Backlink Tier - The Hierarchy of Backlinks That Scale Your SEO Campaign
Backlink tier refers the hierarchy of links you create to expand your SEO campaign. Each level adds a layer of protection from Google harassing you with penalties.
Tiered link building requires lots of time and effort to make sure that everything is right. That's because Google takes weeks to find new backlinks and evaluate their quality on per-link basis.
First-Tier Links
These links must be of high quality and dofollow from trusted websites. These are referred to as Tier 1 backlinks and act as the foundation of your link building strategy. They vouch for your web page, thus giving it the authority to rank well in search results pages. For example, if your blog post is published on HubSpot and has an tier one link to SearchEngineLand's compilation of Link Building Statistics, then SearchEngineLand's ranking on the internet would get an upswing from the link equity passed down by HubSpot.
The second tier could be more diverse and contain low-quality backlinks like spammy forum posts or bookmark sites with low value and directories. The main objective with Tier 2 is to produce high-quality content that will link to your first tier links. This is because content that is good will enhance the article in which it resides and won't be able to distinguish itself as something that is added to SEO reasons.
To build an effective tiered link building campaign you'll need to put your money in creating high-quality content and using tools such as RankerX or GSA. However the time and expense involved in manually executing the tiered link building process can be worth it terms of the ranking benefits that come from having a well-organized backlink pyramid.
Second-Tier Links
Tiered link building is designed to funnel users through external pages before bringing them to your site. To achieve this it is essential to select second-tier backlink sources that are relevant to your industry and site. Guest blog posts are more effective for this purpose than account profiles because they offer valuable content that users will want to consume.
In general, avoid using tier 2 links on forums or other sites that aren't of high-quality. Use high-quality pages instead of articles from industry or guest posts. These links will look more natural and will have greater impact on your search engine rankings. In addition they're more likely be recognized by Google as having passed link equity, which could boost their value in SERPs.
If tiered linkbuilding are planning to build tier two links with the intent of improving your SEO rankings, you need to be aware of the difficulties to acquire these types of high-quality backlinks on your own. It takes months to solicit guest blog posts from first-tier publications, and even longer to wait for them to be published. It can also take weeks to see results when it's time to create new traffic and onsite converts.
Many SEOs make use of automated tools to create second-tier backlinks. This approach could be in violation of Google's Webmaster Guidelines and lead to a penalization.
Third-tier Links
The volume of links at this level is staggering and may even be borderline spammy. They are posted on social media platforms, as well as user-generated content sites such as Quora. They aid in the indexing of tier two links but don't pass any link equity to the resource being promoted. Typically, they are nofollow links. At the moment, marketers are more focused on quantity than quality. They make use of tools to post numerous links on forums, in the comments section of articles and blog posts, in directories, and other similar places. In this instance tiered link building is a gray area and infringes Google’s webmaster guidelines.
Link-building campaigns, which are classified as require a significant amount of effort and time to be successful. Google may take months or even days to index an backlink. It can take weeks or months for an SEO impact to be evident. Therefore, marketers should be patient and follow a well-thought-out content strategy.
In addition marketers should be cautious about using numerous automation tools for this tier of linking. These tools can break the rules of search engine optimization and could lead to penalties. It is preferential to select the links manually and publish them on relevant donor websites rather than using automated services like GSA or RankerX. This will stop the search engine from penalizing a promotion by removing links of poor quality.
Fourth-Tier Links
Tiered link building is still an effective method of improving the rankings of websites. Since Google has been making major efforts to eradicate "black-hat" SEO techniques, tiered link building methods have been slowed down.
This is because they are considered to be gray-hat in the SEO world and can be penalized if used artificially. Tiered links are backlinks built on various levels of a pyramid. These backlinks are mostly used to boost a resource's ranking in search engine results. This means that the promoted page will be more prominent than its competitors and get more organic traffic.
The quality of backlinks in this tier goes the plunge and are usually nofollow. Additionally this tier could consist of low-quality social directories, profiles of media and article networks. These links can be created naturally or using strategic automation tools. However they must be diverse in terms of niches, domains and their relevance.
These backlinks, in addition to being low-quality and not followable could also create problems if they aren't diversified enough. This is because Google has a sophisticated group of hounds that are constantly on the lookout for patterns in backlink profiles as well as techniques. If they are found, it can lead to a penalty not only for the link-building team but also for its customers.