According to a recent report, 90% of people don’t go past the first page of search results when looking for something. This means that if you don’t rank on the first page of the search engine, you are likely to miss a significant portion of your target audience. Thankfully, with quality backlinks, Google can assume your site is trustworthy and rank it higher in search results.
Besides boosting the website’s authority, high-quality backlinks can help drive traffic and increase revenue. Despite this, over 55% of websites don’t use any backlinks at all, and of those that do, 30% have less than 3 links.
Since getting backlinks from Google isn’t the only factor, you’ll want to focus on how you can move to Google’s first page using various variables.With Google’s ultimate goal being to provide the best search experience, it must match the highest quality results that originate from reputable and trustworthy sites. So, how many backlinks do I need to rank in Google?
In this article, we delve deep into this question, discussing how to set effective and realistic goals for adding backlinks to your site. Continue reading to learn more:
So How Many Backlinks Should A Website Have?
How many backlinks should a website have is a rule of thumb that depends on several factors. However, a natural website should typically have 0 to 100 backlinks to each individual web page and 40 to 50 backlinks to the homepage for it to be effective for SEO. Too few backlinks mean Google’s robot crawlers won’t boost your pages in search engine results. Also known as incoming or inbound links, backlinks are created when one website links to another to attract traffic.
Therefore, the number of backlinks you need for your website depends on factors such as:
- Primary keyword complexity.
- Domain rating.
- Domain authority.
- The quality of your content.
For instance, if you have high-quality content for a specific target audience, you may only need 5-10 high-quality backlinks to rank well on Google. However, if your keyword difficulty is high, you may require an increasing number of backlinks. According to Ahrefs, if you want to rank for a keyword with an 86 KD, you need links from 524 websites.
While having many backlinks is essential, it’s best to focus on quality. This means it’s better to have two DR70+ websites linking to one of your web pages than 30-40 DR10 websites. This is because backlinks from sites with DR10 or DR20 websites are considered low quality.
This way, you will position your website as authoritative and trustworthy. To achieve this, strategies such as guest posting, blogger outreach, and social media marketing, among others, must be applied. In fact, SEO experts believe that including backlinks is the third most important factor for search optimization.
How Does the Difficulty of SEO Keywords Affect Search Engine Rankings?
Did you know that the chances of your website rising to the top of the search engine are usually determined by the difficulty of the SEO keywords you intend to use? Usually measured by the number of backlinks you need to acquire, keyword difficulty can help you distinguish between super-competitive keywords and low-competition keywords.
For example, if you are targeting keyword A with an SEO difficulty of 20, you will likely include 25 – 50 backlinks for your site to rank. But if you are aiming to rank keyword B with a difficulty of 50, you might need more than 50-100 relevant backlinks. To check out keyword difficulty, you just need to go to Ahrefs and search for the specific keyword.
The higher the keyword difficulty, the more backlinks you need to rank. However, since these are not set-in-stone rules, you should not depend on only one metric to rank your website. Content strategy, On-page optimization, and technical SEO are critical factors to consider if you want to create a website that appeals to users and gets ranked.
How Does Your Website’s Domain Rating Affect Its Google Rankings?
Domain rating (DR) is another significant factor affecting your website rank. It measures your site’s backlink profile on a 100-point scale and is among the top five priorities for SEO professionals, according to Data Box Research.
While domain rating and domain authority are similar, domain authority is a predictive metric from Moz, while domain rating is Ahrefs’ proprietary ranking metric. For instance, if website A with a DR of 70 targets a specific keyword and website B with a DR of 20 targets the same keyword, the site with a DR of 70 stands a better chance of ranking on Google.
While a website with a DR of 20 can still outrank one with a DR of 70, this requires using high-quality content and a robust backlink strategy.
What Effect Does Content Quality Have on Your SEO Rankings?
Since Google aims to offer users high-quality and relevant content, it’s best to focus on creating high-quality content for your website. Without creating high-quality content, your DR might increase while your organic traffic remains minimal. Once you start crafting high-quality content, your articles will likely land on the first pages, earning you numerous quality organic links.
Suppose a website has a DR of 70. Now, if the website crafts low-quality content even with high domain authority and numerous backlinks, it’ll face challenges ranking the keyword. On the contrary, if it crafts high-quality content with fewer quality links than your website, Google is likely to place it on the first page. So, it’s essential to pay attention to how your content performs. You can use Google ranking software options to check various metrics and track your efforts quickly.
How to Determine the Perfect Number of Backlinks or How Many Backlinks Do You Need to Rank
Knowing the total number of backlinks your site needs can be daunting as this depends on several factors, such as competition, authority, and the industry. Here are some guidelines to help you know how many backlinks do you need to rank well on search engines.
Analyze the competitors: First, you need to analyze your competitors’ websites to determine the number of quality links they’ve used to rank well in your industry. This way, you’ll know how many backlinks are good.
Check your website’s performance: Use tools such as Google Search Console and Google Analytics to monitor your website and check whether you’ve dropped or improved. If you notice a drop, this could mean your website needs more quality backlinks.
Consider the authority of the websites you intend to link to: Unlike authority sites, links from low-quality sites aren’t valuable. That said, targeting links from authority sites is essential if you want your website to rank on page one of Google.
Instead of quantity, focus on quality: It’s also essential to build a few high-quality links instead of just trying to include multiple links. Remember, a few high-quality links are more effective than many low-quality backlinks.
Stay updated: Since search engine algorithms are constantly changing, it’s essential to stay updated on the recent search engine algorithms and best practices to ensure you have an effective backlink strategy. This can also help you know how many backlinks does a site have.
The ultimate number of backlinks for your website depends on several factors; hence, it is crucial to build high-quality backlinks rather than just including many low-quality backlinks. Generating quality backlinks is, therefore, the way to go.
How Many Backlinks Are Good
While acquiring more backlinks to your website pages can be challenging, it’s not impossible. And you don’t even need to have thousands of backlinks for your page to rank in the top 10 positions on Google. So, how many backlinks to my site do I need to achieve more or how many backlinks are good? Here are some of the best practices to help you achieve this:
- Ensure you have high-quality content that satisfies the users by checking out the main keyword of Google’s top-ranking sites and understanding why it ranks on top.
- Select at least three keywords for which you want to optimize the page and check their search difficulty score.
- Focus on creating high-quality backlinks to boost the website’s overall domain authority.
- After creating content, include at least five contextual internal links with keyword-rich anchor text.
- If possible, link from your homepage as it passes the most internal PageRank value.
- Insert the keywords in the correct HTML locations to allow Google or other search engines to crawl them.
- Leverage social media to improve your backlink strategy. With over 4.2 billion active users worldwide, sharing your content on platforms like Facebook and Twitter can help you get quality backlinks.
Once you’ve done these, you can search for more backlinks to an individual web page. After you’ve optimized the webpage, you may realize that you only need a few backlinks for your page to rank. This can help know how many backlinks are good.
Is 1,000 Backlinks Good, Or How Many Backlinks To My Site?
Is 1,000 backlinks good, how many backlinks to my site do I need ? Since 1,000 backlinks to a website are considered above average, obtaining 100 backlinks from 100 different websites is advisable rather than gaining 1,000 links from the same website. Alongside the quantity, it’s essential to focus on the quality of the backlinks and the context in which they are obtained. If you get backlinks from reputable and high-quality sites related to your niche, you will likely boost your website ranking instead of using low-quality and spammy links.
With backlinks from sites with page authority and high domain authority, you’ll positively impact your website’s ranking and significantly improve your organic traffic. However, if you acquire links from spam sources such as link farms and low-quality directories, you are likely to affect your website’s ranking negatively. Search engines like Google can also penalize you, leading to a lower ranking or even a ban from search results.
Therefore, obtaining high-quality and reputable backlinks from social media, guest blogging, content marketing, and influencer partnerships is essential. Quality should be the overriding factor when it comes to backlinks, as having a few high-quality backlinks is often advised rather than getting many low-quality ones. Following the SEO best practices guidelines is essential to avoid negative impacts on your website’s SEO ranking.
Are Too Many Links Bad or How Many High Quality Backlinks Do I Need
Including many backlinks in a website is wrong because search engines can view it suspiciously, especially if they are from low-quality websites. Unlike high-quality backlinks, low-quality backlinks can lead to your website being penalized or even banned. So how many high quality backlinks do I need?
Well, it’s advisable to organically and gradually build backlinks instead of just buying a large number at once. This way, you can significantly avoid potential issues with search engines and establish yourself as credible and authoritative in the long run.
Avoid building hundreds of backlinks daily using different tools or buying them from the same website. The best thing to do is to research and gradually obtain highly valued links. While building backlinks, focusing on relevance, quality, and user experience is crucial. If you notice any low-quality or suspicious backlinks while monitoring your backlink profile, take the necessary steps to correct this.
You should also understand the proper SEO best practices guidelines if you are looking for long-term success. So, how many backlinks are needed? Well, regardless of the number, getting unique and relevant backlinks from reputable websites is the key to having a reliable and top-ranked website.
How Many Backlinks Needed for Page Rank in 1 Position?
Many site owners are always anxious over how many backlinks needed for page rank in 1 position on search engines. There is no absolute answer for this question.
Although acquiring more high-quality backlinks can help you rank well, it’s very important to focus on your target audience and create high-quality content. Put effort into your content strategy and consider your user base. By balancing different strategies, you can maximize the returns from your online marketing strategy.
It would help if you also avoided including many low-quality sources. Remember, it’s also about trying to see what works for your website so you can double-improve your efforts and develop an excellent resource that people will want to link to.
Conclusion
As you’ve seen, the number of backlinks you need to rank in Google largely depends on factors such as page authority, domain authority, keyword difficulty, internal links, and more. The number of backlinks needed also ranges from one project to another. However, backlinks should not be the only metrics to improve a site’s performance. Besides backlinks, you can achieve good search results by engaging in other on-page and off-page SEO strategies.
