Most SEOs don’t care what number of backlinks they get from every web site. They solely care concerning the variety of distinctive web sites (referring domains) linking to them.
Do you ever attain out to web sites that already hyperlink to you to get extra hyperlinks? Vote and remark with why you do or don’t.
— Michal Pecanek (@michalpecanek) May 12, 2020
There are doubtless a few causes for this.
First, most large-scale research present a robust correlation between natural visitors and the variety of backlinks from distinctive web sites (referring domains).
Second, some fear that having too many backlinks from the identical web site is unnatural.
It doesn’t appear to be that is the case, although.
We ran a small examine and located that 79.23% of referring domains hyperlink to the identical web site a number of occasions.
And most web sites hyperlink 2–5 occasions.
In different phrases, it’s fully pure to have a number of hyperlinks from the identical web site.
However what compelling causes are there to construct a number of hyperlinks from every area?
Listed below are 4 of them:
- Improve the ‘authority’ of your pages
- Get hyperlinks to extra pages
- Get extra referral visitors
- Construct hyperlinks extra simply
Each webpage has a certain quantity of “authority” referred to as PageRank (PR). This flows to different pages through inner and exterior hyperlinks.
PageRank is the muse of Google’s rating algorithm, and it’s nonetheless a rating sign at present.
DYK that after 18 years we’re nonetheless utilizing PageRank (and 100s of different indicators) in rating?
Wanna know the way it works?https://t.co/CfOlxGauGF pic.twitter.com/3YJeNbXLml
— Gary 鯨理／경리 Illyes (@methode) February 9, 2017
As a result of PR flows from web page to web page, getting hyperlinks from a number of pages on the identical web site will increase their ‘authority.’
Though we’d like to crunch some numbers to estimate the significance of PR at present, that isn’t attainable. Google discontinued public PR scores in 2016. Nevertheless, we did discover a clear correlation between natural visitors and our page-level authority metric, URL Score.
Bear in mind the graph we shared earlier?
It reveals the correlation between natural visitors and the variety of referring domains on the web page stage—not the area stage.
That’s necessary as a result of it means that to extend natural visitors, it’s best to concentrate on constructing hyperlinks to the pages that you simply need to rank in Google.
However right here’s the factor: individuals don’t at all times hyperlink to the pages that you simply need to rank.
For instance, right here’s a web site that hyperlinks to one in every of our research and nothing else:
Our information research are unbelievable hyperlink magnets, however they hardly ever drive natural visitors. Positive, we will reap the benefits of the hyperlinks they drive by distributing a few of that “authority” to necessary pages through inner hyperlinks. But it surely’s at all times higher to get hyperlinks on to the pages you need to rank.
For that motive, if we had been operating a hyperlink constructing marketing campaign for a brand new piece of content material, it could nonetheless make sense to pitch this web site.
Backlinks from high-traffic pages can drive referral visitors to your web site. Not solely can this have a optimistic affect on your small business by driving conversions, but additionally your website positioning. That’s as a result of extra eyeballs in your content material can result in much more hyperlinks.
Simply have a look at the referring domains graph of our featured snippets examine:
It’s attracted over 1,200 referring domains within the 36 months since publishing. That’s 34 RDs per thirty days, on common. Nevertheless, the web page will get virtually no natural visitors. Which means these linkers should have found our web page via different means—most certainly from different linking pages that get visitors.
This isn’t onerous to imagine. If we have a look at the pages that hyperlink to our examine, fairly a number of of them get a lot of natural visitors:
Should you take a better look, you’ll see that 4 of six referring pages with essentially the most natural visitors are on backlinko.com. This reveals how hyperlinks from one area to even a single web page can concurrently ship PageRank, referral visitors, and hyperlinks your manner.
The ethical of the story is this:
If there’s a chance to get a hyperlink from a excessive visitors web page, it doesn’t matter if you have already got a hyperlink from that web site. It’s price pursuing, even when only for the referral visitors.
TIP
Should you use Google Analytics, you possibly can see which websites are sending you essentially the most (invaluable) referral visitors. Simply go to Acquisition > All Visitors > Referral, then type the desk by conversions or customers.
You may then plug the top-performing referral sources into Ahrefs’ Website Explorer and verify the Prime Pages report. This reveals their high pages by estimated natural visitors.
From right here, eyeball the report for pages the place it would make sense to pitch a contextual hyperlink.
For instance, if we have a look at the Prime pages report for smartblogger.com, we see a variety of visitors to a submit about earning money from running a blog. And if we have a look at the submit itself, we see that it mentions the significance of website positioning and likewise recommends a rival website positioning weblog.
This appears to be like like a fantastic alternative to pitch a contextual hyperlink from a heavy-traffic web page.
Getting hyperlinks from individuals who’ve linked to you earlier than is normally simpler than doing “chilly outreach.”
However how do you discover these individuals?
Go to the Backlinks report in Ahrefs’ Website Explorer, set the “One hyperlink per area” grouping possibility, and apply the “dofollow” filter. From there, eyeball the “Hyperlinks” column to seek out web sites which have linked to you a number of occasions already.
For instance, now we have ten hyperlinks from gotchseo.com to varied weblog posts.
It’s clear from this that Nathan—the man behind gotchseo.com—is a fan of our content material. So if we publish something which may curiosity him sooner or later, we will attain out and share it.
If he enjoys it and finds it invaluable, he would possibly select to hyperlink to it.
If not, we will at all times search for a contextual hyperlink alternative on his web site. And if there may be one, pitch the hyperlink. To search out related alternatives, we will use the web site: search operator paired with a phrase or phrase that describes our submit.
Simply do not forget that it’s in all probability not the perfect thought to ship serial linkers the identical outreach electronic mail as everybody else. They’re already followers of your work and have linked to you loads of occasions already, so don’t insult them with a generic pitch.
tip
Should you’re a fan of spreadsheets, I’d additionally suggest exporting the checklist of your referring domains and matching it in opposition to your checklist of hyperlink prospects. You may instantly create notes concerning the context of their earlier hyperlinks and use them in your pitch.
Ultimate ideas
I’m certain you wouldn’t miss a chance to be featured on a web page that will get tons of visitors—even when the location already hyperlinks to you. However I needed to handle this subject as a result of, as with all issues website positioning, there are misconceptions floating round.
And finally, I needed to nudge you into rethinking your strategy to hyperlink constructing. In spite of everything, it’s in all probability essentially the most artistic and troublesome a part of website positioning.
Bought any questions or feedback? Ping me on Twitter.