Today, I want to talk about link velocity.
This is a question that I get about a million times a week.
Generally, people want to know one of two things:
– How many links must I build to rank my site, or beat out the competition?
– How many links of a certain type can I build with it still seeming natural?
So, in this guide, I want to cover exactly what to consider when planning for link velocity.
The first thing I think about when building links is not a ‘high’ or ‘low’ number of links to build.
It’s always one thing: consistency.
Let me explain.
It’s really important that if a link-building campaign starts with a certain number of links that this can be maintained.
Every month, the goal should be to build this many links.
If the strategy is lessen the number links, it’s also important to tone this down – or taper off – slowly and consistently, too.
As I always mention, this is why planning out a site or business is so crucial.
With a strategy in place, there is a tangible roadmap of exactly how many links need to be built over a certain period – which can then be approached consistently and methodically.
Pro Tip: if you’re unsure how many links you need, I suggest you check out my guide on how many links you need to get a better idea.
Now, back to the plan in action.
A competitor analysis has been done and you know how many links are needed to rank your site.
Right now, the site that you’re working on has 0 zero links – but, you’re looking to get 200 links.
At this point, here are some important questions to ask:
- 1. How fast do you want to beat the competition?
- 2. How many links are you going to be building in order to do this?
- 3. How are you going to divide that number of links up over that period?
Let’s say, for example, that the timeline was about 6 months.
Note: I’ll add that 6 months to beat out a site is a bit unrealistic, but this is just a hypothetical example.
Building 200 links over a period of 6 months, it’s clear that you’re going to need about 30 links a month. This might seem like a lot of links to build, but if it’s done consistently over a period of 6 months – it easily becomes a feasible and manageable task.
Let’s break it down like this:
- • Month 1: Start low with 20 links to introduce the link-building campaign.
- • Month 2: This month, introduce the peak of 35 links.
- • Month 3 – 5: Carry the peak of 35 links per month to maintain velocity.
- • Month 6: Begin to slow the momentum with 20 links this month.
- • Month 7: Taper off the campaign by building 10 links this month.
- • Month 8: Finish the link building campaign with only 5 links this month.
While we can never know for sure if this is exactly what Google looks at, it’s obvious that this approach is a far more natural and organic approach to link-building.
If you had to consider a PR campaign or breaking news story that happened out there in the wild, it would probably follow a similar linking velocity to that described above.
If you need proof, let’s look at a more concrete example with PUBG, formerly known as www.playbattlegrounds.com.
From the 16th of March to April 2017, hundreds of links were built.
Most importantly, the velocity of this link-building was maintained and consistent.
Then, a 301-redirect was put in place to www.pubg.com.
Again, even though a large number of links were introduced – the velocity of link-building was steady and consistent after this period.
What’s the main takeaway here?
Consistency.
You can build a 1000 links if you want to – but, make sure that you build this every month.
When you really think about it, it’s completely natural for huge sites or organisations to get a massive influx of links following a successful PR campaign or news story.
But, at the same time, that velocity will also naturally taper off as this story falls outside of the public-eye and less people talk about it.
What Google doesn’t want to see is a brand-new site getting 200 links in one month – and, then nothing else happens.
This is likely to trigger some sort of flag, or result in slower rankings than usual.
Or, this might actually work – but, it won’t work as well if the approach was slow and steady.
The point I want to make is this:
Create a plan based on some solid, real-life research and put the motions in place to achieve that.
Towards the end of this link-building campaign, remember to taper off your incoming links.
This will signal to Google that you had a period of interest in site, were linked to for good reason and the chatter around that naturally fell away – no harm, no foul.
That authority will remain, and your site will start to rank for the respective keywords associated with the link-building campaign.
That’s if you built your links the right way – that is, the Get Me Links way 😉
To summarise, consider the following easy-to-remember three points:
- • Figure out what keywords the site needs to rank for.
- • Get an idea of what competition is like and the links needed.
- • Create a plan that uses a consistent link-building approach with a taper at the end.
And, if you unsure of what type of links to build – make sure to reach out to the team at Get Me Links.
Our years of expertise have helped ranked multiple sites, consistently and profitably – and we’d be willing to help you strategize around your next link order to get the most bang for your buck.
