Links are immensely important for SEO and make up the lion's share of "off-site SEO" (also called "off-page SEO"). Characteristics of a site's internal and external links can greatly influence its rankings within search engine results pages (SERPs).
Are you a professional SEO? Read our professional's guide to link building and link earning tactics.
Looking to learn about links, link building, link analysis, or off-site SEO? This page is your home base for resources created for all skill levels.
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Domains
Domain names are the unique, human-readable Internet addresses of websites. Learn about the different types of domains and SEO best practices for optimizing domains in this article.
URLs
A URL (Uniform Resource Locator), more commonly known as a "web address", specifies the location of a resource (such as a web page) on the internet. Learn how URLs work and why they matter in this article.
Link Relevance vs. Content Relevance in Link Building
Relevance is talked about a lot in the context of link building, yet none of us know exactly how Google measures it. When it comes to link building, and specifically the part that relevance plays, the potential answers are a lot more complex than we think. Let’s start by splitting out link relevance and content relevance.
In Defense of Spam Score and the Concept of a Toxic Link
Google has suggested for a while now that bad links won’t have a negative impact on your site. Instead, the algorithm will supposedly be smart enough to withhold any positive benefit from such a link. Tom responds by discussing the benefits of tracking a metric like Spam Score.
Level-Up Your Search Strategy with the Professional’s Guide to SEO
Over 14 million people have cut their SEO teeth on our Beginner's Guide to SEO, learning the ins and outs of search engine optimization from scratch. Now, for the first time, we're introducing the next-step resource to take you from practicing SEO to preaching it.
Links and Brand as Ranking Factors: 2021 Correlation Study
Do links or brand authority truly correlate with ranking on the SERPs? This study of the first 20 organic results for every MozCast keyword suggests that yes, they do, but with some important considerations.
The Ultimate Guide to Digital PR
The team at Go Fish Digital shares their strategies for building links through digital PR.
Internal Linking for Mobile-First & Mobile-Only Indexing
Internal linking is a vital SEO tactic, and usually the easiest way to build a page’s authority. But is Google still valuing your links in its mobile-first index?
How to Get Results from Broken Link Building
A broken link building campaign will be effective if you approach it the right way. Otherwise, you’ll just be wasting time and resources. In this post, AbdulGaniy shows you the exact process you can use to get results with broken link building.
How to Use Surveys to Tap into Trending Conversations (and Build Links)
Most brands aren’t operating full newsrooms and don’t have the capacity to cover breaking news, but there are still ways to participate in relevant, newsworthy conversations — and surveys are a great option. See how you can utilize surveys to add value to conversations, and earn the interest of writers at top publications.
6 Steps to Executing an Efficient SEO Clean-Up Strategy
In this article, learn how to successfully execute an SEO clean-up strategy to ensure your site aligns with your business goals, keeps you in Google’s good books, and yields an excellent user experience for visitors and customers.
Detecting Link Manipulation and Spam with Domain Authority
You've done your homework, dotted all your i's and crossed all your t's, but have you really fooled Google with your link building campaign? Take a look at some methods we're exploring to root out link manipulation.
How Mobile-First Indexing Disrupts the Link Graph
Google is moving forward with its mobile-first index — how might it affect your site and the link graph as a whole? It turns out the mobile web is very different from the one we have come to know.
Rankings Correlation Study: Domain Authority vs. Branded Search Volume
Is branded search volume as important as link metrics when it comes to ranking? Check out the results of this correlations study and explore how these factors might influence the SERPs.
SEO Rankings Drop: A Step-by-Step Guide to Recovery
There are hundreds of things that could cause your Google organic rankings to drop. Follow this handy guide to figure out what went wrong, and what you can do about it.
5 Takeaways from Earning Links in 130 Countries
What can you do if link building opportunities are scarce in your country? Kerry Jones shares five solutions learned from building links in over 130 different countries.
How Long Do Backlinks Take to Show Effect?
The eternal question: How much time does it take for a link to affect rankings? Kristina Kledzik breaks out the entire process from start to finish.
15 SEO Best Practices for Structuring URLs
URL BEST PRACTICES - It's been a long time since we covered one of the most fundamental building blocks of SEO--the structure of domain names and URLs--and I think it's high time to revisit.
Link Audit Guide for Effective Link Removals & Risk Mitigation
This step-by-step guide aims to help users with the link auditing process relying on own judgment, without blindly relying on automation. Because links are still a very important ranking factor, link audits should be carried out by experienced link auditors rather than third party automated services. A flawed link audit can have detrimental implications.
How Many Links Per Page Is Too Many?
There's a long-standing debate in SEO about the maximum number of links that you should place on any given page. If you use the SEOmoz PRO Campaign Manager, you may have seen a warning that looks something like this:[image 1]Digging deeper into the "Too Many On-Page Links" warning, you'll see the message:You should avoid having too many (roughly defined a...
The Two-Part SEO Ranking Model: Let's Make SEO Simple
It may be tempting to look for an easy answer when it comes to ranking, but both research and Google itself say links and content are the biggest factors involved. Would your SEO improve if you focused with greater effort on a simplified two-factor algorithm?
Optimizing for Accessibility + SEO: Formatting & Link Overlaps
Do you know the overlaps between SEO and accessibility? If you’re optimizing for search engines, you’re also affecting how people using assistive technologies experience your site. Let's examine the effects and best practices for keyword usage, text formatting, and links.
How to Build Links to Your Blog - A Case Study
After a month or so of development, my site was finally ready and I wanted to start thinking about how to get some traffic going on the website. Whilst paid advertising and social media were a huge part of the strategy, I knew that appearing in the search engines for a wide selection of long-tail phrases was going to be instrumental to the blog's success. This is when I began developing my link building strategy and, after trialing out some very successful approaches, I've decided to now share my link building tactics with you all.
The Broken Link Building Bible
[Broken Link Building] The broken link building strategy is one of the most effective, white-hat SEO link building strategies ever. Learn exactly how broken link building works and how to use it in your SEO playbook.
12 Things That Will Kill Your Blog Post Every Time
When you look around at successful blogs -- whatever industry or topic -- there are several undeniable basics to success. And it starts with blog posts that kill it…rather than get killed. But what kills a blog post? Here’s a list of 12 things. Ignore them and you will have a tough time being successful.
8 Can't-Miss Off-Page SEO Strategies to Build Your Online Reputation
Earn brand mentions, rankings, traffic to your site, and conversions using these off-page SEO strategies: building your brand, leveraging social media, playing around with content types, and more.
The Best Types of Content for Local Businesses: Building Geo-Topical Authority
What's the best way to show local searchers that you're an authority in your niche? You guessed it — through your content. But that can be a pretty vague and overwhelming term; what are some actual ways to make a difference, conversions-wise? Miriam Ellis explains.
Constant Content: The Silver Bullet for Failing Content Marketing Strategy
The State of Content Marketing Survey told us that 92% of marketers don't have a clear plan for content marketing. The only answer: the constant content approach.
Do We Still Need to Disavow in the Era of Penguin 4.0?
Should we still be using the disavow tool? Six months after Penguin 4.0's long-awaited rollout, Marie Haynes tackles the eternal question, how to deal with link spam going forward, and whether or not you should reavow any currently disavowed links.
Google Algorithmic Penalties Still Happen, Post-Penguin 4.0
Penguin penalties might be a thing of the past, but link-based algorithmic penalties still exist in Google.
5 Steps to Content Marketing Success
Content marketing isn't easy when it's done right, but when you have a solid process in place, you've got a much better chance of hitting a home run. Paddy Moogan takes us through his own 5-step process for making sure your content marketing campaign starts off right.
Illustrated Guide to Advanced On-Page Topic Targeting for SEO
The concepts of advanced on-page SEO are dizzying: LDA, co-occurrence, and entity salience. The question is "How can I easily incorporate these techniques into my content for higher rankings?" The truth is, you can create optimized pages that rank well without understanding complex algorithms.
The Hidden Power of Nofollow Links
For those of us who are trying to earn links for our clients, receiving a nofollow link can feel like a slap in the face. But these links have hidden powers that make them just as important as followed ones. Here's why nofollow links are more powerful than you might think.
12 Scalable Link-Building Tactics
Through all the debates about link-building and link-earning, one thing is clear: High-quality links are still an essential part of any SEO strategy. This post offers 12 of today's most effective and scalable tactics to build your link portfolio.
How to Completely Ruin (or Save) Your Website with Redirects
Have you ever redirected a page hoping to see a boost in rankings, but nothing happened? Or worse, traffic actually went down? When done right, 301 redirects have awesome power to clean up messy architecture, solve outdated content problems, and improve user experience — all while preserving link equity and your ranking power. When done wrong, the results are often disastrous.
Disavowed: Secrets of Google's Most Mysterious Tool
To many webmasters, Google’s Disavow Tool seems a lifesaver. If you’ve suffered a Google penalty or been plagued by shady link building, simply upload a file of backlinks you want to disavow, and BOOM - you’re back in good graces. Or, more than likely, nothing at all. To better understand, I used the tool myself to disavow 1000s of links, and talked with dozens of SEOs who used it in attempts to recover from Google penalties.