We have created an assessment methodology for evaluating the benefit of individual backlinks to your website. First, we’ll look at what factors influence a good backlink followed by top sources of backlinks.
Primary Backlink Quality Considerations
The list below highlights the most important characteristics of a backlink. These should be prioritized in this order when ranking which backlink sources are the most valuable.
Note: Only the first backlink on a given domain matters. Additional backlinks do not create additive effects but do not hurt you either.
- Domain Rating/Google Trust (40%): The domain rating (check with Ahrefs) represents numerically, from 0-100, an estimation of how trusted a website is by Google. The higher the domain rating, the more valuable a link from that site is worth.
- Contextual Relevance (30%): The linking website must be directly related or highly correlated to your website. The Google Algorithm prioritizes links from websites within your niche because they are seen as more authoritative and beneficial.
- Anchor Text (15%): The clickable text (hyperlink) should be relevant to the page it is linking to. It is crucial to avoid over-optimizing the anchor text, but strategically placed anchor text goes a long way.
- Link Placement (8%): In most cases, links placed within the main body of the website are worth more than links in the footer, sidebar, or navigational menu. Additionally, the higher up a link is found on the page, the better.
- Site Usability and Performance (7%): The linking site should be mobile friendly, have a fast loading speed, and navigational ease.
The Best Backlink Sources of 2024
The table below highlights the top backlink sources of 2024. These are ranked by the overall benefit to your website per 1 backlink acquired from each source.
Note: Factors may change based on the specific company chosen underneath a source type. In ranking which websites to pursue backlinks on, Social Media sites are excluded because links are typically “no follow”, meaning they do not count as a backlink.
Source Type Overall Benefit Example Website Domain Rating Contextual Relevance Anchor Text Link Placement Site Usability and Performance Industry Publications High Forbes 9 9 8 8 9 National Publications High The New York Times 10 7 7 7 9 Companies in Your Industry Very High First Page Sage 8 10 9 8 8 Companies Outside Your Industry Moderate Shopify 7 6 7 7 8 Fortune 500 Companies Moderate Apple 9 5 6 6 10 Database Websites Low to Moderate Crunchbase 8 4 5 5 8 Educational Institutions High MIT 9 8 8 8 9 Government Websites High USA.gov 10 7 7 7 9 Non-profit Organizations Moderate to High World Wildlife Fund 8 7 7 7 8 Blogs in Your Niche High Search Engine Journal 7 9 8 8 7 Forums and Community Boards Moderate Stack Overflow 7 8 6 6 8
Backlink Evaluation Examples
In this section, we’ve taken some example backlinks and assessed their value based on the algorithm.
First Page Sage Link to Focus Digital
First Page Sage recently included us in their article, The Top Healthcare SEO Agencies. Let’s evaluate the overall benefit of the backlink to our website.
Backlink Factor Score Explanation Domain Rating/Google Trust 8 First Page Sage is ranked at an impressive 75/100 by the Ahrefs domain rating score. Contextual Relevance 10 First Page Sage is an SEO agency, and here they are linking to another SEO agency in a blog post about SEO agencies. This is a high degree of contextual relevance. Anchor Text 9 The anchor text simply says “Focus Digital”, indicating the user will follow directly to the home page of the Focus Digital website. Link Placement 9 The link is placed in the primary value of the piece (the table). Site Usability & Performance 9 First Page Sage is fast, mobile optimized, and the content is easily readable.
Overall Benefit for Focus Digital: Very High
This backlink was perhaps among the highest quality obtainable because it is from a company in our industry with a high amount of contextual relevance and Google Trust. Also, First Page Sage placed our link inside specific anchor text (“Focus Digital”), near the top of the body of the page, and their site is very user-friendly on desktop and mobile.
Tracebit Link to Chris Farris
On the Tracebit blog, they linked to Chris Farris in the acknowledgment section of a blog post on AWS account IDs. Here’s the evaluation:
Backlink Factor Score Explanation Domain Rating/Google Trust 2 Tracebit has a 13/100 Ahrefs domain rating, indicating low Google Trust. Contextual Relevance 6 Chris Farris is only mentioned one time as an acknowledgment, which is helpful, but not as much as if he was cited in the main body of the piece. Anchor Text 7 The anchor text simply says “Chris Farris”, indicating the link will be information about Chris, but it is unclear whether it will be his website, Wikipedia page, or any other website. Link Placement 6 Link placement is in the body of the page, but it is very low on the page, decreasing the score for this category. Site Usability & Performance 8 The Tracebit site is fast, structured nicely, and easy to read.
Overall Benefit for Chris Farris: Low to Moderate
Given Chris Farris has a domain rating of 32/100 at the time of writing, it is unlikely that Tracebit’s link gave him any sort of overall lift. However, the pooling of many backlinks such as this one would be moderately or even highly impactful for Chris’s website.
Crunchbase Link to Microsoft
Crunchbase hosts an organization page about Microsoft in their database. Here is how we evaluated the effect for Microsoft:
Backlink Factor Score Explanation Domain Rating/Google Trust 9 Crunchbase has a domain rating from Ahrefs of 90/100, which is very good. Contextual Relevance 2 While the page is about Microsoft, Crunchbase is a database website, lowering the contextual relevance to a minimum. Anchor Text 10 The anchor text clearly lists “www.microsoft.com”, so the user understands precisely where they will land upon clicking. Link Placement 7 Link placement is in a typical, expected position in the page body. Site Usability & Performance 9 Crunchbase’s website functions at peak performance on both desktop and mobile.
Overall Benefit for Microsoft: Low
Even though Crunchbase has a high domain rating, linking to Microsoft from a database will not help Microsoft much because the database is not directly related to computer software, which is the primary focus of Microsoft. Also, Microsoft already has a high trust score from Google, so the additive effect of the Crunchbase link makes virtually no difference.
High-Quality Content – The #1 Best Practice for Acquiring Backlinks
In this section, we’ve included actionable steps to building high-quality backlinks. The best practice for doing so will be publishing high-quality content, but there are some other helpful practices included.
- Consistent Publication of High-Quality Content: The most important factor in building backlinks is consistently publishing content worth linking to by other websites. Content should be unique and highly satisfying to the search intent of the user.
- Creation of Data/Metrics Pieces: Proprietary industry data published on your website has the highest chance of being linked to by other websites.
- Visual Content: Custom infographics, tables, and charts drastically improve the web experience on your page and incentivize other websites to link to your site.
- Industry Forums: Engagement in relevant online communities will allow you to show off your content to others who may link back to your website.
- Broken Link Building: This practice involves finding broken links from other websites within your niche, then reaching out and suggesting they replace it with a piece of relevant content from your website.
- Outreach to Relevant Sites: If you see a particular site that needs a piece of information provided on your site, reach out and suggest it as a resource.
- List Your Site in Reputable Directories: Listing your site in well-known industry-relevant directories can be beneficial.
- Regularly Update Content: Ensure your content is fresh and regularly updated to ensure people view it as a current and reliable source.
Next Steps
If you are looking for a partner to create and publish high-quality content and data pieces in your industry, consider a partnership with us. Start the conversation on our Contact Us page.
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