Everyone wants to know the secret sauce for Google’s top ranking. However, the internet is awash with conflicting SEO information, making it challenging to find effective backlink strategies. As backlinks are a vital SEO component, this blog aims to tackle the burning question of how many backlinks do I need to rank on page one. Unfortunately, there’s no one-size-fits-all answer, as the number of backlinks required depends on several modifiable factors. So, if you’re curious about how many backlinks you need to rank on page one, read below!
- Homepage Branding
Your website’s homepage is the beating heart of your online presence. Effective homepage SEO is crucial to establishing a solid foundation to land you on page one of search results. However, refrain from building brand trust on your homepage to avoid harming your SEO efforts, leaving you frustrated and disappointed.
- Getting Specific
Specific niches are inherently more competitive than others. The SEO industry, for instance, is brimming with seasoned practitioners who possess the know-how to secure top Google rankings. As a result, ranking in the SEO niche is among the most arduous tasks in the digital landscape. In contrast, niches like florists or pet products are relatively less competitive. Consequently, the backlinks required to rank in these niches will differ significantly from those needed in the fiercely competitive SEO sector. By comprehending the competitiveness of their respective niches, businesses can estimate the number of backlinks they need, with more competitive niches requiring a more significant number of backlinks.
- Niche Domination
Creating a highly niche-specific website is one of the most effective ways to secure rankings with up to 70% fewer links than your competitors. Such a website focuses on only one specific topic, covering it deeply. For instance, while a general home improvement website may cover various topics, a website solely dedicated to plumbing can achieve better rankings for plumbing-related key phrases with significantly fewer links. The degree of niche specialization is limitless.
- Are You a Power Page or Sub-Page?
A power page is a content-rich page on your website that is typically non-promotional and provides in-depth solutions to a specific problem for your target audience. It is the pinnacle of your content and usually contains over 2,000 words of fantastic information.
It is essential to differentiate between a regular sub-page and a power page because it can sustain a high volume of backlinks without appearing unnatural. However, not every page can be a power page, and it’s essential, to be honest about which pages fit this category.
For instance, having 100 backlinks to your plumbing services page would be considered unnatural by Google and can harm your website’s ranking. But, on the other hand, if you have a 3,000-word blog post that teaches your audience how to fix their water heater, it could naturally accumulate 100 backlinks.
Businesses with sub-pages can still rank them by first building backlinks to their homepage and power pages. Then, they can internally link the sub-pages from the power pages, allowing the SEO juice to flow naturally.
- Creating an Authentic Backlink Profile
It’s crucial to use branded anchors for most of your homepage links and to acquire backlinks from legitimate websites (not spammy PBNs). However, what about your power pages? Some businesses make the mistake of aggressively building exact match anchor backlinks to rank for a specific keyword. However, this approach can backfire. Google expects to see at most 10% of backlinks with the exact match anchors in a top-ranked backlink profile. So, what should you use instead? Your backlink profile should consist of a combination of natural, blended, and exact match anchors. Our monthly SEO packages can assist you in maintaining a balanced and natural backlink profile.
Is It Necessary To Build Backlinks Specifically To Your Homepage?
To establish brand recognition with Google, acquiring branded anchor backlinks to your homepage is crucial. You can learn about the significance of this here. With Google acknowledging your business as a legitimate brand, your website pages will rank well. But how many links are needed per day to rank? This varies depending on your niche. Nevertheless, it is essential to build backlinks to your homepage consistently.
To determine the number of backlinks
You need a quick and effective method for your inner pages: search for the key phrase you want to rank for on Google. Then, analyse the top 10 results and examine their homepage backlinks to evaluate their brand authority. Also, explore the backlinks to the specific page that is currently ranking. Finally, to better understand how many backlinks you need, look at the outliers in the top 10 results. This will give you a fair idea of the type and amount of backlinks necessary for your inner pages to rank well.
Balancing Brand Authority, Content, and Backlinks
Achieving a high rank in search engine results can be challenging, but it’s possible to succeed with the right combination of tactics. There are three key factors that can help you achieve SEO success: building trust with your brand on your homepage, creating high-quality content on your power pages to outperform your competitors, and building high-quality backlinks to support that content. Implementing one or two of these techniques can lead to success with SEO. However, a combination of all three can lead to owning the Google rankings.
How Many Backlinks Should be Aimed Per Day
A prevailing myth in link-building is that building too many backlinks in a single day can lead to a penalty from Google. However, this notion is false. As long as the backlinks originate from high-quality websites and your anchor text profile appears natural, you can aim for as many links as you wish daily. For example, consider a scenario where you create a highly viral blog post about floral arrangements that attract links from all over the floral community. Would this be deemed unnatural? Certainly not. However, if this happened naturally, Google would anticipate a special appearance for the anchor text profile.
