SEO Guest Blog, how many links per blog?

[kwam-iT]

Hello, quick question, I am about to post a small article on a decent website for link building (do follows tooo!). I was wondering how many links is allowed to be used on in one article and how should I structure the anchor text, it seems using the target keyword directly as the anchor text is now frowned upon by google or am I wrong?

FYI the desired keywords are : we buy any laptop , sell my laptop,

Regards

 

[fisicx]

Don't even bother. A link like that with any sort of anchor will ignored by Google. If the article site gets good traffic you might pick up some decent leads but the ranking benefits are virtually zero.

 

[kwam-iT]

Don't even bother. A link like that with any sort of anchor will ignored by Google. If the article site gets good traffic you might pick up some decent leads but the ranking benefits are virtually zero.

I don't follow, isn't this the poin of link building?? Higher ranked sites linking to yours????

 

[fisicx]

Yes. But the links need to be relevant and add value.

So for example, if the source site was IT related and had lots of useful content about replacing and recycling laptops and you wrote an article about how to determine the value of a secondhand laptop or how to cleanse it of data before selling it then it might have a small benefit - but probably less value than a strong internal link on your own site.

But if a laptop refurbishment company wrote about where they get their secondhand laptops (you for example) and wrote about this on their site then the link would have a lot of value.

Link building is fraught with problems - mainly because of millions of people doing exactly what you plan to do. Google spends a lot of time tweaking the algo to prevent self promotion material from affecting ranking.

 

[websensejim]

I wouldn't have more than 1 link (to your website) on any guest post. I can't think of many examples where that would be the natural thing to do, as a writer.

When you say "decent website", what do you mean exactly ? Is it a popular site, is it an authority site ?

Fisicx is right, you need to be careful when building links for SEO benefits. Google is all over that. If you do place a link there, don't use keywords in the anchor text. That doesn't work anymore and might even harm you. You don't even need anchor text to rank anymore, those days are over. Go with a brand link (plain website URL or website/business name).

Think brand building rather than link building.

 

[MaureenP]

Hello, quick question, I am about to post a small article on a decent website for link building (do follows tooo!). I was wondering how many links is allowed to be used on in one article and how should I structure the anchor text, it seems using the target keyword directly as the anchor text is now frowned upon by google or am I wrong?

FYI the desired keywords are : we buy any laptop , sell my laptop,

Regards

2 to 3 links are good but not from the same domain. You can target different urls which matches with your keyword.

For example,

If you are targeting any laptop's features link for the keyword 'buy any laptop' then it is totally wrong because your keyword is selling keyword and not match with the URL information.

You can also target links of the same blog also (in which you are going to do guest post) if your keyword matches with their post. In addition, inplace of targeting exact match keyword do target long keywords too and maintain ratio between them.

Read more information on how to maintain Anchor Text Distribution from below resources :

https://moz.com/blog/anchor-text-distribution-avoiding-over-optimization
https://www.gotchseo.com/anchor-text/

 

[mugatea]

Yes. But the links need to be relevant and add value.

So for example, if the source site was IT related and had lots of useful content about replacing and recycling laptops and you wrote an article about how to determine the value of a secondhand laptop or how to cleanse it of data before selling it then it might have a small benefit - but probably less value than a strong internal link on your own site.

#

Your next blog post needs to be about internal linking, Graham.

 

[UniHost2u]

2 / 3 link are good from same post.

 

[webgeek]

One link. Make it your brand name and point it to your homepage.

The days of linking keywords to inner pages are long gone. It's now about passing authority and trust which amplify the ranking signals you've got on pages from your on-page optimisation.

 

[Dmitri Fantastic]

One link. Make it your brand name and point it to your homepage.

The days of linking keywords to inner pages are long gone. It's now about passing authority and trust which amplify the ranking signals you've got on pages from your on-page optimisation.

I do agree that a branded anchor would be a wise decision, but I totally disagree, that linking to inner pages is "long gone", but rather on the contrary. I myself am doing quite some white to grey link building and what I can tell for sure (first hand) is that linking to inner pages works and will always work. The tricky part in link building nowadays is the quality of content and domain.
@kwam-iT, it really depends how you wish to use your guest post. If you use a branded anchor, value will be added based on what your own domains is optimised in terms of content and the topical & keyword value of the guest post content itself. The second option - using some sort of exact or semi-exact anchor will focus weight on guest post topic/kw AND the anchor, thus bringing extra value to your domain, rather than boosting what you've optimised it for.

Just my humble dash of experience and advise here.

 

[webgeek]

You don't need an external backlink, keyword anchored, to an inner page to rank #1 for a competitive term.

I've worked on too many projects with only branded homepage links that absolutely dominate a niche.

This type of linking works because the authority and trust are passed to the homepage and domain, which are then distributed through the category silos and on to the pages within each.

You can't optimise a page for 1,000+ terms, but a page can rank well for 1,000+ terms, even without any direct keyword links.

In fact, now that Google has figured out this type of backlink spam / manipulation, branded links to the homepage are the closest thing you'll find to 100% safe, 100% effective backlinking. Everything else carries substantially more risk.

Look at your typical list of the top 20 to 50 places you can 'buy' a link via paid inclusion or content + admin fee. You'll find that 99.9% of them are going to offer you a branded homepage link. The reason why? Because they don't want to draw heavy fire when they get a manual review for link manipulation. They want to keep safe, so they keep you safe.

Moral of the story? Just because you can still get away with some things doesn't mean you should risk your kids lunch money by taking silly, unnecessary, risks.

 

[StevePoster]

2 to 3 links in which the target keywords are related and directly loads to your main site's pages. Specific targeting for the right users information.

 

[Erminoli]

You don't need an external backlink, keyword anchored, to an inner page to rank #1 for a competitive term.

... but you don't have to use your brand as an anchor text every single time either.

As always, it's about coherence and relevance.

Let's say you want to rank for the keyword "Bacon Cookies" and you're writing a guest article about cookies to promote it.

If you write...

"The Bacon Cookies by PigBakery are the tastiest biscuits I've tried out this year."

I don't think that Google will penalize you for linking "Bacon Cookies" instead of "PigBakery", because you're talking about a certain product (relevance) and link to it from a place, that makes sense (coherence).

Of course, don't exaggerate... stuff like

"The Bacon Cookies by PigBakery are the tastiest Bacon Cookies among all Bacon Cookies I've tried out this year."

isn't helpful, because you're stuffing the keyword and the sentence is highly unnatural. But I honestly think it won't make a big difference, if you're linking "Bacon Cookies" or "PigBakery" in that case, because a pile of sh** remains a pile of sh**, no matter if you're poking it with a stick or a sword.

 

[webgeek]

You might get away with keyword anchors on external links a few times, you might not.

Depends on the industry benchmarks they're using, the outbound anchor text ratio of the site linking from, the inbound anchor text ratio of the site linking to, etc.

You don't get a bigger boost with keyword anchors - you get a ranking relevance indicator.

It used to be link strength was determined by the anchor text match to the target page optimisation/meaning. Now, link strength is determined by page/site authority/trust from the originating site and relevance is determined by the meaning of the source page/destination page and can be influenced by link anchor text, other words proximity to them, and a handful of other smaller indicators.

The days of keyword stuffing backlink anchors are well in the past and are mostly just an anti-spam signal for search engines seeking to identify those trying to game the system, buy links, etc.

Use keyword rich anchors in external links at your own peril. I'd stick with branded links - they pass full authority and trust.

 

[rf-harris]

I recommend to put one link to your website and one link to another useful source perhaps a wiki page or something like that.

 

[WHGB Tom]

Think brand building rather than link building.

Definately a good point to make. Branded linking and not trying to stuff keywords is for sure the way to go with the way Google currently views things. Its not a matter of if they catch keyword/link stuffing its when.

 

[PropertyWebmasters]

Writing external blog posts shouldn't revolve around your links you want to use, the primary focus should be on what your content offers to the reader as value. From here you should be able to add any necessary links back to your site or other useful websites.

 

[fisicx]

Writing external blog posts shouldn't revolve around your links you want to use, the primary focus should be on what your content offers to the reader as value. From here you should be able to add any necessary links back to your site or other useful websites.

Or even better, post the article on your own site. The SEO value is far higher.

 

[Cithy1937]

It’s no secret that link building is the most important skill in SEO.

In fact, it’s a culmination of several different skills: you need to master content, sales, programming, psychology, and good old-fashioned marketing if you want other people to link to your site.

 

[fisicx]

It’s no secret that link building is the most important skill in SEO.

No it's not. Don't know where you read that gem but it's wrong.

 

[PropertyWebmasters]

I have seen a lot of articles over the years to suggest that link building is one of the most important things in SEO. This is a hard thing to do however, I think these days content is becoming a better SEO ranking factor than link building. If you share great content from your site that will drive people to your site and create google snippets, this is surely a better thing?

What would you guys say the most important thing is about SEO?

 

[fisicx]

There is no one important thing. It's an amalgam of various components that when brought together correctly will increase the chances of ranking well. How each component is used depends on what you want to rank for, where and how much competition their is.

 

[PropertyWebmasters]

True, that is a good way of putting it!

 

[WillGraham]

if the decent website have good trafic, your site may get on top, but in shorterm.
in case you still want to use this method, 1-2 links are good enough

 

[fisicx]

if the decent website have good trafic, your site may get on top, but in shorterm.
in case you still want to use this method, 1-2 links are good enough

No, you dom't want to use this method at all. Google has been working at junking links from promotional articles and guest blogs for a while.

 

[Prince_Nirala]

I think 1 or 2 links are enough as johnson said because too many direct links can hurt sites as well as the user too because usually users do not like many direct links in the post that annoy the users.

 

[fisicx]

Even better, don't add any links at all. Google knows all about guest blogs and treats them the same way it does the long discredited article sites.

Use Guest blogs for traffic and only add the link to your site in the signature for the minuscule ranking benefit this will bring.

Caveat: there are ways to use guest blogs to your advantage but posting random self promotional articles isn't one of them.