How Many Backlinks Do I Need To Rank on Google?

Building links is one of the most important SEO tactics. When Google’s bots crawl websites, they focus on incoming links to rate a site’s authority. High-quality backlinks drive traffic to your website and often lead to increased revenue. Despite this, more than 55% of websites don’t have any backlinks at all. Of those that do, nearly 30% have fewer than three links. One of the first questions to ask yourself when you consider a link-building strategy is: How many backlinks do I need to rank? 

Here, we dig into this question and go over how you can set realistic and effective goals for adding backlinks to your site. 

How Many Backlinks Do I Need To Rank in the Top Spots?

Before we go over how many backlinks you need to rank, let’s define a backlink. Simply put, a backlink is a link on an external website that leads to a page on your own website. They are considered the strongest “referral” you can get online, especially if they come from websites that are already excelling in Google’s search engine results pages. 

So, how many backlinks should you look for as a baseline? A good website has 40-50 backlinks to its homepage and 0-100 to each subpage. Too few backlinks mean Google’s robot crawlers won’t boost your pages in search engine results. However, too many can look like you’re receiving backlinks unethically, so they won’t be counted, either. Having high-quality websites link back to your own site is vital. 

What Factors Determine How Many Backlinks I Need to Rank?

There are many factors to consider when determining how many backlinks you need to be able to rank in those top spots:

Domain Authority

Your domain authority determines how strong your domain is overall. Domain rating and authority scores are important as well. The rating shows a website’s power in its backlink profile, while the authority score focuses on the SEO performance of a website overall. These all work on 100-point scales: The higher the number is, the more authoritative the domain is. A website with a higher domain authority typically carries more weight when it links back to your site compared to a website with less authority linking to you.

Internal Linking

The number of internal links a page receives impacts how many backlinks a page needs as well. Studies show that, like backlinks, internal links allow a website to rise in the ranks of Google’s search engine results pages. The more internal links to a page exist, the more important the search engine crawler thinks it is and the higher the page will be in search results. You’ll want to balance the number of backlinks you seek with a solid internal linking strategy. 

Create internal links to pages that you want to rank the highest, making sure to use keywords in the anchor text. Ensure the links are from relevant content since the text surrounding the anchor text is also a factor in Google’s algorithms. 

Keyword Difficulty

Like domain authority, keyword difficulty works on a 100-point scale. This metric is used to determine how hard it is to rank a page for a single target keyword. Along with domain authority, three other factors influence the score: page authority, citation flow, and trust flow. Page authority is the strength of a single page. Citation flow is the number of backlinks to a page, and trust flow is the quality of the links on each page. A page that is already ranking well through a great keyword strategy typically requires fewer backlinks to rank higher. 

How Does My Overall Strategy Impact How Many Backlinks I Need?

Google encourages organic backlinks, but they can be hard to come by. A high-quality, white-hat linking strategy is a great solution, but to maximize your investment in each and every link, you need to consider how it fits your overall SEO strategy. Luckily, you don’t need a ton of backlinks to find yourself in the top 10 on Google. If you want a better ranking with fewer links, choose three to five keywords to optimize on each page, focusing on those with low keyword difficulty scores. Use these keywords in the right HTML locations for Google’s bots to crawl.

Your content also needs to be relevant to the user’s search intent. Search your chosen keywords and look through the first few results to get an idea of what type of content Google is looking for. After you publish each page, add a few internal links that are relevant to your content. If you can, link to your page from your homepage since it’s most likely to pass the internal PageRank value. Finally, work on adding more high-quality internal links over time and when they fit the context. 

How Do I Get Backlinks to My Website?

Now that you know how many backlinks you need can vary from project to project, focus on getting a few high-authority links to the pages best suited to them. 

Create High-Quality, Original Content

Google looks for quality over quantity. The best thing you can do for your internet presence is to create high-quality, original content that offers valuable information to your readers. Studies show that business websites with blogs get more backlinks than those without, so blogging is an excellent way to start. High-quality content also provides the perfect jumping-off point for strategic link-building projects that will get you to the number of links needed to rank substantially better. 

Think about the products and services you offer. What information might a reader need? A good blog offers a combination of long-form and short-form content. It includes high-quality keywords, professional photographs, video content, infographics, or other types of information. The best blogs are updated once or twice per week and are regularly audited and updated to ensure the best keywords and content available.

Blogging can be a time-consuming process, so don’t be afraid to reach out to professionals for help. You can purchase blog packages that not only provide the content you need but also include link-building services. 

Get Rid of Broken Links

Broken links can wreak havoc on your ranking in Google’s search engine results pages. Use a relevant tool to search your website for any broken links and correct them regularly.

Take it a step further by seeking out broken links on other websites as well. This requires an outreach strategy that is polite, complimentary, and informative. If you notice broken links on a website that could be changed to direct to relevant content you’ve written (thus making a backlink to your website), create a well-structured email to send to the website’s owner. Compliment them on their content and express what you enjoyed. Then, point out the broken links. Finally, close your email by mentioning links on your website to replace the broken links. With any luck, you’ll receive an email back and secure a backlink. 

Let Us Help You Determine How Many Backlinks You Need

How many backlinks you need to rank in the top spots on Google varies greatly from project to project. We can help you find the right number to target that is strategic while being as cost-effective as possible. Now it’s time to implement your new plans. BKA Content provides a variety of services, including customized blogging and link-building services. We have a proven track record of excellence and are ready to help you rise in Google’s rankings and create your own successful website. Contact us to set up your services!