Links are one of the most important aspects of SEO. They help to improve your ranking on search engines, and they also help to increase traffic to your website. In order for your website to be successful, you need good links from high-quality websites. However, not all links are created equal. There are many factors that go into determining whether or not a link is good or bad. In this blog post, we will discuss what makes a good or bad link, and we will also give you some tips on how to get quality links for your website.

What are Links (Backlinks)?

A link is simply a connection between two websites. When one website links to another website, it is called a backlink. Backlinks are important because they help to improve your website’s ranking on search engines. The more high-quality backlinks you have, the higher your ranking will be. However, not all backlinks are created equal. The quality of a backlink depends on many factors, such as the website that is linking to you, the anchor text of the link, and the PageRank of the linking website.

Good Links: Positive Signs

There are many factors that go into determining whether or not a link is good. Here are just some of the signs of a good link to look out for.

Sign #1: The Link is from an Authoritative Website

One of the most important factors in determining the quality of a link is the website that it is coming from. An authoritative website is typically one that has a lot of traffic and is well-established. If you are getting links from these types of websites, then your website will likely benefit from them.

Some examples of high-quality websites include:

  • major news outlets
  • popular blogs
  • industry associations
  • government websites

Links from these types of websites carry a lot of weight with search engines, and they can help to improve your ranking significantly. However, it can be difficult to get links from these types of websites because they are often very selective about who they link to.

Sign #2: The Anchor Text is Relevant

The anchor text is the text that is used to link to your website. When choosing the anchor text for your links, you should always try to use relevant and keyword-rich phrases. These types of phrases will help to improve your ranking for those keywords on search engines. For example, if you are a plumber in Toronto, then using an anchor text similar to “Toronto plumber” when linking to your website is recommended, not something irrelevant.

After all, you don’t want people to be disappointed when they click on your link and find that it doesn’t relevant to what they were looking for.

Relevancy is key when it comes to the anchor text of your links. You should always try to use relevant and keyword-rich phrases so that people will know what they’re clicking on when they see your link.

Sign #3: The Linking Website Has a High Domain Authority

Domain Authority (DA) is a metric that is used to measure the quality of a website. It ranges from 0 to 100, with higher numbers indicating a more authoritative website.

A high DA score is an indication that the linking website is popular and well-respected. Therefore, a link from such a website will be beneficial to your own website.

You can check the DA of any website using Moz’s free tool, Open Site Explorer.

Just because a site has a high Domain Authority, however, doesn’t mean that every link from that site will be good. You should still make sure that the other factors we’ve discussed are present before considering a link to be high-quality.

Bad Links: Warning Signs

Now that we’ve gone over some of the signs of a good link, let’s take a look at some of the warning signs of a bad link.

Sign #1: The Link is from a Spammy Website

You should avoid links from websites that are full of spam. These websites typically have little to no content and are filled with nothing but advertising. They also often have low DA scores.

Links from these types of websites can actually hurt your ranking on search engines, so it’s best to avoid them altogether.

If you’re not sure whether or not a website is spammy, you can use Moz’s free tool, Open Site Explorer, to check its DA score. If the website has a DA score below 20, then it’s probably best to avoid it.

Sign #2: The Website Has Few Visitors

Another warning sign of a bad link is a website with few visitors. This could be an indication that the website is new or not very popular.

Links from these types of websites are not as valuable as links from more established websites. Therefore, you should only get links from websites that have a good amount of traffic.

You can use Alexa’s free tools to check the traffic of any website. Ideally, only target websites that have at least a few thousand visitors per month.

Sign #3: Broken Links

Finally, you want to ensure that you remove any broken backlinks and check that all your current backlinks are functional. Backlinks can break for a number of reasons, such as changes made to the linking website or issues with your own website.

If you have too many broken backlinks, it can hurt your ranking on search engines, according to Ahrefs. As such, you should regularly check for broken links and remove them as soon as possible.

Need Good Links for Your Website?

You now know the signs of a good link, and we have known it for years! When it comes to link building, leave it to the experts. The team at GetBacklinks has a wealth of experience and would be more than happy to help get your website ranking higher on search engines.

If you’re interested in learning more about our link-building services, please contact us today! We would be happy to discuss your specific needs and see how we can help you achieve your desired results.