Is Link Building Still Relevant in 2024
Google Algorithm Data Leak and Top-Ranking Factors
In other hot news, someone got their hands on a large volume of documents that reveal how Google search is using or has used clicks, links, content and chrome data to determine rankings. Read More here: https://searchengineland.com/google-search-document-leak-ranking-442617
What we need to know:
Links STILL matter. Shocking, I know. Links of diversity and relevance remain key, the documents show. And PageRank is still very much alive within Google’s ranking features. PageRank for a website’s homepage is considered.
What it did reveal is the complexity of the algorithm with 2,596 ranking features modules with 14,014 attributes.
We always refer to the annual Top 200 Ranking Factors, some proven, some controversial and some nerd speculation or fortune telling. It’s a great read for everyone working in SEO. Check it out – https://backlinko.com/google-ranking-factors
Top 5 Backlinking Factors to Consider –
1. Linking Domain Age: Backlinks from aged domains may be more powerful than from new domains.
2. Number of Linking Root Domains: The number of referring domains is one of the most important ranking factors in Google’s algorithm
3. Authority of Linking Page: The authority (PageRank) of the referring page has been an extremely important ranking factor since Google’s early days and still is.
4. Diversity of Link Types: Having an unnaturally large percentage of your links coming from a single source (ie. forum profiles, blog comments) may be a sign of webspam. On the other hand, links from diverse sources is a sign of a natural link profile.
5. Contextual Links: Links embedded inside a page’s content are considered more powerful than links on an empty page or found elsewhere on the page.
SEO Google June 2024 New Spam Update
In March Google Released a spam update which was designed to reduce 40% of unhelpful content showing in search results. In June an update to this was also released.
These updates are targeting low quality and unoriginal content.
Google said this update has refined how it understands which webpages are “unhelpful, have a poor user experience or feel like they were created for search engines instead of people.” This “could include sites created primarily to match very specific search queries,” Google added.