As we mentioned in the About Us section of our agency, “SEO is the black box of digital marketing—and link building is the most obscure part of SEO.”
This obscurity comes at a price, the price being of course the many misconceptions that surround link building. These misconceptions turn into myths which, in turn, can lead to wasted efforts, poor strategy execution, or even penalties from the search engines, especially Google.
So, let’s try to tackle these misconceptions, one myth at a time.
Myth#1: The More Backlinks the Better
Indeed, backlinks are important for ranking. However, not all backlinks are built the same, metaphorically and literally. Accordingly, a single link from a high-authority, relevant site can have a greater impact on your rankings than dozens of links from low-quality or irrelevant domains. But why is that?
Well, a single link from a high-authority, relevant site is like getting a recommendation from a trusted expert in your field, which signals to search engines that your content is valuable – and this is worth ranking higher. On the other hand, links from low-quality or unrelated sites don’t carry as much weight, if any.
Myth #2: The Highest the DR/ DA the Better
Google doesn’t care about your domain’s Domain Rating (DR) or Domain Authority (A). These are proxy metrics, created by SEO tools like Ahrefs and Moz, respectively. As a matter of fact, these metrics are easily manipulated.
Since webmasters and SEO professionals can artificially boost these scores by buying spammy links or using link farms, which are part of black-hat SEO, getting links from DR/DA-inflated domains may cause harm on top. Therefore, DR/ DA is only a hint and you are going to need more link building quality metrics for the assessment of a domain.
Myth#3: Nofollow Backlinks Are Useless
PageRank is not the only reason you should be link-building. Besides better rankings, a link can:
- Drive referral traffic, given the page it’s built in has traffic, to begin with
- Increase credibility, especially when built in high-authority sites boosts credibility
- Diversify your backlink profile, creating a natural link profile for better algorithm resilience
What’s more, since 2019 Google’s “Nofollow” Evolve, the “nofollow” tag has evolved into a hint, meaning that Google may consider a “nofollow” link for ranking purposes.
Myth#4: Anchor Text Must Contain Keyword
Over-optimized anchor text at scale, like exact-match keywords, is bad SEO practice and, can lead to penalties. Especially after Google’s Penguin update, which specifically targets unnatural anchor text profiles, contextual and organic keywords are a better option.
For example, if we were doing link building for this very blog page, then we shouldn’t rely on using keywords such as “top link building myths” and “link building myths”. Keywords such as “link building mistakes”, “SEO misconceptions” or even long-tail keywords with any of the myths per se, like “nofollow backlinks are not useless” would be valid options.
Myth #5: Link Exchanges Lead To Penalties
Yet another grey hat tactic. While excessive reciprocal linking is discouraged, occasional link exchanges with relevant and authoritative sites are generally acceptable. It only becomes a real problem when you overdo it.
You can engage in link exchanges sparingly. So make these rare occasions count and engage in reciprocal linking only with high0qality domains. And, as always, ensure that the links are contextual and provide value to users.
Myth #6: Guest Blogging Is Dead for Link Building
Another common link building myth is that guest blogging serves no purpose in link building. This myth made a comeback in 2019 after Nofollow Evolved update, when rel=”sponsored” tag was introduced.
Still, guest blogging is only problematic when you do it purely for links without regard for content quality or audience value. High-quality guest posts on reputable sites remain a strong white hat link building strategy, and one of the most common tactics legit link-building agencies equip.
Myth #7: Toxic Links Lead To Penalties
Google’s algorithm doesn’t automatically penalize a site just because it has some toxic links. In most cases, Google ignores bad links, especially if they are few or don’t have a significant impact on a site’s overall profile.
Toxic links might have an impact only if they constitute a large portion of a site’s backlink profile. To conclude, a toxic link audit is more than welcome once or twice a year but don’t lose any sleep over it.
Conclusion
These common link building myths, as with most myths, aren’t created for deceit professionals. Rather, they serve as an oversimplification of the complexities of link building and SEO.
Hopefully, we managed to shed some light and distinguish between myth and fiction. So, try to avoid these myths and focus on what really matters: creating valuable content, earning meaningful links, and staying updated on Google’s guidelines.
If you need help with that, contact us here and we’ll let you know how we can help.
