Which pages to link to?

[thejoel]

Hey peeps,

Quick question - does it look at all dodgy to Google when building/buying links to category pages or recently published articles?

My thinking the category page link would filter down to the relevant pages I want to rank. The recently published article is a pillar post/new keyword I want to target.

Or is it a better signal to send links to more established articles which are already ranking in Google?

 

[Ryuzaki]

I would categorize these questions into the "I'm over-thinking it because I'm over-estimating how finicky and sensitive and smart Google is because I don't have the experience yet to realize that's not the case" file.

Quick question - does it look at all dodgy to Google when building/buying links to category pages or recently published articles?

No, it doesn't look dodgy. New posts across the web are the ones getting the attention and links, every day, all day. Categories might feel strange but there's reasons for them to be linked to as well. I think it's a waste, personally, but you can do it.

My thinking the category page link would filter down to the relevant pages I want to rank. The recently published article is a pillar post/new keyword I want to target.

This is true and what most people think when they're considering doing this. The juice will flow around the site and get diluted since there will be so many links on a category page, but that diluted juice will flow around too. It's just not going to flow to the specific target page as much as you're hoping it will. Add the number of links on the category page and divide the expected juice by that number, and that's the real fractional amount of juice that will go where you want it to go. The juice is useful, it's just not controllable. It spreads around rather than being laser targeted at that point. It's good to act as a rising tide that lifts all boats (pages).

Or is it a better signal to send links to more established articles which are already ranking in Google?

It's not better or worse. You may find that, depending on how trusted your site is, that you'll get immediate results on older posts and get delayed results on newer posts. But that's a different topic.

 

[thejoel]

Thanks @Ryuzaki - really appreciate the advice!

A quick follow-up if I may - what ratio of homepage to inner page/post links should I use for a diverse link profile?

I realize I might be overthinking it again - but thought I'd ask just in case

 

[Ryuzaki]

A quick follow-up if I may - what ratio of homepage to inner page/post links should I use for a diverse link profile?

Yeah, I think you're over thinking it. The entire discussion of natural link profiles came from at least a decade ago back when people were blasting out 100,000 links per day. "How many should be nofollow? What anchor texts? How to hit other pages to make this seem natural" as if 100k links a day was ever natural.

You won't get links at a fast enough pace (not the ones that matter and move the needle) to ever worry about stuff like this. It's really not important or even relevant to the way the game works these days. Just get links to the pages you want to rank using natural anchor texts (maybe a few with targeted anchor texts over time).

 

[bubududu]

In my experience and my mindset about which pages to build link to. I will break it down like this:

1. First, I want a trust base for my site. So I think it's most naturally if the homepage gets enough link. Just image it like the foundation of the house must be the most stable place.

2. Next, after make sure we have enough trust link to homepage, I will do my best on Onpage before doing any link building to child pages on the site.

3. Depending on which page I want to rank most, I will divide it into direct link to it or in-direct link to it. If I want to rank for Money Page A, I can build 3 links to it, 2 links from its support pages and so on...

Hope it helps ^^