Most likely, if you're an SEO, you've suggested link building as a method. Additionally, unless you work for a really trustworthy company, you've probably been asked when and how much you will receive in exchange for your investment.
I've been asked this question a lot, but I've never had a solid response. In actuality, rankings don't change right away when a new link is added. Since there will typically be a number of additional links and on-page adjustments done to a target page between the time you acquire that initial link and when you ultimately see increases in rankings, it is difficult to backlinks a specific link to SERP rankings increases as a result.
I decided to research this on my own. I'm fortunate to work for a business with almost 200,000 indexed pages, which automatically acquires hundreds of new connections each month through PR and my link-building activities. This means that I have a lot of pages that haven't undergone many on-page changes and have only received 1-2 links during the past six months.
I identified 76 links connecting to sites with text that is nearly identical across all of them, and we didn't alter that content (much) for six months. I concentrated on keyword ranks for those with a 25–35% Keyword Difficulty Rating. In order to gather a little bit more information, I looked at two variations of their target keywords.
An average rank increase takes 10 weeks.
It is true that more links have a quicker impact. One of Jacob's pages at Exstremist received roughly 20 links when he promoted some content, outranking other pages with about 6 more inbound links. His page moved from position #9 to position #5 in 5–10 weeks.
Each link first looks to have a modest to medium influence, but over time, that effect grows. You'll get considerably bigger effects over time if you add more links at once, in addition to seeing results more quickly.
A link has more impact the lower its rank.
The pages that I noticed that were already on the top page of the SERPs did not exhibit any improvement in rankings with one link, barely shifting over one slot in 22 weeks. Pages that appeared on the second or subsequent pages of the SERPs, however, quickly gained popularity.
Remember that I am only dealing with a tiny sample of data, therefore I don't advise promising a 10 spot improvement after 22 weeks.
The needle will move faster with more DA.
Looking for links with a DA of 50 or higher on this graph? I lacked sufficient data from pages except the homepage to obtain meaningful averages. Sorry, fellas
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It should come as no surprise that a higher DA will have a greater impact; in fact, you can see that the average rank change for a page that received a link from a website with a DA below 25 actually decreased after 13 weeks, then recovered to only slightly increase two ranks.
I typically don't want to invest any time or money on sites with DA below 25. This graph demonstrates that they are not entirely without value, but with these people, be ready for a very, very modest shift in rank.
The needle will move faster with more DA.
However, anecdotally, I've heard that higher DA linkages will have faster effects. It's interesting that both the DA 0-25 and DA 25-50 sets exhibited their first significant boost after 10 weeks. This could be due to higher DA sites being crawled more frequently (leading to the link being found sooner), but I believe this could be a deliberate algorithmic delay.
A link from a lower-quality website is probably taking Google a little longer to trust.
Cool!
Therefore, if I start link building today, I should start seeing benefits in 10 weeks or fewer.
No, actually. From a (true) link building campaign, links take time to appear.
The needle will move faster with more DA.
1. Obtaining the materials
Choosing a company (1–3 months)
Hiring an agency is the simplest option when you're just getting started because they'll have a team of seasoned link builders on hand and will suggest their own time-tested tactics. The decision-making process will take you 1-3 months, on my observation from witnessing businesses investigate Distilled when I worked there. If your business is big and has a lot of bureaucracy, or if you're attempting to negotiate a particularly excellent bargain, it can be more. Once you've selected your crime-fighting partner, you'll often need to wait a few weeks to a month before you can formally begin.
The needle will move faster with more DA.
Employing a link builder internally (1–2 months)
You might need to hire someone if you find it more convenient to do so than to work with an agency or if you believe this is the best long-term course of action. People with experience in link building, a background in customer service, and/or bloggers who have successfully grown their own communities will be the greatest candidates in this situation. Consider adding 23 days to your timeline, since Fast Company estimates that it takes 23 days to hire someone.
The needle will move faster with more DA.
Utilize PR (almost immediate)
You can start by optimizing your PR team's media hits such that they also contain quality links. Whether you're trying to build general Domain Authority links, in which case all of those homepage links they're getting will help you a lot, or trying to build Page Authority to specific landing pages, in which case they'll probably have a hard time helping you out, will determine the success of this strategy.
It's important to note that I don't know any SEO who bases their link-building strategy solely on PR victories, so diversify your link-building efforts if at all possible.
The needle will move faster with more DA.
2. Formulating a link-building plan (2 weeks–1 month)
You'll need to think of reasons why people would want to connect to you once you've hired link builders to work for you. From shortest to longest ramp-up time, here are some general concepts:
Your business as a source (1 week)
Finding pages that list resources for something that your business offers is one approach to earn links. For instance, if you work for Lyft, you can search blogs and other websites for lists of methods to earn money while having a flexible schedule.
The needle will move faster with more DA.
Your skills as a source 2 weeks to 1 month
Online specialists are constantly in demand, and your business likely has some unique information to provide. You can find it difficult to locate many websites that are looking for your precise product, for instance, if you are Periscope Data, a firm that allows you to convert your database into graphs and tables for simpler understanding. However, if you combine writing tips for SQL, you'll have hundreds more options for linking!
In this situation, you'll need to both prospect and identify the appropriate websites to link with, after which you'll want to provide resources, quotes, or guest posts on your website to attract visitors.
3. Performing (2 weeks–1 month)
Once your methods are in place, you'll need to email each prospect, maybe exchanging emails with them if they take a while to respond, post the incorrect link, or require more convincing. You might score a few quick victories, but keep in mind that since you aren't paying them, you aren't given top consideration.
Starting a campaign for link building?
Plan for the following:
0 - 4 months: Choose a link-building company and begin working with them at the beginning of the month, OR.
One month: Hire a link-building employee.
One month to develop your best link-building techniques. In the first three months, look for possible sites to target and put ready the content you'll need to draw links.
2 weeks to 1 month: Do it! Writing all the emails you need to write and responding to the feedback you receive will take some time. Wait
5–10 weeks for those links to start working! Ensure your team knows not to worry about at least ten weeks (although effects will continue to grow beyond that).
All told, this means that it could take anywhere between 6 months and a year for your link-building efforts to start paying off.
I feel the need to emphasize this as an SEO: SEO is an investment. Yes, you will need a lot of time to achieve those results. But do you notice how, even after you've obtained those links, those rankings continue to climb and shift to the right? Set your manager's expectations that this will take time, but that the money you invest today will continue to pay dividends as long as you stay ahead of your competition.
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