1. One of the Most Important Ranking Factors in SEO

Every year, researchers at Moz.com and SearchEngineMetrics.com have published their own list of the most important search engine ranking factors.  These factors are based on both empirical data (using the correlation co-efficient) and interviews with leading SEOs.

And each year, the number of links a website has is one of the most important factors in search engine rankings.  The fact is, analyzing backlinks is one of the most important ways that search engines are able to evaluate the authority, relevance and trustworthiness of a webpage.  In essence, search engines still view links to your site as a “vote”.

2. Links and Referrals are the Second Highest Source of Website Traffic

After search, referral traffic and links are the biggest traffic source for websites across different industries.  The facts are clear: the internet is built on links and the more high quality links you have, the more referral visitors you’ll receive.
After analyzing on my own sites and working closely with a number of clients, we constantly see referral traffic through links as the 2nd most important traffic source.  Links with the highest traffic flows tend to be from popular articles, forums and communities and special offers.

3. Authority Links Reduce the Chances of your Website getting penalized

Anyone who works closely in the SEO-industry will be aware of the multitude of algorithmic updates, penalties and filters Google released in the last two years alone.  In fact, a survey conducted by Barry Shwartz at SERoundtable.com showed that no less than sixty percent of SEOs were impacted by Google’s infamous Penguin update.

The only respite for webmasters is that if you build enough authority links from relevant websites it will reduce the chances of you getting negatively impacted by one of these updates (either deservingly or through collateral).

4. Links are Still Important in Local Search Ranking Factors Too

Even in the local search engine ranking factors at Moz.com, links play a very important role.  According to this survey, which was based on 100s of SEOs opinions, links are the 4th most important factor (14%) in local search engine rankings. 

5. A Continuous Stream of Links Shows that your Site is Still Relevant in an Age of “Freshness”

In a process that started in 2011, Google has continued its efforts to promote “fresher” search results.  This means promoting content that is new, covers recent events and is more relevant to today. 

In 2011, this was said to impact 35 per cent of searches, while in 2013 many industry analysts have seen it promote freshness on a much wider scale, arguably one that is being gamed by affiliates and spammers.

Personally, I believe that a great signal for search engines to measure fresh content is whether a website or individual page earns a continuous stream of fresh links over time.  If a website continues to receive new links over time than it’s likely to be up to date, relevant and still valuable to the reader.

 

By Adam Grunwerg, Managing Director of Searchable Marketing. 

 

 

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