Bad & Toxic Backlinks You Should Avoid via @sejournal, @BennyJamminS

Link building is a complicated art form with many different tactics and approaches.

Despite being one of the most mature processes in SEO, there’s still much disagreement about what makes a “bad” or “good” link building strategy, including effectiveness vs. risk, and what tactics Google can detect or punish a website for.

This post will help you determine what to avoid when link building or vetting the tactics of a new service provider.

I’m not going to claim to put any disagreements to rest, and if you’re a particularly experiment-minded SEO you might find this post a little on the conservative side.

As with all things in the industry, there’s inconsistency between what Google says and what works, and everyone benefits from those who experiment and push boundaries.

But I’m taking a conservative approach that follows Google’s guidelines closely for two core reasons:

  • This post is for readers looking for reliable and sustainable strategies. I don’t advise that you use experimental or high-risk tactics when it comes to link building if you don’t already know what you’re doing and what the risks are.
  • You should take the guidelines as a statement of intent, not absolute or current truth. Even if a link building tactic that goes against Google’s guidelines works now, there is reason to believe that Google intends to address it.

Types Of Unnatural Links

A an unnatural link is any link that is created for the purposes of manipulating search engines or that violates Google’s spam policies.

The following are some of the most common types of unnatural links.

Buying Or Selling Links

There is nothing fundamentally wrong with paying for a link or exchanging some kind of product or service for a link as long as the nature of the relationship is disclosed and the links are not for SEO purposes.

Buying, exchanging, or trading for links for SEO is the problem. Links for SEO are supposed to be a choice influenced only by the content on the page.

If your content is highly valued and people choose to link to it for that reason, then you deserve SEO benefits.

When you enter money or value exchanges into that dynamic, it breaks the ideal purpose of SEO links and introduces a high potential for manipulation. In such cases, Google requires marking the link as rel=nofollow or rel=sponsored so that the links do not pass SEO value. As long as you or the parties linking to you do this, for the most part, there’s no problem.

Here is an example of implementing nofollow and sponsored attributes:

Here are some ways that buying or selling links can fall afoul of Google’s spam policies:

  • Text advertisements with links that pass SEO signals because they haven’t been identified with “nofollow” or “sponsored.”
  • Paying for articles that include links that pass SEO signals.

Another way to buy links is to pay someone to create them for you. In this case, a service provider does that work of creating assets, reaching out to acquire links, or both. As long as this service provider doesn’t engage in shady tactics of their own and doesn’t give you links on domains that they own, this is totally fine.

Keep in mind that the “buying” and “selling” definitions are not limited to an exchange of currency.

It describes any kind of relationship where something is exchanged for a link, like a product.

As Matt Cutts explained in 2014, Google aligns pretty closely with the FTC on what it understands to be a “material connection” between a link provider and link recipient:

  • If a party receives enough value to reasonably change their behavior, a material connection must be disclosed.
    • A pen or a t-shirt likely won’t change behavior (unless received for the explicit purpose of reviewing / linking to it).
    • A direct payment for a link, a gift card, or a product with a high dollar value likely changes behavior and incentivizes a link.
    • An item loaned has different implications than an item given.
  • Consider the intended audience: if you’re giving things away for reasons other than to acquire links (for example as part of a conference attendance gift package), then disclosure might be necessary, but it might not be strictly necessary to ask all those people to mark links as sponsored if they choose to talk about it.
  • Consider whether a link relationship would be surprising: it makes sense that a movie reviewer might see a movie for free. It makes less sense that a tech reported would get to keep a laptop they’re reporting about without disclosure.

Link Exchange Agreements

Link exchanges are similar to buying links because they involve an exchange of value.

Mutual linking happens often, and when it occurs organically, it’s no problem. It makes perfect sense for some websites to link back and forth.

But you need to watch out for any kind of agreement. “Link for link” is a no-go, and if you do it often enough, it can become easy to spot.

The thing about links is that any time you give or get a link for a reason other than the value and relevance of the link itself, it’s easy to spot – likely easier than you think.

The occasional bit of back rubbing isn’t a big deal. When given a few different choices of websites to reference, it makes sense that people would choose those they already know or have existing relationships with.

That’s generally fine. The problem comes when you enter into specific agreements: You link to me, and I’ll link to you.

The video below explains the difference between a link that’s an editorial choice and a link that’s based on an agreement.

Private Blog Networks

Private blog networks (PBNs) are networks of sites created to artificially inflate the rankings of one specific central website.

Basically, one entity controls an entire network of websites and can use a few different specific linking methods to manipulate to pass authority and SEO value around.

This network can then be used to artificially inflate the rankings of other websites by linking out to them.

In order for this tactic to work, all the websites need to have relationships or be owned by the same entity.

This is a pretty clear violation of Google’s guidelines, and it’s also pretty easy to spot.

Sites that are part of these networks can be penalized, and if you’re a little too lax with user-generated content on your site, you could find yourself accidentally becoming one.

If you accept any kind of content from external parties, scrutinize it carefully, especially links. Skip down to “How To Spot Shady Links” to find out more.

Unnatural Links From Forums, Blog Comments, And Other User-Generated Content

User-generated content is tricky when it comes to links. Ideally, a random person loves your content so much that they use you as a reference. Not so ideal is faking it.

Comments, forums, blogs, guestbooks, and even sites like Reddit might be tempting sources for links, and in the right context, they can absolutely be part of a healthy backlink profile. You can even link to yourself if you’re genuinely engaging in a relevant discussion. Google doesn’t consider all comment links and UGC links to be spam.

However, it’s a bad idea to try and engineer these links as part of a mass strategy.

The first thing to keep in mind is that many user-generated content (UGC) websites have blanket nofollow attributes on outgoing links. It’s an old tactic, so many high-quality communities moderate UGC heavily. This means that doing this effectively requires effort. The big question to ask yourself is: does the comment add genuine value to the community?

Most commonly, people execute these links unnaturally using bots to post automatically. Generally, automated posting using bots isn’t exactly valuable, and you’ll be flagged and moderated out of those communities.

Automated Link Syndication

There are tons of ways to automate links, but Google considers automating links at scale to be spam.

There are plenty of ways to safely automate your content processes, but we aren’t talking about that. We’re talking about using automation to post content externally from your website purely to acquire SEO links.

From automated article spinners to bots that will post comments and social media posts, if you’re intentionally building links “at scale,” then the chances are high that you’re building toxic links.

This could look like an automated press release or directory posting. It could look like low-quality article directories, which are often filled with spammy content that is widely distributed.

Generative AI has enabled new forms of automation for links and content, so it’s important to consider the overall principles in Google’s and the FTC guidelines when you evaluate novel functions and strategies.

Links In Distributed Widgets

People sometimes engage in automated link building by adding links to widgets distributed to multiple websites. Google clarified its stance on this and provided examples of manipulative widgets.

This kind of link building is pretty easy to spot, and it’s pretty clear that these types of links don’t add value.

Using Expired Domains To Build Links

Expired domain abuse is another tactic Google is wise to, but that doesn’t stop people from trying it.

One way that expired domains can be used to build unnatural links is by purchasing it and then redirecting it to another website. The idea is that all of the authority and backlinks belonging to the expired domain will be forwarded through the redirect. Don’t do this.

Any Link Can Be Bad If It’s Lazy Enough

Does the automated press release spam mean you shouldn’t send press releases? No!

Does the prevalence of poor-quality directors mean you can’t use directories in a high-quality way? Also no!

This goes for many link building strategies. There’s usually a high-effort, valuable version and a low-effort, spammy version.

Take guest posting as an example.

If you’re an expert in your field and take the time to write useful content aligned with E-E-A-T best practices, that’s valuable.

If you want to reach new audiences, you could send that post to a website with a large reach. It makes sense for that website to then link back to you as a reference for readers if they like your writing and want to learn more.

This is an ideal linking relationship. A website has chosen your content because it provides value to its readers and links to you as the source of the expertise.

But when one party turns lazy, this becomes toxic.

A website might decide that, for whatever reason, it makes sense to start allowing poor-quality content with links.

Maybe it starts charging or uses a big catalog of content to build an affiliate strategy.

On the other side, link builders might generate poor-quality content with links and post it on websites that either don’t mind or don’t know better. Or they might try and sneak them by following stricter editorial guidelines.

When one side of the equation gets lazy, guest posting becomes a manipulative linking strategy.

The Risk Of Manual Actions

The most likely risk of an unnatural link is that it will be a waste of time and/or money.

If you build a link for SEO that goes against Google’s guidelines, algorithms will simply ignore it either immediately or at an unspecified time in the future when they discover it.

If you have many toxic links and you’re using a strategy that the algorithms don’t immediately catch, this can open you up to a sudden reduction in SEO effectiveness.

At some point, Google will likely release an update that improves how the algorithms detect the links.

When that happens, if you have many of them, the adjustment can significantly impact your rankings and traffic. This can look like a targeted penalty, but generally, it isn’t.

Google uses automated systems and manual actions to punish toxic and spammy link building, but generally, you’re safe from this action unless you’re intentionally using these tactics on a large scale.

On the other hand, you can receive specific penalties for unnatural links, both coming to your site or going out from your site.

Unnatural links manual action notification in search console.Unnatural links manual action notification in search console.

Links To Your Site Vs. Links From Your Site

If you host unnatural links from your site to other sites, you may be hit with a manual action. This indicates to Google that you’re on the supply side of the ecosystem it’s trying to stop.

A large number of unnatural links coming from your website could cause Google to decide it doesn’t trust you and issue a penalty. This will be communicated to you in Google Search Console. These penalties can be reversed, but generally this requires you to fix the problems and submit a request for reevaluation.

This video from Google about unnatural links from your site explains more. It’s your responsibility to ensure that your site does not host unnatural links. This video from Google provides a great overview. Remember: “A natural link is an editorial choice.”

For example, if you use your domains to host bad link tactics and sell links to others, you’re at a high risk of receiving a manual penalty from Google that suppresses or removes your website from the Search index.

You can also receive a manual penalty for unnatural links to your website. This seems less likely, because there are many cases where it wouldn’t be fair to punish a website for incoming links. However, you might still receive a manual penalty if Google is confident that you are trying to manipulate your ranking.

This video from Google about unnatural links to your site has more information.

How To Spot Shady Links

A good link is a genuine interaction of trust between two parties.

Spotting shady links is actually pretty easy, especially when there’s a pattern.

If you’re auditing your backlink profile or putting a potential service provider through their paces, here are some signs to look for.

1. New or young sites on blogging domains.

If you notice links from blogging subdomains ( e.g. blogger.com ) to your website, especially if they aren’t directly relevant, appear in high numbers (without nofollow attribute), or even in some cases where the blog has your website or brand name, this is a sign that someone was building shady links to your website.

This is a good indication of a PBN.

You should ask a link building service provider whether they create new websites to build links. This is a red flag.

2. Many unnatural links from unrelated forums.

Links like this can indicate automated link building with bots. Generally, using UGC sites to build links is against the terms of service of those websites.

Usually, the strategy involves pretending to be a genuine user. If you have to pretend you’re someone you’re not, it’s a shady link.

3. Links from irrelevant websites and directories.

Relevance really does matter with links, and if you’re looking through a link profile and see domains that just don’t make sense, they bear investigation. For example if you are a recipe publisher a link from plumber’s article is highly irrelevant. That means it was likely the result of an unnatural link building technique.

However, if you add your website to relevant directories that have value from the users’ perspective, this can be totally fine. For example, you should add your restaurant website to Yelp, which is used by 32M active users who look for reviews before booking a reservation. Check our list of directories that still matter.

If you want to learn more about link building and its many pitfalls, check out SEJ’s ebook The Dark Side Of Link Building.

More resources: 


Featured Image: Jakub Krechowicz/Shutterstock

Is Your Site Vulnerable to a Google Update?

Google has periodically updated its core algorithm for several years now. Unlike the Panda and Penguin updates a decade ago, core updates have no defined recovery tactics, at least Google will not reveal them.

No site is safe from a Google update; ranking fluctuations are normal. Current Google search guidelines are vague and subjective — “helpful content” and “better usability” are hard to define and do not translate into an actionable strategy.

Yet some sites are impacted more than others. I’ve seen sites that went from thousands of clicks per day to 10.

I’ve analyzed hundreds of sites and their histories with Google updates. Here’s what makes sites the most vulnerable.

Dependence on a Few Pages

Losing traffic is probable if your site relies on two or three pages ranking for high-search-volume keywords,

Diversifying your ranking profile with long-tail keywords is critical. Long-tail queries send fewer clicks, but losing rankings on a few won’t materially impact your overall search visibility.

To achieve this:

  • Don’t limit your strategy to high-search-volume keywords. In my tests, popular SEO platforms detect only about a third of ranking keywords.
  • Create content based on what your followers, readers, and customers discuss — not keywords. Focusing on keywords for editorial decisions leads to fragile ranking profiles.
  • Create descriptive, longer titles, especially for product pages. It will help rank for longer-tail queries.

Stale or Weak Backlink Profile

According to Google’s leaked algorithm documentation, “the freshness” of a link is a huge factor. SEO practitioners have long known that a site cannot maintain rankings without acquiring fresh backlinks.

Sites impacted by last year’s “helpful content” updates had weaker backlink profiles than those that maintained or increased rankings, even with similar themes and content quality.

Certainly content, site speed, and clicks and user experience are key ranking factors. But strong backlink profiles appear to be paramount.

Few or No Brand Signals

I explained last year how to tell if Google recognizes a site as a brand. I always check branding when analyzing sites with big traffic losses. In most cases, an impacted site does not appear to be an entity.

Becoming a recognizable brand is not easy. It takes a lot of time, but it is essential for consistent search visibility. Here are a few strategies for small and midsize businesses.

  • Collaborate with other brands and nonprofits, especially if Google recognizes them as brands. Being associated with entities is the most powerful way to become one.
  • Get nominated for industry awards or speak at conferences — anything to associate with other entities is helpful.
  • Invest in viral marketing and social media ads. Both increase branded search, which is a huge signal to Google.
Ask An SEO: What Links Should You Build For A Natural Backlink Profile? via @sejournal, @rollerblader

This week’s Ask an SEO column comes from an anonymous asker:

“What should a backlink profile look like, and how do you build good backlinks?”

Great question!

Backlinks are a part of SEO as a way to build trust and authority for your domain, but they’re not as important as link builders claim.

You can rank a website without backlinks. The trick is focusing on your audience and having them create brand demand. This can be equal in weight to backlinks but drives more customers.

Once you are driving demand and have created solid resources, backlinks start occurring naturally. And when you have an active audience built from other channels, you can survey them to create “link worthy” pages that can result in journalists reaching out.

With that said, and when all else is equal, having the trust and authority from a healthy and natural backlink profile can be the deciding factor on who gets into the top positions and who gets no traffic.

A healthy backlink profile is one that appears to be natural.

Search engines, including Google, expect a certain amount of spammy links from directories, website monitoring tools, and even competitors that spam or try to do a negative SEO attack. These are part of a healthy backlink profile.

What is unnatural is when your website or company has done nothing to earn an actual link.

When there is nothing noteworthy, no original thought leadership or studies, or something that goes viral and the media covers, there’s no reason someone would ever have linked to you.

Having backlinks for no reason would likely be considered an unhealthy link profile, especially if they’re mostly dofollow.

Healthy link profiles contain a mix of dofollow, nofollow, sponsored, and mentions from actual users in forums, communities, and social media shares.

Unhealthy backlink profiles are where a website has links from topically irrelevant websites, when the articles have mentions of big brands and “trustworthy” or “high authority” sites, and then randomly feature a smaller company or service provider with them.

It’s an old trick that does not work anymore. Unhealthy link profiles also include private blogger networks (PBNs), link farms, link wheels, link networks, and where the sites have a high domain authority (DA), Authority Score (AS), etc.

Bonus tip: DA, AS, and other metrics are not used by search engines. They are scores that third-party SEO tools created and have absolutely no say when it comes to the quality of a website or backlink.

If someone is telling you high DA is good and Google trusts these sites, they’re selling you snake oil.

Although backlinks are not as important as they used to be, backlinks still matter. So, if you’re looking to build some, here are a few strategies to try, avoid, and tread lightly with.

Scholarship, Grants, And Sponsorships

These don’t work. Google knows you’re offering them to get .edu links, and in rare cases .gov links. And definitely from charities and events.

It’s easy to map back to who paid or bought them, and these likely won’t count for you SEO-wise.

If they make up the majority of your links, you should expect them to be neutralized by the search engines or to get a manual action against your site for unnatural link building in Search Console from Google.

If you’re doing a sponsorship, ask for the website being sponsored to place “sponsored” instead of “nofollow.”

And if you’re doing a scholarship or grant, feature the winner on your site, provide a full education and follow up about them, and have them share their story for the next few years in a monthly or quarterly column on your blog.

If you genuinely want to do good, share their story and progress. Otherwise, it was just for getting backlinks, and that works against you.

Citations And Broken Links

When you get mentions in the media, or a competitor has a naturally occurring link to a study, but it goes to a broken page, this is a good way to build a natural link. Reach out to these sites and ask them to link to your study instead.

You can mention their visitors are currently hitting a dead page if it’s a broken link, and present your study or resource, which is of equal or better value. Or share that yours has been updated where the current source is outdated and no longer applies.

For citations where nobody has a link, try letting the website owner know it saves the user a trip to a search engine to find another answer. And when they have a good experience on the website, they’re likely to come back for more information.

Topically Relevant PR

I’m a big believer in PR to acquire backlinks naturally. But you have to do things that make sense for your business.

  • Local stores and service providers should get links from local news stations, local bloggers, and niche websites in their industry.
  • Service providers need to focus on trade publications, industry-relevant blogs and publications, events, and social networks.
  • Stores will do well with niche and audience-relevant bloggers, communities, publications or media websites, and mass media coverage that is not affiliate links or in an affiliate folder.

Think about what is newsworthy that you can do or provide that these groups would want to cover.

PR and SEO agencies that work with content will be able to provide ideas, then you can choose which ones you like and run with them. Not every campaign will work, but hang in there – the right one will happen.

You can also try surveying your audience for original data points and studies, and then publish them. And that goes to the next tip.

The publications must be topically relevant to you in order to help with SEO and avoid penalties.

If your customers and users are not the reader base of the website or publication, the link and coverage will appear unnatural and you’ll eventually get penalized or a devaluation.

Press Releases

Press release backlinks and syndication backlinks work against you, not for you. But that doesn’t mean they cannot help with link acquisition. For this strategy to work, provide enough data to gauge interest.

Share some of the data points from the study as a teaser and give a way for editors, journalists, and industry professionals to reach out to you.

Don’t charge for the study. But ask them to source and cite the data on your website, or reference your company as the source of the information.

But keep in mind that if your talking points are the same as your competitors, and you have the same type of data, there’s no reason to add another citation or to cover you.

What can you discover and share that hasn’t been covered and will enhance the publication’s articles in a new way? Put yourself in the reader’s shoes and think about what is missing or what questions were not answered.

If comments are enabled on the publications, look for questions and build a resource backed by data that answers them.

You can then reach out to the editors and make a strong case to either add you or create a new post about the new topic since the previous one did well.

Bonus tip: Even if you don’t get a backlink, being cited can go a long way, as you may be able to use the company’s logo in your PR bar as a trust builder. You can also reach out to the PR or brand team and ask for the link using the citation strategy mentioned above.

Blog And Forum Commenting

This does not work. Search engines know that anyone can go and spam these, use a bot, or pay someone to do this.

They will work against you, not for you. Just don’t. Let the communities and site owners link to you naturally.

If your customers are on the blog or in the community, join the community and participate. Use it to acquire an audience and build trust for your brand.

Not for backlinks. The backlinks and community mentions will eventually happen. And this is how they can become natural.

Social Media Profile Links

This does not work because anyone can create an account and get the link.

Links for SEO must be earned. Social media is about building an audience and bringing them to your website.

The backlinks are useless for SEO, with one exception. Some search engines crawl and index accounts.

If you struggle to get crawled, an active social media account that gets crawled and indexed fast may be able to encourage spiders to find your website and pages more easily.

Focus On Being Worth Linking To

There’s no shortage of ways to get backlinks, but not all links are good. If the link can be purchased or acquired by anyone, like a directory, it won’t help you with SEO.

If your customers are not on that website, and the majority of the website isn’t topically relevant to you, chances are the backlink will work against you.

Healthy link profiles have a mix of good and bad, natural and unnatural. If your company hasn’t done or shared anything link-worthy, there are no backlinks that can bring you long-term success.

Focus on being worth linking to, and the backlinks will come naturally.

More resources: 


Featured Image: Paulo Bobita/Search Engine Journal

12 reasons your page won’t rank – even though it’s optimized

What could be the matter if your perfectly optimized post isn’t ranking? Is the problem that your site is not on Google, or is something else going wrong? What is keeping your content from reaching that coveted #1 position? In this post, we’ll discuss many possible reasons why your page is not ranking, even though it’s optimized.

We’ve divided the possible issues you might be having into four sections:

Pro tip

Quick question: how’s your internal linking? If your content is optimized but not ranking, or Google is ranking the wrong pages from your site, it could be because you need to improve your site structure or fix your orphaned content. We’ve made some really neat SEO workouts to help you check and remedy these kinds of issues — check them out and fix those issues now!

Indexing and crawl issues

The first few points on the list all deal with indexing and crawl issues. Put simply, you can’t rank if your page or site is not on Google in the first place. If you find these topics confusing, you might want to read up on how Google works and how to start with SEO.

1. Your site/page is not on Google

If you need help determining whether your site is on Google, you can use the site: search operator in Google. Type site:yoast.com, and you’ll see a list of pages for that domain. If you type in the full URL of a specific article, you should see only one search result return. If you see your pages, this means that Google knows about your site and has put — at least some of it — in its index. Once you discover that your page is in the index, but you think it is not performing well, you might want to dig deeper.

an example of a site index search on google with yoast.com showing thousands of pages indexed
The site: search operator helps you find your site in Google’s index

How to fix it

Check your WordPress Reading Settings. For the Search Visibility option, if you’ve ticked the box ‘Discourage search engines from indexing this site’, that’s the most likely reason your site is not on Google. If that’s the case, uncheck that box and click to save your changes. If the problem is that only some specific pages aren’t showing up on Google, then you might want to review your Search Appearance settings in Yoast SEO. Go to the ‘Content Types’ tab and ensure your settings are correct.

2. Your site/page is still too new

If your site or page is new, it might simply be a matter of chilling out and checking back in a little while. There are many moving parts in getting your content crawled, indexed and ranked. Sometimes, it takes days or maybe even weeks for Google to finish its discovery process.

How to fix it

If you check and find your site is not on Google yet, you can install Yoast SEO and submit the generated XML sitemap to Google Search Console to help Google discover your website. You can also use the URL Inspection tool in Search Console to determine how specific pages are doing. It tells you exactly how Google crawls and views your site.

3. Your content is noindexed

One of the most common reasons Google does not index your site or a specific page is that it has been noindexed inadvertently. Adding noindex meta robot tags to a page tells Googlebot that it can crawl the page but that the results can’t be added to the index.

How can you check if your page is noindexed? That’s easy; simply open the page and view the source code. You’ll find the code below somewhere at the top of the page. This tells search engine crawlers that the page’s content shouldn’t be added to the index, thus keeping it from ranking.

How to fix it

It happens! Even we occasionally make a mistake and inadvertently noindex a post. Luckily, it’s an easy fix. We wrote about how to set a piece of content back on the right track with Yoast SEO.

4. Your site/page is blocking Google with robots.txt

You might have told Google not to index your content, but it’s also possible you’ve told Google not to crawl your site at all! Blocking crawlers in a so-called robots.txt file is a surefire way never to get any traffic. Blocking robots is easier than you might think. For instance, WordPress has a Search Engine Visibility setting that does its best to keep crawlers out once set to Discourage search engines from indexing this site. Uncheck this to make your site available again.

this is the search engine visibility setting in wordpress without a checkmark
See that this option isn’t inadvertently checked

WordPress uses the noindex approach described above to handle the indexing of sites via the Search Engine Visibility setting. It does have a warning that it’s up to search engines to honor the request.

Besides telling WordPress to block search engines, it might be that other technical issues generate crawl errors, preventing Google from crawling your site properly. Your site’s web server could be acting up and presenting server errors, or buggy bits of JavaScript in your code trip up the crawler. Make sure Google can crawl your site easily.

How to fix it

If your robots.txt file is blocking Google from crawling your website (or parts of it) and you want to change that, then you’ll need to edit the file. You can follow this guide to edit your robots.txt file.

5. You must enhance your index coverage

Ensuring that Google indexes your web pages is essential to succeed. Index coverage refers to the number of your site’s URLs included in Google’s search index. Even the most optimized content may not appear in search results without comprehensive index coverage.

To identify the issue, you must examine the Index Coverage report in Google Search Console. This tool categorizes your pages into various categories and explains why pages are not indexed. If you notice many pages falling under “Error” or “Excluded,” it’s time to investigate further. One of the most common errors is ‘Crawled – currently not indexed’ in Search Console.

How to fix it

Ensure your XML sitemap is current and accurately represents your site structure. Please submit it to Google Search Console to help Google find your pages. Review and resolve any crawl errors such as 404s, server errors, or redirect issues. These errors can prevent pages from being indexed. Pages with low-quality or duplicate content might be excluded from the index. Focus on creating unique, valuable content that provides genuine user engagement. Use the URL Inspection tool to request indexing for crucial pages not yet indexed. This tool also provides insights into how Google perceives your page.

Google Search Console helps you understand why pages are not indexed

Technical issues affecting ranking

Is your page/website indexed but not ranking? Then, technical problems need to be checked.

6. You’re not ranking because your site has technical issues

Your website needs to meet certain technical benchmarks if you’re going to rank on Google! Loading speed, or how quickly your pages load, is important. Security and hosting quality are important too, and that’s not all. You can read about all the essentials in our article: things everyone should know about technical SEO.

If your post doesn’t appear in the search engines, technical issues could prevent it from appearing in the search results completely. You could have conflicting plugins causing problems, and we’ve also seen some themes that prevent Google from indexing your site. And, while Yoast SEO takes care of many technical issues under the hood, it should be set correctly to do that properly.

How to fix it

The fix you need will depend on the technical issues your website is having, and we can’t cover everything here. You might want to check the following points:

  • Ensure all your Yoast plugin settings are correct
  • Check that you’re doing things the right way to keep loading times down
  • Make sure your site is set to https:// and your security certificates are up to date
  • Upgrade your hosting plan
  • Check your plugins and/or theme aren’t causing problems.

If your technical SEO looks good and your site is indexed, you must dig deeper to discover the problem. Keep reading!

7. You’re being penalized for breaking SEO rules

If Google catches you using shady SEO techniques that it doesn’t allow — e.g., sneaky tactics like buying links or stuffing keywords into hidden text — your page or site can be penalized. When you’re already putting in the effort to make a good website and quality content, it’s counterproductive to try. Even when everything else on your page is perfect, if you’re doing something that Google doesn’t allow, you will have problems ranking (or appearing in the Google search results).

Most of these things are common sense, so you probably don’t need to worry if you’re not trying to trick Google or spam people. However, a few things used to be common SEO practices that can now lead to issues — check out our article about SEO myths for more examples of bad SEO practices to avoid.

How to fix it

You can check whether Google has flagged your page for these problems in the Manual Actions tab in Google Search Console (GSC). If you’re still new to using GSC, you might want to check out our introductory article. If you find an issue under the Manual Actions tab, read this help article to learn more about what it means and how to fix it.

Linking issues that affect ranking

A good internal linking structure and quality backlinks are important if you want to rank high. Google crawls the web, following each link it finds, so if your links are lacking, it can cause problems with ranking.

8. Your site doesn’t have a proper internal linking structure

Another reason your content doesn’t appear in the search results is that a crucial part of your SEO strategy is not in order. Don’t underestimate the importance of site structure – the internal linking structure – for your SEO strategy. Having a clear site structure leads to a better understanding of your site by Google. If your internal linking structure is poor, chances to rank high are lower – even when your content is well-optimized and awesome. 

How to fix it

Start adding those links! Make sure that your important posts and pages have the most internal links to them. But don’t randomly add links: make sure you add relevant, related links that add value for your users.

You can use the Yoast SEO orphaned content filter to find posts without incoming internal links. Yoast SEO Premium will help you even more by offering helpful linking suggestions as you write. In addition, if you use Yoast SEO Premium, you get various other AI features, like Yoast AI Optimize, that help you do the hard work. And if you really want to improve your site structure, check out our site structure training — which is also included in Premium!

Pro tip: Take care of your orphaned content and internal linking the easy way with our SEO workouts, available in Yoast SEO Premium.

Read on: Site structure: the ultimate guide »

If you just started with your website, your content won’t instantly rank. Not even if you have optimized everything perfectly and every bullet in Yoast SEO is green. To rank, you’ll need some links from other websites. After all, Google has to know your website exists. 

How to fix it

Creating incredible content is a good way to get links to your pages. High-quality content attracts clicks from readers who might share the content far and wide via social media. All this helps to get those links. Of course, you can do more to get links in a natural, non-spammy way: here are fifteen ways of getting high-quality backlinks.

To get (more) backlinks, you can reach out to other websites. You’ll need to do some PR or link building. Ask them to mention your site or talk about your product and link to your site. You can also use social media to get the word out! Learn all about link-building strategies in our All-Around SEO training!

Content and keyword issues affecting ranking

If everything else is as it should be SEO-wise, then your page or site is not ranking might be related to your content or keywords.

10. Your page is great, but there’s too much competition

Usually, a page doesn’t rank because there’s simply too much competition. If you optimize your content for competitive keywords and keyphrases, such as [cat behavior], [robot vacuum cleaner], or [real estate agent], chances are high that you won’t rank for that term. 

Check the results pages for your keyword to determine if this is the problem. Do high authority sites like Wikipedia or Amazon dominate the first page? Do you see many sites already firmly established themselves in this niche? Probably, your site doesn’t have the authority that these other sites have (yet). So you can optimize all you want, but unfortunately, that’s not enough to rank high in the search results if your niche is too competitive. 

How to fix it

If you want to rank for highly competitive terms, try a long-tail keyword strategy. Write content that targets related long-tail keywords and phrases before tackling the competitive keywords. If these long-tail articles start ranking, you can also rank for more competitive terms. Such a strategy requires long-term efforts, but in the end, it will pay off.

Read more: Why you should focus on long tail keywords »

11. Low-quality content or wrong type of intent

Another reason your content isn’t ranking is that it doesn’t match the intent of people searching for your keyword. Search intent is important for search engines: do people want to buy something, go to a specific website, or seek information? Even if you’re targeting a more long-tail keyphrase, if your content doesn’t match the dominant intent of searchers, search engines won’t show it in the results because it won’t be what people are looking for.

Let’s look at a few examples. Say you’re a dog trainer who wants to rank for puppy training services, so you optimize for [training your puppy], with transactional intent in mind. But if you look at the search results, you’ll see that there are informational videos, and all the results explain how to train a puppy yourself. So, searchers have informational intent. This can work the other way around, too. If you’ve written a step-by-step guide for your blog on making garden decorations, aiming to rank for [flower garland garden decoration], you may have trouble ranking for that term if people just want to buy that, not make it themselves.

Remember that not every search term has one dominant type of intent. Also, it isn’t impossible to rank with content for differing intent. Still, it can be worthwhile to look into this if your optimized content doesn’t rank in the search engines.

How to fix it

Unfortunately, you don’t have the power to change the intent of search engine users. But you can adapt your content strategy. If your optimized content isn’t ranking, look at the search results (use private mode) and analyze what you see. Is one specific type of result dominant? Are there images or videos? Which related queries are shown? This is where your opportunities are. If you find primarily informational intent for a query, you can write content to get people to your site, establish your brand as a reliable source of information, and stay top of mind when people want to buy something. If you find a lot of images in the search results, you may need to focus more on image SEO. Consider what you see on the results pages when determining your SEO strategy.

12. Your content lacks uniqueness

Even well-written and optimized content might struggle to rank if it doesn’t stand out. Search engines prioritize content that offers a unique perspective or provides additional value compared to existing articles on the same topic.

Check the search results for your target keywords and examine the top-ranking pages. Does your content offer something different or more insightful? If your page presents similar information in a comparable format, you may find it difficult to climb the rankings. With the advent of generative AI, we’ll see a wave of mediocre sameness appear in the search results. If you publish the same stuff, search engines won’t bother with it.

Generative AI can help create content but needs help maintaining quality and relevance. While AI can quickly produce large volumes of content, we should prioritize quality over quantity. You should make sure that the material is original and valuable to your audience. AI-generated content might be repetitive or lack diverse perspectives. It’s essential to refine it with your unique insights or expert opinions.

Additionally, the content should always align with your audience’s needs and search intent, as AI may not fully capture human nuances. Always comply with search engine guidelines regarding AI-generated content to avoid potential penalties or indexing issues. You can enhance your content strategy while preserving its integrity by using AI as a supportive tool rather than a standalone solution.

How to fix it

Quit simply; add unique insights and views. Add your own voice and incorporate original research, case studies, or expert opinions to set your content apart. Keep your content fresh with the latest information, trends, or data to maintain relevance and uniqueness. Encourage comments and discussions to build a community around your content, making it more dynamic and engaging.

Is your optimized content still not ranking?

Multiple reasons could prevent a post from ranking. Have you optimized your post correctly with Yoast SEO? Then, the most common cause is likely to be that the competition in a niche is too fierce. Unfortunately, SEO is a long-term strategy. You need to work hard and be patient. In the meantime, you can tackle many other aspects of your SEO (site structure, link building). Try to focus on all website optimization aspects and be the best result. It will pay off eventually!

Read more: Rank tracking: why you should monitor your keywords »

Coming up next!

The Lord of The Links: Links of Power [Webinar] via @sejournal, @hethr_campbell

Building high-quality links that drive traffic and boost your rankings can be a real challenge. But with the right guidance, you can create a successful link-building campaign that stands the test of time.

On October 23rd, join us and embark on an epic journey through the world of link building in our exclusive webinar, “The Lord of The Links: Links of Power.”

Michael Johnson and his “Fellowship” of link-building experts will guide you on your quest to forge powerful links that will stand the test of time and drive the traffic you seek.

Why This Webinar Is A Must-Attend Event

Building strong links is no simple task. It’s a perilous journey, full of obstacles and challenges, but fear not! With the wisdom of Resolve’s link-building experts, you’ll gain the knowledge you need to maximize the ROI of your link-building campaigns.

Here’s what you’ll uncover on this adventure:

  • Effective processes & tactics for link acquisition.
  • How to identify when links aren’t the problem, and what to look for instead.
  • Common pitfalls & mistakes in modern link building campaigns.

Expert Insights From Michael Johnson And The Resolve Link-Building Experts

Michael and his team will lead you through the key stages of a successful link-building campaign—from site finding and outreach to content creation and beyond. By the end of this journey, you’ll wield the power of links like never before.

Armed with proven strategies that have brought success to many, you’ll understand what it takes to build strong, effective links for your site.

Who Should Attend?

This webinar is ideal for:

  • Seasoned SEO warriors wanting to up their link-building game.
  • Content marketing managers who provide content designed to build high-quality links.
  • Digital marketing managers seeking to build links and maximize the ROI of their content and SEO investments.

Live Q&A: Get Your Questions Answered

After the presentation, Michael and his team will host a live Q&A session where you can ask your most pressing questions about link-building and get personalized advice.

Can’t attend live? No problem! Save your spot, and we’ll send you a recording after the event.

Don’t miss this chance to learn from the experts and supercharge your link-building strategy!

How To Get Quality Backlinks: 11 Ways That Really Work via @sejournal, @rio_seo

If your business isn’t building quality backlinks, you’re not increasing prominence. If you’re not increasing prominence, you’re missing one of the fundamental criteria to rank higher in the search engine results pages (SERPs).

As Google shares, prominence is based on “information that Google has about a business, from across the web, like links, articles, and directories.”

The bottom line is that every business needs quality, white hat backlinks.

White hat backlinks essentially serve as a vote of confidence from a website and tell Google your web page is a trusted resource. The more votes of confidence your web page has, the more prominent it will be seen to be.

White hat backlinks are acquired through ethical means rather than leveraging spam tactics. Yet, obtaining quality backlinks is easier said than done.

If you’re looking to build your white hat backlink strategy, you’re in the right place. This post will share 11 proven strategies that work to get backlinks and boost your SEO strategy.

Let’s dive in and discover the techniques to get quality backlinks for your website.

1. Mine For Broken Links

Broken links negatively impact a user’s experience with a site.

Consider when a user eagerly searching for information clicks a broken link to a site. This likely causes frustration and potentially a lost customer.

Google also continues to prioritize the overall user experience with recent updates.

Broken link building entails finding links to pages that no longer exist and politely reaching out to the website with the broken outbound link to notify them and suggest replacing it with a link to your relevant, high-quality content.

It’s important to understand the difference between dofollow and nofollow links.

Dofollow links are the most valuable for SEO, as they pass link juice from the referring site to your website. These links are seen as endorsements by search engines, indicating that your content is trustworthy and relevant.

Nofollow links have a rel=”nofollow” attribute, which tells search engines not to follow the link or pass any authority. While nofollow links don’t directly impact your SEO, they can still drive traffic to your site and increase your online visibility.

It’s essential to have a healthy mix of both types of backlinks to create a well-rounded backlink profile.

Utilize backlink analysis tools like Ahrefs, Moz, and Semrush to discover broken inbound links to your closest competitors or broken outbound links from prominent industry publications and blogs.

Start with the dofollow links from sites with strong domain authority.

Broken link building takes time and effort, but it can be an easy way to build your backlink profile for sites that prioritize their users’ experiences.

2. Leverage Existing Relationships

Tap into your existing network of partners, suppliers, or satisfied customers.

Reach out to them and propose collaborative projects, testimonials, or case studies that showcase your products or services, providing opportunities for mutual backlinking.

Since you already provide a valuable service to a business, they’ll be more inclined to link back to you, as you’ve already developed a business relationship with them.

Additionally, many businesses already have a partner page to showcase who they do business with.

If they’re not linking to your site already, this should be an easy ask and a quick way to get a credible white hat backlink to your site.

3. Monitor Brand Mentions And Unlinked References

Sometimes, your business may be mentioned, but you aren’t receiving proper credit.

For example, a customer may write a glowing testimonial on a successful blog, or they reference a finding published by your business, but they aren’t linking to your site.

Ask for credit where credit is due. In both instances, you’ve provided a noteworthy service. Ask customers who reference your brand or websites that mention you in any capacity on their sites to provide a backlink.

Also, look for content published on sites that may list your competitors as resources but should have mentioned your relevant brand.

Utilize tools like Google Alerts or Mention to monitor mentions of your brand or your competitors. You’ll receive an email notification whenever a website mentions a designated brand name.

When you come across unlinked references to your website or content, reach out to the site owners and kindly request them to add a backlink for proper attribution or a pertinent inclusion that would benefit their audience.

4. Publish Original Research

Creating high-quality, valuable content is essential for attracting backlinks from authoritative websites. You can become a trusted content-sharing source by leveraging your expertise and original research.

When considering why and when people share content, you must consider the psychology of content sharing.

A recent study found that 94% of respondents said they carefully consider how the information they share will be useful to the recipient.

In the same study, nearly half of the respondents reported sharing content because it allows them to inform others of products they care about and potentially change opinions or encourage actions.

Develop comprehensive guides, research studies, infographics, or industry reports that serve as go-to resources within your niche.

These authoritative assets naturally attract backlinks from websites seeking to provide valuable information to their audience.

Every time a consumer, blog, or business mentions your research, you’ll receive a white hat backlink. The more informative your content is, the more likely it will be shared.

5. Create Engaging Visual Content

Visual content such as infographics, charts, or slideshows attracts attention and shares on social media platforms.

Why is visual content a top priority for marketers? Because it is easily digestible and shareable.

Nearly 41% of marketers said original graphics (e.g., infographics, illustrations) help them reach their marketing goals. And more than 50% of marketers said visual content is very important in their marketing strategy.

Whether you’re creating an infographic or any other type of visual, it’s an easy way to increase the likelihood of your content being shared.

When possible, embed your website’s link within visually appealing content to increase the likelihood of earning backlinks as it gets shared across the web.

6. Publish Ultimate And Step-by-Step Guides

As the name suggests, ultimate guides are the “ultimate” resource on a designated topic.

The word ultimate suggests you have the best, most in-depth current knowledge on the subject, drawing consumers to want to learn more.

A step-by-step guide, in theory, provides an easy way to learn how to do something. Consumers favor ease and simplicity, which a step-by-step guide aims to accomplish.

Both these types of guides can help a business build its backlink profile. For example, if you’ve written an ultimate guide to digital marketing, a writer may reference one of your points in a blog post about affiliate marketing.

Crafting content that offers unique insights, solves problems, or entertains your audience is essential for attracting natural backlinks.

7. Offer Free Valuable Tools Or Resources

Are you a technology company?

Building a free tool or a light version of your solution is an effective way to build quality white hat backlinks, and it can also drive potential leads.

For example, Adobe offers free or “lighter” versions of several of its tools, such as Adobe Acrobat Reader and Adobe Photoshop Express. These allow users to preview the tool’s capabilities and may encourage them to convert to paid users in the future to maximize its software.

Develop free tools, calculators, or templates that provide practical value to your target audience.

Websites and blogs within your industry may naturally link to these resources as references, establishing your website as a go-to destination and earning valuable backlinks in the process.

8. Use Data Aggregators For Citations

A data aggregator, as the name suggests, compiles information from multiple sources, including phone and utility bills, business registration records on government websites, chamber of commerce membership rosters, and other citations for the sole purpose of providing it to search engines.

Local citations help publish your business’s information across the vast search ecosystem.

While the greater majority of searches take place on Google and other popular search engines, these directories also receive traffic – and are another way for consumers to discover your business.

To start, ensure your business is listed on Google Business Profile (formerly Google My Business), Yelp, Facebook, and Apple Maps.

Then, branch out to other general or industry-specific directories. Every directory you’re listed on provides you with a backlink to help you build your backlink profile.

Business owners can provide this information directly to the data aggregators so that they can submit it to other sources on their behalf. In turn, this helps businesses appear in online citations.

Citations may not be as prominent of a search ranking factor as they were in the past; however, their benefits are not completely obsolete, as they can provide hundreds of relevant backlinks to local landing pages.

9. Leverage Public Relations

A public relations plan is a great way to build prominence and authority in your industry. It’s also a surefire way to help build your backlink profile.

Consider content syndication for your press releases and editorial content, which is the process of republishing or distributing content from your website to multiple other news platforms or industry-related websites.

Content syndication often involves partnering with reputable vendors specializing in distributing content across various platforms, websites, and publishers. These vendors have established relationships with news publications and can help amplify your content’s reach.

Each press release or article is an opportunity to add at least one backlink to your content when publishers allow it.

It also establishes your brand as an expert in your industry. The more often you have useful and relevant information to share in your industry, the more you’ll establish yourself as a voice of authority.

Public relations extends to social media, too, where you can share links to content. If users find your content beneficial, they may reshare it, helping you build additional backlinks.

10. Create A Roundup Or “Ask The Experts” Blog Post

Organize expert roundups or interviews featuring prominent figures within your industry.

Ask potential contributors for a short contribution – maybe two to three sentences – to encourage participation.

The less burdensome the ask, the more likely they will want to participate. Asking others for insights around a certain topic can help strengthen your content and add valuable information you may not otherwise have had.

Creating a roundup or an ask-the-experts-style post increases your chances for shareability, too.

When these experts contribute their insights or opinions, they are more than likely to share the content piece with their networks, which will cause the content to reach a wider audience, generating valuable backlinks and exposure for your website.

11. Build Relationships With Influencers And Thought Leaders

Engage with influencers and thought leaders within your industry through social media, forums, or industry events.

Remember to choose influencers whose audience aligns with your target audience. Once you find the right blog niche or influencer to support your brand, send them your product or provide the service free of charge in exchange for a review.

Collaborating with influencers not only helps to generate backlinks but also exposes your brand to a wider audience. When an influencer promotes your content or mentions your brand, their followers are more likely to trust and engage with your website.

Or, if you have a larger budget, you can also pay macro-level influencers to give their honest feedback. Then, have the blog or influencer link back to your product or service.

Additionally, you may provide a blog or influencer with an affiliate link. Whenever a potential customer clicks their affiliate link, they’ll receive a commission.

The commission may come from simply clicking the affiliate link or if the consumer makes a purchase. This link-building endeavor requires more effort on your behalf; however, it also sends higher-quality traffic, which leads to higher conversion rates.

Concluding Thoughts

Cracking Google’s evolving search engine algorithm can be time-consuming and full of trials, tribulations, and errors.

Focusing on backlinks plays a significant role in improving the prominence and relevance of your website in the eyes of search engines.

Acquiring quality backlinks without resorting to paid placement methods is a long-term investment that requires dedication, creativity, and a commitment to providing value to your audience and industry.

By implementing the 12 actionable tactics outlined in this guide, marketing professionals can enhance their website’s authority, brand visibility, and organic search rankings, driving sustainable growth and success in the competitive digital landscape.

More resources: 


Featured Image: one photo/Shutterstock

Link Building with Press Release Distribution

Press release distribution is a mainstay in ecommerce search engine optimization. Public relations consultants issue press releases for announcements or news, while search engine optimizers use them to acquire backlinks. But a digital PR consultant aims for both: announcements and links.

For fees ranging from $50 to $2,500 per press release, distribution services can get a release republished on other websites. Sometimes these are reputable news organizations. Other times, they’re low-traffic sites posing as news.

There are a few large press release distributors and dozens of smaller middlemen that syndicate to their own news circuits. Distributing a press release can be complicated due to decisions on the reach, the length of the announcement, and the number of accompanying images, logos, and videos

First-timers can waste a lot of money paying for services they don’t need. Smaller distributors are more willing to assist and provide advisory services. Larger distributors have less patience, especially for low-volume customers.

Search Optimized

“Press releases are a great way to boost ecommerce rankings, but you need to know how to use them,” says Maj Hussain, owner of Magic PR, one of the smaller press release distributors.

The process of search optimizing a press release and a web page is similar. Select a keyword and its variations and support them with related entities and semantic terms in the headline, sub-headings, and body text.

A press release is usually search-optimized for the same keyword and tactics as the page it links to and typically includes three components: (i) a news angle, (ii) optimized body and anchor text, (iii) and hyperlinks.

The example release below is a news angle optimized for an unbranded keyword (“Sebastopol Wine Tasting.”)

Sebastopol Wine Tasting

This release is optimized for “Sebastopol Wine Tasting,” an unbranded keyword.

And here’s an example of my own release for backlink acquisition optimized for a compound keyword: a brand (“Eric Schwartzman”) and a category (“SEO consultant”).

Maj Hussain of Magic PR suggests that ecommerce merchants start with a branded press release to establish authority, followed by product or category releases to drive traffic and link equity.

Branded releases promote the store’s name and link to its home page. Once the brand and home page rank, target your product listing pages, where the sales occur.

Press Coverage vs. Backlinks

The most powerful ecommerce press releases spur third-party editorial coverage with links to product-detail or category pages. A media-savvy digital PR consultant can help.

For newsworthy scoops, I’ve negotiated exclusives with a single editorial outlet. That site gets to break the story first in exchange for a prominent link in the article.

Google considers links from credible news outlets as authoritative and arranges its indexing system accordingly. I addressed the issue in July, explaining how the Google API leak suggests a three-tiered link storage hierarchy that places the most valuable, highly trafficked pages in RAM storage for faster access.

News articles with traffic are more likely to be stored on Google’s RAM tier.

But even if it doesn’t score original news coverage, a press release can still be aggregated by a group of websites that post it unchanged. If the aggregators are legit, this is a reliable method of acquiring backlinks.

Anchor Text

How you link from the press release to an ecommerce page matters. Qamar Zaman, founder of Kiss PR Brand Story, recommends linking “product name as anchor text to a product detail page and including a separate brand anchor link to the home page.”

He prefers no more than one link per 100 words, adding, “Naked URLs work very well, especially in ecommerce, because they drive engagement and link power directly to the page.”

Naked URLs start with https:// followed by the domain you’re linking to. The text of the URL remains in the body even if an aggregator strips out the link. Google may consider it active nonetheless.

“It’s also smart to use partial-match keywords or compound links that include both the brand and product name,” says Zaman. A compound ecommerce anchor could be the company name plus a product category, wherein both a store name and product category link to the same page.

Press Release Pick-ups

A press release is “picked up” when it is republished (“aggregated”) on another website.

Not all press release distributors have relationships with aggregators that can deliver high-authority backlinks. PR Newswire, Business Wire, and GlobeNewswire are three of the larger distributors. They satisfy the Securities and Exchange Commission’s fair disclosure requirements (Regulation FD), which are imposed on publicly traded companies to ensure no one investor has an unfair trading advantage based on selectively revealed information.

Publicly traded companies comply by using one of the distribution or “wire” services that discloses to the Associated Press, Dow Jones, Bloomberg, and Reuters simultaneously.

Distributors that comply with Reg FD  generally have superior distribution. But they’re more expensive and have stricter editorial guidelines, employing editors who review and approve releases before distributing them. I offer free training on satisfying Reg FD with social media.

Some of the smaller press release companies buy extended distribution through wires such as GlobeNewswire and then pad their pick-up reports with links from publishers with little traffic. The Associated Press aggregates press releases, but its backlinks are no-followed.

Aggregators have their own (undisclosed) rules and conditions. Many are low-quality, quasi-news sites that programmatically publish the same content. The sites frequently use the same templates with different mastheads. Smaller distributors often send their releases to these “news” aggregators to fluff up the number of pick-ups to justify their fees.

It is unlikely that Google will index press release pick-ups on these sites, much less store them on its RAM index.

The goal is press release pick-ups from known news outlets. “Press releases distributed through major outlets like Yahoo News and Bloomberg can attract attention from Google’s search engine and get those critical backlinks indexed,” Hussain adds. “The result is higher rankings, more traffic, and increased visibility for ecommerce sites.”

Google News

Press releases featured in Google News Top Stories or Google Discover can significantly boost rankings, but it’s not guaranteed.

“Press releases can show up in Top Stories, but they typically have to be picked up by major publications like MarketWatch or Bloomberg,” says Zaman. “A content creator with an established site has a better chance of getting into Google News than newer sites.”

Press Release Pitfalls

Press releases must follow distributors’ guidelines. And that depends on the editor’s experience.

I recently had a release with the headline “Predatory Practices of Military Credit Card Issuers Exposed” rejected by an editor at one wire service, only to be approved with no changes by an editor at another. The rules are opaque and unevenly enforced.

The sites a release links to must be approved too. “Editors won’t approve releases that promote third-party brands without a direct relationship,” says Hussain. “But it can still work depending on how you structure the release.” Announcing a brand-specific sale or promotion at your online store is one way to get a brand name in the headline.

Another challenge of press releases (and all content) is link decay. You must continuously acquire quality backlinks as their value decreases over time, especially from lower-tier sites.

“Many smaller sites with low domain authority can initially get indexed, but over time, their impact on rankings fades,” says Zaman. “The key is securing high-authority placements and building links from topical, relevant sources.”

Ecommerce SEO

Despite these challenges, press releases remain a valuable tool for building ecommerce brand authority, securing backlinks, and boosting organic traffic.

  • Start with brand-focused releases. Establish authority and recognition by targeting the home page.
  • Target product detail and category pages. Focus on specific categories and product pages to drive direct traffic and conversions. Use compound anchors and naked links to target pages.
  • Maintain link quality. Use tools such as Ahrefs, Semrush, and Moz to assess the quality and authority of backlinks. Be wary of press release providers that bundle quasi-news pick-ups with one or two known outlets.
  • Leverage major news outlets. Target top-tier publications to increase the chances of appearing in Google’s most valuable index tiers, securing high-authority, long-lasting links. Examine distributors’ news circuits carefully to determine how many reputable news sites aggregate their releases.
Tips for Internal and External Page Links

Google’s original ranking algorithm relied on inbound links to gauge a page’s quality. Links remain critical for organic rankings despite suggestions otherwise. Common questions include tactics for internal links, the value of outbound external links, and strategies for anchor text.

Certainly I can share my experiences as a 15-year search optimizer, but guidance from Google representatives is helpful. Here are those answers.

Internal Links

Internal links play a huge role in rankings in two ways:

  • Importance. The number of internal links pointing to a page signal to Google its relative importance.
  • Content. The anchor text of internal links and surrounding copy help Google understand the linked page’s purpose and relevancy.

There’s no maximum number of internal outbound links on a page, although Google likely values links in navigation and footers less than in the body. The text surrounding such contextual links — in articles, product descriptions, and categories — signals relevancy.

Thus an effective strategy includes:

  • Links from a product’s description to an article on how to use it,
  • Links from blog posts to relevant products and categories,
  • Links from product categories to buyers’ guides.

Too many links?

Ecommerce owners often add many internal links to, for example, related articles, products, and categories, as well as cross-sells and upsells (“frequently bought together”).

So how many links are too many?

Google’s answer is there is no limit. Responding to a LinkedIn query, Google’s John Mueller stated, “Nobody at Google counts the links or the words on your blog posts.”

Other Google representatives have said more or less the same. But leaked documentation earlier this year suggests Googlebot may not crawl longer pages to the end. We don’t know Googlebot’s maximum page length, but the leak suggests links at the bottom of long articles could be ignored.

Over-optimization?

Should site owners fret about using exact-match keywords for internal anchor text? Per Google, the answer is “no.” There’s no such thing as over-optimizing internal links.

Use whatever anchor text you choose. Keep in mind, though, that relevant contextual links are likely more effective for rankings, even if you can use a well-optimized anchor. For example, linking to a running-shoe product page is likely more effective from an article about running than from one about car repair.

External Links

Google has long stated that outbound external links do not improve a page’s rankings or trust, even when linking to .gov (government) or .edu (education) sites.

I cannot confirm this either way, although one university study last year found generative AI engines (e.g., ChatGPT, Claude, Gemini) cited an article more often when it included links to those trusted sources.

Since Google search now uses gen AI technology, it is safe to assume that links to trusted sources may be helpful for rankings, especially if they benefit humans, too.

How To Build A Diverse & Healthy Link Profile via @sejournal, @AndrewDennis33

Search is evolving at an incredible pace and new features, formats, and even new search engines are popping up within the space.

Google’s algorithm still prioritizes backlinks when ranking websites. If you want your website to be visible in search results, you must account for backlinks and your backlink profile.

A healthy backlink profile requires a diverse backlink profile.

In this guide, we’ll examine how to build and maintain a diverse backlink profile that powers your website’s search performance.

What Does A Healthy Backlink Profile Look Like?

As Google states in its guidelines, it primarily crawls pages through links from other pages linked to your pages, acquired through promotion and naturally over time.

In practice, a healthy backlink profile can be divided into three main areas: the distribution of link types, the mix of anchor text, and the ratio of followed to nofollowed links.

Let’s look at these areas and how they should look within a healthy backlink profile.

Distribution Of Link Types

One aspect of your backlink profile that needs to be diversified is link types.

It looks unnatural to Google to have predominantly one kind of link in your profile, and it also indicates that you’re not diversifying your content strategy enough.

Some of the various link types you should see in your backlink profile include:

  • Anchor text links.
  • Image links.
  • Redirect links.
  • Canonical links.

Here is an example of the breakdown of link types at my company, Whatfix (via Semrush):

Backlink TypesScreenshot from Semrush, May 2024

Most links should be anchor text links and image links, as these are the most common ways to link on the web, but you should see some of the other types of links as they are picked up naturally over time.

Mix Of Anchor Text

Next, ensure your backlink profile has an appropriate anchor text variance.

Again, if you overoptimize for a specific type of anchor text, it will appear suspicious to search engines like Google and could have negative repercussions.

Here are the various types of anchor text you might find in your backlink profile:

  • Branded anchor text – Anchor text that is your brand name or includes your brand name.
  • Empty – Links that have no anchor text.
  • Naked URLs – Anchor text that is a URL (e.g., www.website.com).
  • Exact match keyword-rich anchor text – Anchor text that exactly matches the keyword the linked page targets (e.g., blue shoes).
  • Partial match keyword-rich anchor text – Anchor text that partially or closely matches the keyword the linked page targets (e.g., “comfortable blue footwear options”).
  • Generic anchor text – Anchor text such as “this website” or “here.”

To maintain a healthy backlink profile, aim for a mix of anchor text within a similar range to this:

  • Branded anchor text – 35-40%.
  • Partial match keyword-rich anchor text – 15-20%.
  • Generic anchor text -10-15%.
  • Exact match keyword-rich anchor text – 5-10%.
  • Naked URLs – 5-10%.
  • Empty – 3-5%.

This distribution of anchor text represents a natural mix of differing anchor texts. It is common for the majority of anchors to be branded or partially branded because most sites that link to your site will default to your brand name when linking. It also makes sense that the following most common anchors would be partial-match keywords or generic anchor text because these are natural choices within the context of a web page.

Exact-match anchor text is rare because it only happens when you are the best resource for a specific term, and the site owner knows your page exists.

Ratio Of Followed Vs. Nofollowed Backlinks

Lastly, you should monitor the ratio of followed vs. nofollowed links pointing to your website.

If you need a refresher on what nofollowed backlinks are or why someone might apply the nofollow tag to a link pointing to your site, check out Google’s guide on how to qualify outbound links to Google.

Nofollow attributes should only be applied to paid links or links pointing to a site the linking site doesn’t trust.

While it is not uncommon or suspicious to have some nofollow links (people misunderstand the purpose of the nofollow attribute all the time), a healthy backlink profile will have far more followed links.

You should aim for a ratio of 80%:20% or 70%:30% in favor of followed links. For example, here is what the followed vs. nofollowed ratio looks like for my company’s backlink profile (according to Ahrefs):

Referring domainsScreenshot from Ahrefs, May 2024

You may see links with other rel attributes, such as UGC or Sponsored.

The “UGC” attribute tags links from user-generated content, while the “Sponsored” attribute tags links from sponsored or paid sources. These attributes are slightly different than the nofollow tag, but they essentially work the same way, letting Google know these links aren’t trusted or endorsed by the linking site. You can simply group these links in with nofollowed links when calculating your ratio.

Importance Of Diversifying Your Backlink Profile

So why is it important to diversify your backlink profile anyway? Well, there are three main reasons you should consider:

  • Avoiding overoptimization.
  • Diversifying traffic sources.
  • And finding new audiences.

Let’s dive into each of these.

Avoiding Overoptimization

First and foremost, diversifying your backlink profile is the best way to protect yourself from overoptimization and the damaging penalties that can come with it.

As SEO pros, our job is to optimize websites to improve performance, but overoptimizing in any facet of our strategy – backlinks, keywords, structure, etc. – can result in penalties that limit visibility within search results.

In the previous section, we covered the elements of a healthy backlink profile. If you stray too far from that model, your site might look suspicious to search engines like Google and you could be handed a manual or algorithmic penalty, suppressing your rankings in search.

Considering how regularly Google updates its search algorithm these days (and how little information surrounds those updates), you could see your performance tank and have no idea why.

This is why it’s so important to keep a watchful eye on your backlink profile and how it’s shaping up.

Diversifying Traffic Sources

Another reason to cultivate a diverse backlink profile is to ensure you’re diversifying your traffic sources.

Google penalties come swiftly and can often be a surprise. If you have all your eggs in that basket when it comes to traffic, your site will suffer badly and might need help to recover.

However, diversifying your traffic sources (search, social, email, etc.) will mitigate risk – similar to a stock portfolio – as you’ll have other traffic sources to provide a steady flow of visitors if another source suddenly dips.

Part of building a diverse backlink profile is acquiring a diverse set of backlinks and backlink types, and this strategy will also help you find differing and varied sources of traffic.

Finding New Audiences

Finally, building a diverse backlink profile is essential, as doing so will also help you discover new audiences.

If you acquire links from the same handful of websites and platforms, you will need help expanding your audience and building awareness for your website.

While it’s important to acquire links from sites that cater to your existing audience, you should also explore ways to build links that can tap into new audiences. The best way to do this is by casting a wide net with various link acquisition tactics and strategies.

A diverse backlink profile indicates a varied approach to SEO and marketing that will help bring new visitors and awareness to your site.

Building A Diverse Backlink Profile

So that you know what a healthy backlink profile looks like and why it’s important to diversify, how do you build diversity into your site’s backlink profile?

This comes down to your link acquisition strategy and the types of backlinks you actively pursue. To guide your strategy, let’s break link building into three main categories:

  • Foundational links.
  • Content promotion.
  • Community involvement.

Here’s how to approach each area.

Foundational Links

Foundational links represent those links that your website simply should have. These are opportunities where a backlink would exist if all sites were known to all site owners.

Some examples of foundational links include:

  • Mentions – Websites that mention your brand in some way (brand name, product, employees, proprietary data, etc.) on their website but don’t link.
  • Partners – Websites that belong to real-world partners or companies you connect with offline and should also connect (link) with online.
  • Associations or groups – Websites for offline associations or groups you belong to where your site should be listed with a link.
  • Sponsorships – Any events or organizations your company sponsors might have websites that could (and should) link to your site.
  • Sites that link to competitors – If a website is linking to a competitor, there is a strong chance it would make sense for them to link to your site as well.

These link opportunities should set the foundation for your link acquisition efforts.

As the baseline for your link building strategy, you should start by exhausting these opportunities first to ensure you’re not missing highly relevant links to bolster your backlink profile.

Content Promotion

Next, consider content promotion as a strategy for building a healthy, diverse backlink profile.

Content promotion is much more proactive than the foundational link acquisition mentioned above. You must manifest the opportunity by creating link-worthy content rather than simply capitalizing on an existing opportunity.

Some examples of content promotion for links are:

  • Digital PR – Digital PR campaigns have numerous benefits and goals beyond link acquisition, but backlinks should be a primary KPI.
  • Original research – Similar to digital PR, original research should focus on providing valuable data to your audience. Still, you should also make sure any citations or references to your research are correctly linked.
  • Guest content – Whether regular columns or one-off contributions, providing guest content to websites is still a viable link acquisition strategy – when done right. The best way to gauge your guest content strategy is to ask yourself if you would still write the content for a site without guaranteeing a backlink, knowing you’ll still build authority and get your message in front of a new audience.
  • Original imagery – Along with research and data, if your company creates original imagery that offers unique value, you should promote those images and ask for citation links.

Content promotion is a viable avenue for building a healthy backlink profile as long as the content you’re promoting is worthy of links.

Community Involvement

Community involvement is the final piece of your link acquisition puzzle when building a diverse backlink profile.

After pursuing all foundational opportunities and manually promoting your content, you should ensure your brand is active and represented in all the spaces and communities where your audience engages.

In terms of backlinks, this could mean:

  • Wikipedia links – Wikipedia gets over 4 billion monthly visits, so backlinks here can bring significant referral traffic to your site. However, acquiring these links is difficult as these pages are moderated closely, and your site will only be linked if it is legitimately a top resource on the web.
  • Forums (Reddit, Quora, etc.) – Another great place to get backlinks that drive referral traffic is forums like Reddit and Quora. Again, these forums are strictly moderated, and earning link placements on these sites requires a page that delivers significant and unique value to a specific audience.
  • Social platforms – Social media platforms and groups represent communities where your brand should be active and engaged. While these strategies are likely handled by other teams outside SEO and focus on different metrics, you should still be intentional about converting these interactions into links when or where possible.
  • Offline events – While it may seem counterintuitive to think of offline events as a potential source for link acquisition, legitimate link opportunities exist here. After all, most businesses, brands, and people you interact with at these events also have websites, and networking can easily translate to online connections in the form of links.

While most of the link opportunities listed above will have the nofollow link attribute due to the nature of the sites associated with them, they are still valuable additions to your backlink profile as these are powerful, trusted domains.

These links help diversify your traffic sources by bringing substantial referral traffic, and that traffic is highly qualified as these communities share your audience.

How To Avoid Developing A Toxic Backlink Profile

Now that you’re familiar with the link building strategies that can help you cultivate a healthy, diverse backlink profile, let’s discuss what you should avoid.

As mentioned before, if you overoptimize one strategy or link, it can seem suspicious to search engines and cause your site to receive a penalty. So, how do you avoid filling your backlink profile with toxic links?

Remember The “Golden Rule” Of Link Building

One simple way to guide your link acquisition strategy and avoid running afoul of search engines like Google is to follow one “golden rule.”

That rule is to ask yourself: If search engines like Google didn’t exist, and the only way people could navigate the web was through backlinks, would you want your site to have a link on the prospective website?

Thinking this way strips away all the tactical, SEO-focused portions of the equation and only leaves the human elements of linking where two sites are linked because it makes sense and makes the web easier to navigate.

Avoid Private Blog Networks (PBNs)

Another good rule is to avoid looping your site into private blog networks (PBNs). Of course, it’s not always obvious or easy to spot a PBN.

However, there are some common traits or red flags you can look for, such as:

  • The person offering you a link placement mentions they have a list of domains they can share.
  • The prospective linking site has little to no traffic and doesn’t appear to have human engagement (blog comments, social media followers, blog views, etc.).
  • The website features thin content and little investment into user experience (UX) and design.
  • The website covers generic topics and categories, catering to any and all audiences.
  • Pages on the site feature numerous external links but only some internal links.
  • The prospective domain’s backlink profile features overoptimization in any of the previously discussed forms (high-density of exact match anchor text, abnormal ratio of nofollowed links, only one or two link types, etc.).

Again, diversification – in both tactics and strategies – is crucial to building a healthy backlink profile, but steering clear of obvious PBNs and remembering the ‘golden rule’ of link building will go a long way toward keeping your profile free from toxicity.

Evaluating Your Backlink Profile

As you work diligently to build and maintain a diverse, healthy backlink profile, you should also carve out time to evaluate it regularly from a more analytical perspective.

There are two main ways to evaluate the merit of your backlinks: leverage tools to analyze backlinks and compare your backlink profile to the greater competitive landscape.

Leverage Tools To Analyze Backlink Profile

There are a variety of third-party tools you can use to analyze your backlink profile.

These tools can provide helpful insights, such as the total number of backlinks and referring domains. You can use these tools to analyze your full profile, broken down by:

  • Followed vs. nofollowed.
  • Authority metrics (Domain Rating, Domain Authority, Authority Score, etc.).
  • Backlink types.
  • Location or country.
  • Anchor text.
  • Top-level domain types.
  • And more.

You can also use these tools to track new incoming backlinks, as well as lost backlinks, to help you better understand how your backlink profile is growing.

Some of the best tools for analyzing your backlink profile are:

Many of these tools also have features that estimate how toxic or suspicious your profile might look to search engines, which can help you detect potential issues early.

Compare Your Backlink Profile To The Competitive Landscape

Lastly, you should compare your overall backlink profile to those of your competitors and those competing with your site in the search results.

Again, the previously mentioned tools can help with this analysis – as far as providing you with the raw numbers – but the key areas you should compare are:

  • Total number of backlinks.
  • Total number of referring domains.
  • Breakdown of authority metrics of links (Domain Rating, Domain Authority, Authority Score, etc.).
  • Authority metrics of competing domains.
  • Link growth over the last two years.

Comparing your backlink profile to others within your competitive landscape will help you assess where your domain currently stands and provide insight into how far you must go if you’re lagging behind competitors.

It’s worth noting that it’s not as simple as whoever has the most backlinks will perform the best in search.

These numbers are typically solid indicators of how search engines gauge the authority of your competitors’ domains, and you’ll likely find a correlation between strong backlink profiles and strong search performance.

Approach Link Building With A User-First Mindset

The search landscape continues to evolve at a breakneck pace and we could see dramatic shifts in how people search within the next five years (or sooner).

However, at this time, search engines like Google still rely on backlinks as part of their ranking algorithms, and you need to cultivate a strong backlink profile to be visible in search.

Furthermore, if you follow the advice in this article as you build out your profile, you’ll acquire backlinks that benefit your site regardless of search algorithms, futureproofing your traffic sources.

Approach link acquisition like you would any other marketing endeavor – with a customer-first mindset – and over time, you’ll naturally build a healthy, diverse backlink profile.

More resources: 


Featured Image: Sammby/Shutterstock

seo enhancements
What is off-page SEO?

SEO can be explained as any effort you make to improve your website. But did you know there’s an important distinction between on-page and off-page SEO? Optimizing your website is called on-page SEO and includes things like site structure, content and speed optimization. Off-page SEO entails, among other things, link building, social media, and local SEO. In other words, generating traffic to your site and making your business appear like the real deal it is. In this post, we answer the question: What is off-page SEO?

Exposure, trust and brand awareness

When focusing on on-page SEO, you’re doing everything in your power to create a good website. You write great content, build a solid site structure, make your website mobile-friendly and work on improving page speed. All is well in the world and you’ve done all you can. Right? Well, there’s another part we can’t forget: off-page SEO. This helps you to bring in those hordes of visitors and potential customers. Both are important pieces of the puzzle.

By writing quality content you can rank in search engines, but by getting a few great, relevant sites to link to that content, you’re increasing the chance that you’ll end up ranking a lot higher. The same goes for building your brand and creating trust. This doesn’t just happen on your site, but mostly off-site. Take reviews, for instance, these can make or break your company. You need them, but they most often appear on external sites. These are all factors that contribute to your rankings.

It’s not only important to rank high for your search term, but also to create trust and a sense of authority. You must appear to be the best search result, not just in a technical and content sense, but also in reality. Popularity, quality, and relevance are everything. Especially now that E-E-A-T (which stands for Experience, Expertise, Authoritativeness and Trustworthiness) has become a core concept in how Google rates your online content.

Links are the threads that keep our web together. Search engines use links to determine how valuable a piece of content or a particular site is. Getting quality links will always be a great tactic if you’re serious about SEO. And who isn’t? In the past, there have been debates on the relevance of links. We firmly believe in the importance of links. That being said, you need the good ones. Don’t buy stuff, and keep a close eye on where and how you’re being linked to. We’ve written several guides on how to get quality links for your site and what you shouldn’t do when link building.

By itself, social media is not essential for ranking well in search engines. It is however growing in popularity, and more and more people are using these platforms for their online searches as well. It’s also a great way to reach more people and grow your brand as a whole.

At the end of the day, SEO is about being found online. By being active on social media, you will be deemed more trustworthy, be more easily found and have a great way to showcase your brand more. People will probably expect to find you there and you don’t want them to end up empty-handed or stumble across your competition. It also gives you a great opportunity to interact with your audience in a fun and approachable way. So make sure to invest in social media to reach your audience.

Local SEO is also off-page SEO

Local SEO is essential if your business is locally oriented. But what is it? Where normally, you would focus your efforts on reaching as many people as possible, wherever they are, local SEO focuses on reaching people in a certain area. So, for example, when you’re a bike repair shop or real estate agent.

For local businesses, part of the off-page SEO is in-person SEO. Word-of-mouth marketing plays a big role in getting people to your business. Not just that, happy customers can leave reviews online that Google – and other potential customers – can use to see how well you are doing. The experiences that people have with your business, should be similar and positive, whether they’re offline or online.

Don’t forget to showcase yourself

Coming back to the importance of showing your expertise or authority on a topic, you need to make sure this isn’t just being said on your website. Make appearances to talk about your field or expertise or service/product with others. By blogging for another website in your field, doing interviews, being a guest on podcasts, or going to events to do a talk or workshop. Share your knowledge and be active to let people know that you’re the go-to person (or website) when it comes to that specific topic.

Off-page SEO is an integral part of your SEO strategy

As we’ve shown, off-page SEO supplements on-page SEO. They go hand in hand. You need to focus on what’s going on outside your website as well. Work on proper link building, branding and your social media efforts to make the most of your SEO. You can optimize your site all you want, but if it isn’t perceived as a quality destination for people, it will be difficult to get people to your website at all.

Read more: The ultimate guide to content SEO »

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