How Many Backlinks Needed to Rank Higher in Google Search
The number of backlinks necessary for a page or website to rank higher is not definitive.
It depends on many important factors, and we are not just going to give you a random number that’s not going to work for everyone.
Link-building requires time and effort and often takes resources to maintain a reputation and stay in competition. So, despite its importance, many fail in this sector, and we don’t want you to join them either.
Knowing the number of backlinks you may need is crucial if you want your SEO strategy to be efficient.
This article will show you the factors that determine how many backlinks you may need and help you find a suitable number for your website.
We will also go into how unnatural link velocity can be problematic for your page.
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Factors That Affect the Number of Backlinks Required for a Site
Researching the various case studies relevant to backlinks is worth your time as it can give an insight into how many backlinks world-class websites use.
However, looking into your competitors can be the best strategy since your website is in a particular niche.
Let us show you some factors that can help you calculate the number of backlinks ideal for your website –
1. Number and Level of Competitors
We believe you already know that some niches have higher competitors than others.
Usually, this type of competition comes down to link-building strategies aside from some other factors.
If you check the number one and tenth results of a Google search page, their differences are more likely their backlink quality and quantity than others.
You should often research your competitors to see their number of backlinks as well as the sites they usually link to. It will also give you an idea of the possible backlink quantity for your own website.
Moreover, the number of your competitors will also come into play here.
If there are more of them, you must focus more on link-building. So, more backlinks will be necessary here.
But if the competition is low at the moment, then you can take it easy.
We won’t necessarily tell you to use fewer incoming links here since it depends on other factors. However, you can probably make do with it.
Finally, the level of competitors may also be crucial here.
Suppose you have a few competitors in your niche. Good news for you, until you notice that they are still way out of reach because of their high crowd and popularity.
In this case, those few competitors may work the same way as having so many.
The point here is that if your competitors are doing so well and are on a high level, you will have to put more backlinks into your site’s pages to keep up.
2. Reputation of the Sites You Are Link-Building with
If you think about it, linking your pages with a website with a high crowd will benefit you more than doing it with multiple sites with low popularity. The reputations of your linked sites are the key to this.
Moreover, if you plan to collaborate with influencers as part of your link-building scheme, their popularity and community size may also affect your backlink numbers.
Simply put, the more renowned your linked sites are, the less backlinks you may need. Quality is better than quantity here.
3. Type of the Sites You Are Link-Building with
When searching for sites to get backlinks, we suggest going for ones that may have crowds interested in the contents of your site. That way, more people will likely click on those links and visit your pages.
Staying close to your niche when picking sites to build links will help you get more reach with fewer backlinks.
4. The Pages You Are Building Backlinks to
Determining which pages to use is crucial as you are not building backlinks to your whole site but to specific pages.
Here are two things you should remember during the process-
- People are more inclined to click on a link to an informative and helpful page rather than one to a commercial or uninteresting page.
- Pages on your websites with keywords beneficial to your service and business and attract more leads will be the best picks.
We have explained how to find these specific pages and keywords later in this article.
How to Determine the Number of Backlinks Needed to Rank
After reading so far, you may already have an idea of the actions needed to get more leads with fewer backlinks.
Next, we have described some steps to help you calculate and find an appropriate quantity of links needed to build-
Find the Pages to Build Backlinks to
As we have discussed, you only need to find the pages with keywords worth building backlinks to. The process isn’t that complex once you get the hang of it.
- Use tools like the Google Search Console to find the best keywords on your website that will help you stay on the first three pages of Google.
Semrush free trial is another option. These are free, but for better keywords, use paid SEO tools like Ahrefs or Semrush.
- Some of the keywords you find will be more related to your business. Find and list them.
Remember to avoid the ones with higher traffic and competition, as it will be hard to compete against those if your site has a low authority score.
Rather, focus on the keywords with balanced traffic, like around 200-500 search volumes. You want to have these keywords in the pages on which you will build backlinks.
Finding the Link Gap Between Your Competitors and You
Finding the link gap will help you calculate the necessary backlink number.
So, what is the link gap, you may wonder.
It is the number of backlinks for any specific keywords you need to build to take you to the first three spots of a Google search.
You will need Semrush or Ahrefs to find this link gap.
- Get your shortlist of keywords and search with each one. Then, see if and how many sites are in the top ten ranking with a domain authority (or Domain Rating in Ahrefs) similar to yours for any keyword. Make a list of the top three websites you find in this way.
- Now, check the specific backlinks that are helping these three websites rank at the top three spots for the given ranking page by inspecting their backlink profiles.
Note: When using the SEO tool, use the Dofollow filter. You can ignore the Nofollow one.
Basically, click on each website and find the number of high-authority backlinks they are using. One of them is using a higher number of strong links than the other two, right?
For example, let’s say the number of strong links worth paying attention to for each of the three websites are as follows-
- First website- 5 links
- Second website- 3 links
- Third website- 2 links
Here, you will need at least five high-authority backlinks if you want to get to the top three ranks using any given keyword.
As we can see, the backlink quantity is never a solid number and depends mostly on your competitors, especially the high-ranked ones. So, assessing the backlink profiles of these rival domains is vital.
Building Backlinks to Your Pages
Once you find the number of backlinks that may take you to the top, take the most optimal steps to use this information. As we have told you before, building backlinks can be very challenging.
Outsourcing the links is a standard method, especially when you have few competitors. But if you do have many, you can quicken the process by analyzing theirs. Let us discuss both ways here-
Backlink Analysis Method
The backlink analysis method involves checking your competitor’s backlinks and duplicating their best ones. Pretty simple, we shall say.
- Search on Google with any target keyword from your shortlist to find your competitors.
- Take the top five results.
- Use Ahrefs and analyze their backlinks like before (referring domains). Check their most high-profile backlinks. Target these specific sites to build a link.
- Check what method your competitor used to build their link with those sites.
Be it a forum post, guest post, comment, etc., you can use a similar method. Of course, try making your posts or comments look more enticing and updated than your competitors. It will increase the chance of the website linking you.
We often use Ahrefs Alert to get emails whenever a particular competitor’s page gets a new link. It allows us to replicate the said link using the same method as above.
Link Buying Method
Outsourcing is another option if building backlinks seems too complex for you, which is understandable given the number of necessary steps. It helps save time, too.
For this method, you may have to get a link-building service.
- First, find the number of backlinks needed to rank
- Then buy them with the assistance of any service or yourself
You can buy links yourself, as many popular and worthy high-profile websites offer people the option to buy backlinks to their pages. Many may even have a subscription-based service to continue keeping the backlinks on their sites.
Google’s stance on this is questionable. We explained it in another section below.
Making Better Contents Than Competitors to Help with Backlinks
Creating more informative and helpful content than your competitors will do more than just attract readers directly. It also gives you a better chance at gaining backlinks from reputable sources.
When you have better content, you can contact the websites linking to your competitors and recommend using your pages to link instead. Suppose the website owners or managers find your content to be
- More engaging
- Rich with information and infographics
- Updated regularly
They will be more likely to use your content to link rather than your competitor’s comparatively low-quality content. We find it pretty effective.
You may be wondering- how is it related to the number of backlinks? Here is the answer-
If you manage to convince high-profile websites to replace their backlinks from your top competitors with yours, that will lessen the number of total backlinks you will need to rank. On the one hand, your competitor is losing a valuable backlink. On the other hand, you are gaining one. A win-win situation, isn’t it?
In case you haven’t noticed, it is the skyscraper technique. It will help you gain an edge over your competitors while lessening your required backlink number. Additionally, you may save money.
Finding Skyscraper Content
Now you know the connection between the skyscraper technique and the backlink number you need.
However, finding the skyscraper content (content with lots of backlinks) is a perfect step to utilize this method.
We should also mention that it is not easy to find the ideal skyscraper content for your niche or keyword.
The Standard Way to Find Skyscraper Content
The following is the method many use to find skyscraper content-
- Use Ahrefs Site Explorer to search for a renowned domain within your niche.
- Visit Pages
- Select Best by Links
- As it shows many posts with lots of backlinks (referring domains or RD), choose some. Pick the ones you know you can make better content in comparison.
(Add picture of Ahrefs Site Explorer, searching a popular website, go to pages– best by links, and highlight a couple results with a high RD and Dofollow) [Example]
- Analyze their backlink profile and pick suitable high-profile links to pitch in your improved content.
However, it may come as a challenge. It may be tricky to make better content than some of these competitors. Moreover, the process may require you to pitch in hundreds to thousands of skyscraper prospects.Ahref
So, you can go for the other method.
The Convenient Way to Find Skyscraper Content
This is the method we like to use due to its simplicity, convenience, and effectiveness.
Instead of Site Explorer, we will use Content Explorer here. With this method, you will create an amazing piece first. Afterward, you can find skyscraper content of lesser quality than yours and pitch to their prospects (i.e., backlink websites).
- Go to Content Explorer and search with the target keyword of your piece that you are confident with.
- Use the Referring Domain filter to show only skyscraper content with 100+ referring domains.
(Add picture of Ahrefs Content Explorer, searching with a suitable keyword and set the referring domain to 100-max) [Example]
- Browse through the search results and find content about the same topic as yours, but not as good. Prioritize ones that haven’t been updated in a long time. If it is a listicle, go for ones with a shorter and less informative list than yours.
- Analyze the page’s backlink profile, find the skyscraper prospects, and pitch in your piece, recommending to replace it with yours.
As your content is superior from many angles, the websites will likely replace the backlink from that competitor’s page with yours.
Of course, you can go for posts with a higher number of referring domains, too, if you can take the time to pitch to all the prospects. We only recommend doing it once you have enough resources and manpower.
Backlink Number and Velocity
You can probably already see it, but link velocity has a direct connection to the backlink number of your pages. Also known as the growth rate, it is the rate of backlinks or incoming links to any of your pages or the whole domain.
After you find the necessary backlink numbers for your site, you will try to catch up and take over your competitors. But it is easier said than done.
Many of your competitors may have thousands of backlinks in their domain or even a single page. So, how can you keep up with that? Well, we can mainly advise you to try your best.
While a higher link velocity doesn’t guarantee steady growth, inspecting your competitor’s velocity is worth it. It will allow you to know the appropriate link velocity for your own pages within similar keywords.
Can Too Many Backlinks Cause Negative Ranking- Google’s Response
Let’s say your website ranks at the top spot you wanted it to be. It is also vastly popular now. For starters, congratulations!
The good news is that you may start getting more backlinks easily at that point. Or is it?
According to Google’s search advocate, John Mueller, link velocity doesn’t necessarily affect your domain negatively. In fact, Google doesn’t even recognize link velocity as a gauge to rank pages. Instead, they assess the individual links.
However, there is a catch to it. You see, Mueller also said in the same discussion that a sudden influx to link velocity may make it look suspicious. Google will only deem it an issue if-
- The links are unnatural,
- You buy them yourself, or
- You buy them via a third party.
Yes, you heard that right: Google doesn’t really support the purchase of backlinks, as it seems from Mueller’s speech.
The SEO of your pages may have a negative impact if your link-building is unnatural. It hardly matters if the link velocity is high or low.
Conclusion
As one of the best ranking factors, backlinks are one important aspect of your pages to focus on. You don’t have to go blindly since you know how to calculate the necessary number of backlinks now.
Unfortunately, when utilizing SEO tools, you can hardly go anywhere with the free ones. Link-building will be a costly and lengthy process. We suggest you carefully complete the steps we explained and win that sweet top spot.
