How do you see the results of backlinks?

[djbaxter]

I have a content writer who writes one blog per week for me. I pay the backlink guy to post a short description of one of the 4 blogs on the 20 high DA sites linking back to my blog page, similar to what I do on my GMB posts. He writes the description somewhere on high DA sites like Buzzfeed, Adobe forums e.t.c.

Virtually all forums use nofollow for external links and links from forums in general don't carry a lot of weight as backlinks.

And I'm not sure why you would expect links from Buzzfeed, nofollow or not, to have any relevance to the PC service industry or for an electrician.

If your backlinks are not content relevant to your site and your business, you are really wasting your time.

Additionally, going back to the original Google patents, the PageRank value of any incoming link is a function not only of the PageRank of the origin page but also of the total number of links on that page. If the origin page has, say, a PageRank value of 5 and 100 links on that page (including internal navigation links), the amount of PageRank that can be passed to you is

5 * (.85) / 100 = 0.04

where (.85) is an estimate of the dampening factor for total PR than can be passed.

And finally, DA doesn't exist.

You really need to be focusing on content relevance as the defining criterion for differentiating a link that might help from one that almost certainly won't.

 

[Cherie Dickey]

It doesn't sound like a blatant violation of Google's standards anymore, so that's good. That's what I was mostly worried about.

To be honest, I could not recommend any specifics as far as what you should be focusing on for your site. That would require an audit of your site, your competition, your industry, your goals... Every situation is unique.

 

[mikepcservice]

I am mainly seeking good backlinking options

 

[keyserholiday]

There was a company I won’t name that came out with a tool of how likely you are to rank for a keyword and the highest position you could get for any given keyword. I went full black hat and disproved it with links and a crappy page of content. There is more to SEO than links, meta data, schema, page speed, content, and images. There is a lot more value getting BBB, Chamber and credible links than most links.

Google has stated that even they can’t we and index all links and neither can these link monitoring services, Ahref, Majestic, Moz, etc...

 

[CarrieHill]

Building links is definitely an art form - and worrying about "High DA sites" is likely going to net you not much in the long run.

Building a brand, getting involved in your community (be it a brand community or a local community), sponsoring events, hosting events, building reviews for your own site and at 3rd party sites can do much more for your brand and traffic.

Look at the sites that rank in the top 20-30 for your top keyword phrases, are they directories or listing sites where you can improve your listing? Can you add in your phone number or brand name to the description so its visible in the SERPs?

I speculate that the "high DA sites" your guy is posting to is a blog comment scheme, which does not work. Does he provide you proof of where he posted and what URLs that link lives on? If it's netting you anything you should see referral traffic. Ranking boosts from links on "high DA sites" are probably pretty negligible if they are not ALSO sites that can bring in traffic and are very relevant to your niche/geo.

 

[Wirenut]

There is more to SEO than links, meta data, schema, page speed, content, and images. There is a lot more value getting BBB, Chamber and credible links than most links.

I’m curious about BBB and Chamber of Commerce links. You say that they are credible links, but both of them are paid-for links. The only thing I have to do to get a link on my local Chamber of Commerce website is pay them $350. And with BBB I believe I just have to pay for the accreditation package to get a do-follow link.

It seems like typical link purchasing.

 

[keyserholiday]

The advantages of registering with the local chamber of commerce is you get to network with other local businesses. You get a better sense of the community and can make great connections. I recommend the BBB because of the business doesn’t do it, a consumer can file a complaint and the BBB will create a profile with what ever information that they can dig up. A lot of times it’s wrong information, ie a bad telephone number. No follow links are just as great for SEO as follow links in my opinion. I once ranked a local website with all no follow links.
I also see how business owners get too hyper focused on rankings and overlook referral traffic or word of mouth. There is so much more than goes into being a business and brand than Google rankings.

 

[djbaxter]

Totally agree, especially when it comes to local small businesses. The more you involve your business in the community, the better. You cannot overestimate the value of goodwill that accrues from being involved in volunteer and charity activities in small rural communities especially.

 

[Wirenut]

I see. I thought you were talking solely about links from BBB and the chamber of commerce helping SEO.

 

[Elpak]

Try ahrefs, create an account and monitor the parameters of your site. Add new links and new content, experiment and within 6-8 months many things will be clear about SEO. You make the best conclusions from your own mistakes