type links.
What I would be more concerned with are links that are obviously manipulative, or not placed by a human. These include:
But even here, there are many, many shades of grey. Some links you think might hurt you never do, and other super-awesome links are viewed with suspicion. At the end of the day, it's an algorithm that's bound to make mistakes.
Those are some great points. Yes, they do mention what I sell in passing and I suppose that context is enough for Google to figure out what it is I'm offering. The Forbes article was extremely popular and gained a lot of links itself.
I'd been starting to doubt the effects of getting those links - it's been about 3 months and I haven't noticed any particular lift in rankings or DA via Moz as a result of getting them.
You may not have noticed a ranking increase, but links add incremental value to your .com, you may need 50+ major mentions from such sources to see much of a difference -- I would bet that your referral traffic has jumped a bit due to these links, though. It's good PR. (public relations -- not page rank)
Hey Allen.. Well it seems that your traffic is increasing (If I was looking at the right site approx 1.3k avg right now!). Anyways back to the topic Building Topical Signal is something I am also experimenting but dude like Scott Davis said you need to go after more mentions and to rank your product/category pages you need to naturally get links for each category and ranking will come if you let everything happen naturally.
Those are some of my favorite links! Nicely done.
For hotels, about . com is also a great place to find yourself in a featured article with a link.
Where can i get that kind of links? How Much????
This post is really awesome because the topic you choose is complex :)
Building links is always been a crucial in any marketing campaign. You explain some great points here about topical links. To acquiring any link we should take a look on relevancy of the page, authority of the page, outbound links and mainly anchor text we are using and content flow with the relevance factor.
Also i am just wondering as you said that "local inter connected pages have higher chances rank compare to other pages" it means good interlinking with descriptive text helps to get more search visibility? That would be great if you drop your feedback here.
Overall awesome post and you always provide some great insights on this crucial topic. Really enjoy :)
Excellent post Cyrus and I loved your litmus test of "Will this link bring engaged, highly qualified visitors to my website?"
This is the EXACT point I was driving home in this article here https://theupperranks.com/Blog/domain-authority-is-good-but-relevant-links-are-even-better/
I find this very interesting. Although I have a little doubt , we could include the links that are generated in social networks through content shared by users? I think that these links are relevants because if user shared them your page grow up in search motors. But its only my opinion based in a experiencie. What do you think?
Great point. I suspect these links are great at raising brand awareness, and I have no doubt search engines use them for URL discovery. They also lead to actual followed (though low-valued) links in many circumstances due to social media aggregators and distribution. Beyond this, I wouldn't place too much stock in these links passing significant ranking value, relevant or otherwise.
What a brilliantly thorough look at different kinds of topical links! The process of linkbuilding has been evolving for years, and this post definitely showcases the importance of topical links, both for now and for in future. A naturally topical link from a relevant page of low authority should be considered just as powerful (if not more!) than an irrelevant link from a high authority page.
I would stress most on Golden Question by all means. I totally agree every single rule you explained it the most material for link building. However, Golden question is apply to every above 6. Great Refresher.
Very informative post. I was unaware of Hilltop algorithm. Thanks for the info. I guess golden rule for link building is to be real and genuine. Always do white hat SEO
One more thing - whoever designed the header graphic for this is awesome.
The one thing we always stress to clients is link diversity. Your overall link profile should look like a Louisiana Gumbo. Meaning, it should have a wide variety of ingredients (aka links) pointing the site. Of course these links need to be relevant and from good sources but they should be diverse in nature. I think the more diverse the more natural things look.
An excellent visual representation of link power.
Regarding endnote # 2, however ("AVOID generic or non-descriptive anchor text") - I disagree.
If one wishes their link profile to be as natural as possible, one should also use generic / non-descriptive anchor texts every once in a while.
This was detailed and very cool explained article but what you mentioned in the end, the golden question, I think that makes the most sense. We need to have the links, kind of links, placement of links which are useful for the visitors and not just for some bots.
Thanks for the wonderful post. I think you covered most of the ranking factors here. :)
nice post sir !! if we add more relevent ALT exact match tags from Home Page to Other , so its impacted on SEO
Very interesting post. Thanks for sharing
I thought as SEOs we were to avoid inbound keyword anchor links...
Avoid building inboud keyword anchor links yourself - Earn them from humans on quality relevant websites by way of recognition for the value of your content, product or service.
Great post! Build quality links has always been difficult and hard, but the Phrase-based indexing seems good way to discount irrelevant links . Thanks
Very interesting article, what I most stressed of all content is the phrase-based indexing.
I will put that into practice.
Thanks a lot!
This is great post indeed! If these links are not working then my question is how to find such relevant websites to make relevant backlinks?
Cheers!
Versha
In regards to anchor text, it's important to be careful. Sure, anchor text can be topically relevant - but it's a dangerous area because often, focusing on specific topics can lead to Google thinking that the anchor text is "keyword rich", which can result in a penalty. Also, building quality links is something that needs to happen naturally over time through things like content marketing and social media posting. If it's done too quickly, it makes it more likely for lower quality links to sneak through! Furthermore when we build links for clients, we take a marketing approach and build a brand to earn links naturally over time and don't include any keyword rich anchor text. If someone linked to a piece of content naturally and happened to include keyword rich anchor text, that's different. But any link we build on our own, there should be no keywords whatsoever, or else Google looks at it as a manipulation. Here are instances within the link scheme quality guidelines where the link schemes shouldn't be done. Our best practices if we are generating a link, and there are keywords, make sure there is a call to action included and the link should be "no follow". We're overly careful because we're a white-hat firm.
Here's the link to Google's information about the matter: https://support.google.com/webmasters/answer/66356?hl=en
Some highlights:
"Large-scale article marketing or guest posting campaigns with keyword-rich anchor text links.
Keyword-rich, hidden or low-quality links embedded in widgets that are distributed across various sites, for example: Visitors to this page: 1,472 car insurance
Links with optimized anchor text in articles or press releases distributed on other sites. For example:
There are manywedding ringson the market. If you want to have awedding, you will have to pick thebest ring. You will also need tobuy flowersand awedding dress.
Forum comments with optimized links in the post or signature, for example:
Thanks, that’s great info!
- Paul
paul’s pizzasan diego pizzabest pizza san diego"
I love the information here, along with the graphics and the examples of relevance. In fact I did a Google search on Motorcyles and Kttens, and was not disapoointed with the results. https://3.bp.blogspot.com/-Unq7-Ixb9as/TeKMKp3kt4I/AAAAAAAAAXA/ncPRUcNmVtk/s1600/kitten+cop.jpg
Very informative article . They are very interesting links .
I am reviewing link building articles in Moz now. This is one of the most visual articles on the topic I´ve read so far.
It helps a lot in thinking what a good link is and what should include in a post or article. Thanks
Thank you for your tutorial, I'm trying to differentiate my anchor text so that I won't get penalties from Google Penguin
What happens if a competitor creates a suspicious backlinking campaign to my site to affect me?
Cyrus!
I love with all my heart this kind of articles!
Not only enlightening with your ideas, also backed with papers and patents! My brain is jumping in exitement for all the SEO content that will be read.
THANKS! THANKS!
I'll share this post with all my students, colleagues and will definitely discuss it with them.
This is pure awesomeness, Cyrus! Wait, it's more than that - it's the goldmine of awesomeness! This is kind of in-depth-study that has made me awestruck reading your posts on Moz. Too bad you're not around here anymore. Speaking of the points, I cannot agree more with the wisdom of choosing descriptive anchor texts and being very thoughtful about putting links above the fold.
A very helpful post. Might be it will help me in increasing organic traffic of my business. But I just want to know that what are the possible ways of link building in today's era. Will articles & blogs work? As topical & relevant links are based on content only or I can go for some other methodologies. If yes then which methods of link building should I follow ?
This post is really awesome, and it´s a perfect visual representation
What a great post. I read whole article and almost everything in this article seems to be very much to the point. Links are very important for a website to rank but quality and relevancy is also very important. Google is continuously working on their algo to refine search results. These algos are ranking websites based on overall authority of website ie onsite and offsite both.
Thanks, Cyrus, for this amazing article!
I agree that your anchor text and the link need to be semantically connected, i.e. that the content needs to be relevant to what you are linking. This has proven to be good practice, at least in my case.
Not all links are born equal. - I am sure going to start using this. :)
Kind regards,
VS
Hi Cyrus,
Nicely done, putting all these pieces together in an illustration of different link analysis processes. I'm working upon describing some new approaches, which I think you might find interesting, too.
Thanks Cyrus,
The great post !
success or failure of your website is depends link building !
I'm building link for SimiCart.com - mobile shopping apps , still always mind role :)
Appreciate the breakdown and all of the research and testing that you do.
Great article! Not too much has changed in SEO...quality links from sites related to your business = boom.
I have been struggling with link building and I am not getting anywhere. I guess I need help and your article would really be great help.