Whether you are new to trying to use link building to improve your website’s authority or you are just interested in researching the process to see if it can help you in the future, there are many link building myths that can cause confusion.

As with any myth, link building myths began because a little bit of knowledge can be a confusing thing.

If you are at the beginning of your research process, we recommend you read the below before going any further. However, if you have already begun to build links to other sites or have found all of the information you thought you needed, we are still here to help.

Below, we have included all of the common link building myths and misconceptions and then provided the truth or where that myth originated from.

The information we have gathered should help you to work effectively within link building processes to help improve your website views, search engine rankings, and domain authority.

All Links on a Page Pass Equal Ranking Value

Google will dispel this myth very quickly as there are a number of reasons why one link would have more value than another on the same webpage.

To put it another way, the most important ranking factor when looking at ranking is how likely a link is to be clicked when a customer is on a webpage.

If you have a page on your site that includes 1,000 lines of text with a link at the top, several links throughout the text, and a link at the bottom, which links do you think a customer is most likely to click?

Will the average person who visits your site wade through all of the text to find the embedded link, or will they use the beginning or end of document links?

Most will use the first or last link they get to according to ranking documents based on customer behavior. Other factors that will affect the passing ranking of a link are the font size and color of the link; if you make a link easier to pick out of the text on a page, it is increasingly likely to be used.

It is also important to consider the anchor text of the page and the text around the link to ensure that it stands out. Whether or not you have used an image link will also impact the value of the link you have built.

The link profile of the links you have built will also be improved by the position on the page, and this will, therefore, improve the ranking of the page it takes you to. This is especially important if you have focussed link building on links internally.

Having a high-value link at the top of your home page will improve the ranking of the page it is linked to.

Image Links Are Bad for SEO

There is no reason that image links used in the right way will be bad for SEO; however, like anything, if used incorrectly, image links can damage your website’s ranking. The image alt text should be natural and not just out-of-context anchor text full of keywords to manipulate the ranking of the link.

Google attempted to push websites to use text links rather than images as it was easier for the text to be read. However, as AI has improved, reading images has become easier for programs to do, and therefore, links embedded within images are more easily analyzed for ranking purposes.

Link Quality Can Be Defined by DA or PA

Another very common myth is that the quality of any link built can be measured by the amount of domain authority (DA) or page authority (PA) that it adds. When looking at this statement, we tried to find out how search engines define link quality, and we could not get a clear definition.

DA and PA are measurements that companies use to compare one site to another to give an idea of the quality of the links being built. DA and PA are not ranking factors and do not show how search engines will rank the links you have built.

Websites that claim to track PA or DA are tracking only one variable that makes up a company’s link building efforts. Although this does not mean that analyzing DA or PA is ineffective as part of a link building strategy, it does mean that there is no specific way to quantify DA or PA and how sites link pages.

It is important that you do not dismiss building high-quality links, but also that you should not ignore other ways to improve your search engine rankings.

All Links Should Be Nofollow

When setting up your website, it is important to have a mix of nofollow links and dofollow links. Spam websites will often be made up only of dofollow links, and as a result, the two types of links are afforded different values.

If your entire website was made up of nofollow links, then Google would give them no value, and they would not increase the authority of your domain.

If all links online were nofollow links, there would be no way for search engines to rank websites, as every link has the same value for SEO purposes.

You Can Ignore Nofollow Links

Nofollow links are an important part of your page authority and profile, so it is important that you do not ignore them.

You should ensure that you use nofollow links in the right place on your website to give a better DA or PA while not wasting valuable time when creating your site.

Areas of your website where other people can add their own links, such as comment sections or reviews, should be made nofollow.

You can also tag links you wish to keep track of but want to remain nofollow to help you review and analyze your webpage.

Backlinks Are a ‘Top’ Google Ranking Factor

Although it may be within the top three ranking factors, backlinks are by no means the only or the top ranking factor for Google. So many other aspects will impact your ranking, including:

• The usability of your website
• If a website is optimized for mobile use
• The speed of a website
• On-page SEO optimization
• Keyword-rich anchor text used within the pages of your site
• If the sitemap is correctly set up

Other aspects of your website will impact the search engine ranking of your site and individual pages, so while link building is important, it should only form part of your overall SEO strategy.

External Links Matter More Than Internal Ones

One of the more common misconceptions we hear is that external links are the most important links to build when creating a site, and internal links from one page to another are not as beneficial. When, in fact, the opposite is actually true.

Building internal links should be a key part of any link building strategy, as internal links are the quickest way to increase your search engine visibility.

You can use internal linking anchor text with various different pages on your website to increase the ranking factors for long tail keywords.

Keyword-rich anchor text can be used to increase the number of keywords your website will be found under when potential customers use search engines to find what they are looking for.

Although links to other sites will also benefit you, building links internally is worth spending time on, too.

When looking at your link building strategy, internal links are an effective tactic to improve search engine rankings early in your SEO strategy.

Within the first month of creating links internally as part of link building tactics, we usually see the amount of organic traffic and ranking factors increase to bring more customers to a website.

An internal link also gives you greater control over the path users will take through your website; you can add more links to specific products or pages of information that you think customers will be interested in.

You Can Ignore Broken or Lost Links

While some people think that broken links are just a part of using the internet, they can seriously damage your SEO and page ranking.

All broken links or lost links should be fixed as soon as they are identified.

The links included within your site will impact the conversion rates of traffic to your site in addition to your SEO rankings.

If a customer finds a broken link and cannot access what they are looking for, there is a high chance they will leave the site and look elsewhere.

This is one area that should always be fixed.

High Link Velocity Contributes to Manual Penalties

While many people are aware that manual penalties are applied when businesses create multiple low-quality links from a content directory or via spam links, it is not true that all high volumes of links built will attract a penalty.

Google or other search engines cannot track situations like this to apply penalties when a website suddenly improves in the Google rankings.

Guest blogging or guest posting will improve the backlink profile of where a site will be found in search results and search rankings.

The main logical explanation for why this statement is incorrect is that search results would be expected to be high for pages or websites that are popular.

If a website or webpage went viral on social media, the natural backlink profile of that page would increase.

Each social media post would create social media links, which would increase the ranking of that site.

Every time a website, influencer, or publication feature data or information about your company, it will create valuable backlinks to the target pages on your site.

This exposure for your company can mean that very few words can then be an SEO success, with high-quality backlinks being built quickly and within Google’s guidelines.

The increase in links via social media, guest posts, or guest blogging is entirely different from buying links and is a fantastic way to build natural links and high-authority links.

While search engines punish those who buy links or link to irrelevant sites, you should not be worried about social media links.

Guest Posting Negatively Contributes to Link Building

Guest posting has been a topic that has been negatively discussed for a number of years now regarding relevance and whether they are basically low-quality links.

We disagree with this statement completely, as there is no way that a guest post on relevant websites regarding relevant topics in the same language would damage your ranking.

This link building myth can be damaging for your business as guest posts are an effective way to make the most of Google’s ranking factors.

While a guest post is not the only way to improve your ranking, it is a way to ensure you have a relevant link to information that benefits your business.

You can also build reciprocal links with other websites and use target links from the guest post to your site.

Inbound links from trusted blogs can improve your link profile and be an important ranking factor when promoting your business.

Context is important when using guest posts to improve your ranking; using random guest posts with no contextual links will have the same link quality as using spammy sites for links.

If you have the right guest post context with relevant links back to your anchor text, there is no way that guest posting can harm your SEO strategy.

What are Some Common Link Building Myths?

There are many other link building myths that we have not covered in the above material; it is important that when creating your SEO tactics, you research using reputable companies and sources. If you are unsure, search for common myths to find out more.

Is Link Building Still Important for SEO?

Backlinks are still important for SEO because the links with other sites prove that your website is trustworthy, as other companies are working with you by sharing your link. This gives your company credibility and proves to customers that they can trust what you are saying or selling.

Can Link Building be Done Without Creating Valuable Content?

Link building can be achieved without creating valuable content; however, low-value content or anchor text will mean low rankings for the page, information, or link from a search engine. The lower the value that is attributed to your content and links, the lower your site or page will rank on SERPs.

How Can I Build High-Quality, Relevant Links?

Building high-quality, relevant links will take you time as you will need to create content or have it created for you that is high-quality enough that other companies will want to work with you. You will then need to work with customers, companies, and influencers within your niche to build the links back to your site.