10 Link Building Statistics You Should Know for 2025 Strategies
If you're ready to unlock future SEO success, let's demystify link building and explore crucial link building statistics of 2024 so you can adjust your SEO strategies accordingly.
What is Link Building?
Link building, at its heart, is the process of acquiring hyperlinks from other websites that point back to your own.
Each of these links serves as a pathway, a signpost that directs the traffic and tells search engines about the content and validity of the web page.
To simplify, imagine the Internet as a sprawling city. Your website is a store within this city, and links are the roads that lead customers to your doorstep. In the grand scheme of SEO, these roads are essential for both user navigation and page rankings.
Think of link building as the process of constructing these roads, establishing connections that lead potential customers straight to your website—and set the stage for improved search engine visibility.
🔎 See also: Quick Ways to Find Who Links to Your Site or Any Site
Why is Link Building Important for SEO?
Considering the sheer volume of websites vying for attention, it’s no wonder search engines like Google pay serious attention to the links.
In a sea of information, they act as endorsements, testifying to the value, trustworthiness and relevance of your content.
Here's why link building holds such high importance in SEO:
🌟 Relevance and Quality: When high-quality websites link to your site, search engines interpret this as a sign of trust and relevancy in your niche. The more relevant and high-quality links you have, the better your chances of ranking higher.
🌟 Traffic Increase: The beauty of backlinks is not limited to SEO. They also contribute to a direct increase in web traffic. When a visitor on another website clicks on a link that directs to your site, you gain additional traffic. It’s a win-win scenario!
🌟 Building Relationships: Link building often involves outreach to relevant websites and blogs in your industry. This outreach frequently relates to the promotion of something that you’ve just created, such as a piece of content or an infographic. A common goal of outreach is getting a link, but this process can also help you build long-term relationships with key influencers in your industry. And these relationships can mean that your business becomes highly regarded and trusted.
🔎 You can easily use SEOmator’s Free Backlink Checker Tool to view high-quality backlinks of your website or any specific web page. It helps you find out which websites are linking to your site, and how they are impacting your search engine rankings.
10 Crucial Link Building Statistics of 2024
🔗 According to a study, a strong correlation exists between the number of backlinks and Google Search rankings. On average, the top-ranked page on Google has 3.8 times as many backlinks as pages ranking in positions 2 to 10.
🔗 It is also revealed that the consensus among 93.8% of experts is that quality backlinks are more valuable than quantity. A single backlink from a reputable website can outweigh numerous links from low-quality sources.
🔗 Another research shows that 52.3% of digital marketing experts believe link building is the hardest part of SEO.
🔗 Based on a study, a staggering 94% of online content fails to attract any external links, highlighting the challenge of building a strong backlink profile.
🔗 Based on research, when it comes to ranking on Google for target keywords, content quality and the number of referring domains are the two most significant factors. RankBrain, Google's AI-powered ranking system, is the next most influential factor.
🔗 A study found that 42% of SEO experts spend equal time building internal and external links.
🔗 Statistical analysis reveals that blog posts exceeding 3,000 words consistently receive a higher number of backlinks compared to shorter posts. This data underscores the importance of investing in long-form content, especially for emerging blogs.
🔗A survey found that relevance is the most critical factor in determining the quality of a backlink, cited by 84.6% of respondents. Domain authority scores and site traffic were the next most important factors, both mentioned by 68.3% of respondents.
🔗 Research suggests that the number of referring domains to a URL is the strongest factor correlated with SEO success.
🔗 According to a study, the cost of acquiring high-quality backlinks varies significantly. On average, companies invest over $1,000 to secure a single high-quality link.
Lower-quality links tend to be more affordable, with an average cost of around $300. Contextual backlinks, which are considered the most valuable, can range from $700 to $2,000 or even higher.
What are the Metrics to Measure Link Quality?
Having a large number of backlinks can be beneficial, but quality supersedes quantity every time.
That being said, having a large number of high-quality backlinks definitely won't hurt and could further elevate your website's rank.
The key is to balance between acquiring new high-quality backlinks and maintaining existing ones to boost your site's search performance.
Here are the key metrics that can help assess link quality:
✅ Relevance: Quality begins with relevance. A link from a website in the same or closely related industry carries more weight than a random link. For example, if you're running a digital marketing agency, a backlink from a reputable marketing website would be highly relevant and considered high-quality.
✅ Authority: Link authority refers to the influence a website has over its particular niche. Backlinks from authoritative websites can significantly boost your ranking power.
✅ Traffic: A quality link should bring in relevant traffic. After all, the fundamental purpose of a link is to guide visitors from one web page to another. If a backlink brings you a steady stream of visitors, this is a testament to its quality.
✅ Do-follow status: Backlinks with do-follow status tell search engine bots to follow the link, passing on the link juice and contributing to the authority of the linked page.
🔎 See also: Domain Authority vs. Page Authority: An In-depth Look
Wrapping Up
Understanding the landscape of link building in 2024 requires a hard look at the numbers.
Current statistics indicate a significant shift in the leanings and preferences of marketers towards the practice of link building.
In looking at the future of link building, it's clear that tactics will only continue to evolve. From the rise of data-driven decision making to the increased importance of audience targeting, one thing's for sure: link building isn’t going away any time soon!
🔎 See also:
- What is a Link Farm? - Why Should You Not Rely On It?
- What is Link Popularity? - The Role of Link Popularity in SEO
