SEO Link Building Myths in 2021

February 14, 2021 |
By ydnewstag

Link-building takes place in a busy setting. The internet is clogged with a lot of unsubstantiated views and free advice. When it comes to link-building myths, we find an uncharted territory filled with muddled instructions and frightening concepts that can end up destroying your website. On the other hand, knowing how to effectively use search engine optimization (SEO) can boost the traffic and clicks that you get. It is important that you are aware of exactly what you need to do, as well as the various myths out there in order to give your website the best chance at success.

There are several SEO myths, but we focus on the most harmful ones today.

A link-building strategy should concentrate on gaining links naturally when adhering to Google’s quality guidelines and white hat SEO practices.

Pro Tip: When it comes to link-building and basically everything related to your digital marketing strategy, make sure you respect the accuracy of details. It’s important to distinguish between reality and myths.

Myth One: All Links are the Same

The distributed worth of links on a website is first and foremost. Many people believe that all links from a website have the same meaning, regardless of how high or low they appear in your post. Although this can seem to be valid, consider the differences between footer and body connections. We can only see that connection location matters by contrasting these two forms of links.

This topic falls under the Google patent application – ranking documents based on user experience and/or feature data, which highlights a number of factors that affect the link’s value:

  • The size of the font of the anchor text associated with the link.
  • Where the link is positioned.
  • Should a link be in a list, the position of the link in the list matters.
  • The font color and attributes of the link.
  • The type of link.
  • Context, relating to the words before and after the link.
  • A variety of other factors.

There is a debated ranking factor related to where a link is placed in a text. Some SEO experts believe that when a link is listed higher in an article, it holds more weight than if it were to be listed lower down. These links could then determine some significant value which is then passed on to the pages they link to.

At the same time, we must keep in mind that a variety of other signals play a role in determining ranking importance. It is higher in the HTML code if a connection appears on a similar page with related anchor text that would be more useful. If we have two ties and all of the elements are identical and favorable, the position could be valuable.

Finally, we can say with certainty that different ranking values are cast by links on a list.

Myth Two: NoFollow Links are Bad 

The truth is that nofollow links are beneficial to your SEO in general. The response is the same if your proof comes from case studies, personal experience, or correlative results.

We can argue until the cows come home on whether nofollow links have any direct effect on rankings, but in the end, it doesn’t really matter. What matters is that if you win nofollow links on high-profile sites, you may gain brand recognition, referral traffic, and various off-site signals which could help your search rankings.

I’ve seen the impact far too many times to believe otherwise, and anyone who’s worked in this industry long enough knows that you shouldn’t choose whether or not to pursue a connection based on whether or not it’s nofollowed.

I’m confident in saying that nofollow ties are beneficial to your SEO, even though the majority of the benefits are likely indirect. The publicity that comes with a high-profile nofollow connection is well worth the effort, as it improves your search engine visibility while also sending direct referral traffic and expanding your brand scope. It also appears to be almost incontrovertible that nofollow links aid in the indexing of websites.

It’s more speculative to suggest that nofollow links may directly boost your rankings in certain situations, and I won’t make such a bold claim. What I can say is that search engines reserve the right to disregard the nofollow tag, which I believe they do for certain editorially positioned and trustworthy links.

Keep in mind that Google’s own response is, “In general, we don’t follow them.”  This seems to mean that, although they don’t always adopt them, they do so on occasion.

Myth Three: Links are the Most Important Ranking Factor

In order to continue with the link clarification, we had to dispel another misconception, namely that inbound links are the most significant ranking factor in Google search. No, that isn’t the case.

During a Google Q&A, Google Search Quality Senior Strategist Andrey Lipattsev mentioned that content, links, and RankBrain are the top three ranking factors, among over 200 others that should not be overlooked. They have to do with user interface, dwell time, mobile usability, content quality, on-page SEO, connection efficiency, and organic results, among other things.

Google’s ranking signals are complex, and they’re designed to provide reliable and informative results by analyzing each user’s searches, so each person may see different results.

To put it plainly, inbound links aren’t the most important ranking element, but they’re just as important as content and RankBrain.

Myth Four: PBNs Do Not Work in 2021

You’re probably wondering whether PBNs are still effective. In 2021, how far has Google progressed and how effective is it at capturing these schemes?

PBNs still work and should continue to work as long as backlinks are a ranking factor, which is unlikely to change anytime soon, despite what many people believe after 2014.

When PBNs first gained popularity, I’m sure both parties were apprehensive. The risk of being captured by webmasters, and the risk of Google users finding the ultimate BlackHat SEO technique.

Google, on the other hand, was one step ahead.

Backlinks are essential to Google, as previously stated. Link building remains a critical ranking factor. They tried eliminating the connections from the algorithm, but the search engine results seem to have gotten worse.

If done correctly, a PBN is virtually undetectable. There’s no way of knowing, or really knowing for sure. Everyone has a link to another website. People are acquainted with one another, converse, and exchange connections. Innocent people practicing White Hat SEO can be harmed if you ban solely on the basis of trends. Isn’t it better to just ban everyone?

So, how did Google respond? How did they capture those who were seriously considering creating a PBN as a BlackHat method of boosting the rankings of their money sites? They didn’t, to be sure.

Instead, Google went after a few well-known PBN providers as well as a few well-known marketing writers who were using and writing about them.

Myth Five: Guest Posting is White Hat

Guest posting is a contentious practice that is commonly used in almost any industry with a blog. Representatives from Google said that guest posting was used as a tactic, but they didn’t mean what they meant.

Basically, publishing content on a domain you don’t own for the purpose of gaining a connection, traffic, a brand mention, or any other advantage is not a blackhat technique. It’s a completely legitimate white hat tactic that’s been tainted by blackhats in the past.

It all depends on how you approach the guest posting process.

The Bottom Line

Hopefully, after reading this article, you have a much better understanding of SEO, as well as some clarity on the myths that go along with it. Understanding SEO properly, and knowing which statements are true and which are not can give you the boost in a job search with an SEO department or simply give you the info that you need to get your website more traffic and visits on a daily basis. It is important that you understand all this in order to get the best results.