The internet is a wonderful tool for introducing your business and brand to the world. But no matter how stellar your content, or how innovative your product or service is, no one will ever know if they don’t see it.
To be more visible, you need to be in the higher rankings of the search engine results pages (SERPs).
Are you interested in enhancing your website’s authority and rankings in search engines? Then get ready to harness the power of tiered link building for maximum audience reach.
Tier link building is one of the simplest ways to improve search engine results.
If you’re unsure of what building tiered links means or how to do it, read on. We’ve broken down the basics of tiered link building and examined the advantages of both tier 1 and tier 2 link building. You’ll also learn how to effectively use tiered link-building to boost your website.
What Is Tier Link Building?
A backlink is a link from one website to another. Search engines see this as evidence that your website’s content is noteworthy and authoritative.
Tiered link building entails creating more backlinks for your backlinks.
The authority that a website passes to another through such links is known as link authority or link juice.
The primary goal of tiered link building is to increase the link juice passed from your backlink profile to your main website.
Why Backlinks Improve Your Site’s Search Engine Rankings
Backlinks from high-authority websites dramatically improve your website’s search engine optimization (SEO) and search engine results. This is why link-building is such a worthy investment.
When you improve your online content’s performance in search engines, more people will see it and become familiar with your website.
What Is Tier 1 and Tier 2 Link Building?
You’ve probably heard of tier 1 and tier 2 backlinks, and it may have sounded confusing, but it’s how tiered link-building works. It’s easy to understand, though, once you know the basics, so let’s take a closer look at the first and second tiers.
Tier 1 Links
First-tier links, or tier 1 links, are the primary backlinks leading back to your website. They are the first level of link-building and the foundation for everything that follows. This is because a first tier link has the most direct effect on your rankings.
Search engine algorithms use these tier-1 backlinks to measure the authority and quality of your content.
Search engines also use backlinks to rank your site in the SERPs. So be sure to create high-quality links right from the start.
Tier 2 Links
Second-tier links, or tier 2 links, point to those first-tier links. Tier 2 links don’t point directly to your website like the tier 1 links do. Instead, they are intended to boost the ranking of tier-1 backlink pages.
It’s like a pyramid of link juice that ultimately improves your overall rankings.
Obtaining at least two second-tier backlinks per first tier backlink is recommended. These can be profile links, social bookmarks, or even social media links.
Are There Other Tiers?
Yes, you can have third tier backlinks too! But tier 3 links are not always particularly worthwhile for your SEO strategy. You’ll be investing even more time and money for marginal benefits. These resources would be put to better use for your other SEO tactics.
But tier 1 and 2 links generally do the job, and do it well. You can achieve your goals without third-tier links.
What Is an Example of a Tiered Backlink?
To understand how tier link building works, here’s an example of a tiered backlink.
- Let’s say you’re in the solar energy business. You write a guest post for a high-authority website that educates people about alternative energies.
- This post points to your website, giving you a quality backlink (first tier) from a high domain authority (DA) website.
- Next, you create a second-tier backlink, on social media, WordPress sites, or forums that point to that guest post article. This strengthens its page authority and boosts your backlink profile even further.
Tiered Link Building Strategy: How to Do it Effectively
Tiered link building is an art, and when done correctly, will give you what you really want - more exposure that engages your target audience. You’ll maximize your reach and your potential powerfully and quickly.
But to get the most out of tier link-building, you need an effective link-building strategy. It won’t be the same for everyone.
Every website has different needs. This is where you’ll benefit from the guidance of a link-building expert, but the tips below are a good place to start.
Leverage the Power of the Guest Post
All websites must follow Google’s Webmaster Guidelines, now known as Google Search Essentials. These guidelines discourage certain backlinking practices like automated link-building tools.
To avoid penalties from Google and similar search engines, stick to manual link building for the first tiered links.
One of the easiest ways to do this, and perhaps the most effective, is through guest posting. Reach out to authoritative websites in your industry. Ask the site owners if you can write a guest post for them, including a link to your own website. Guest posts can benefit the target sites too, making this a win-win situation.
Recognize the Potential of High-Quality Links
When it comes to backlinks, less can mean more. This is especially true when it comes to the quality of those links. It’s better to have fewer high-quality backlinks than a tangled web of low-quality ones.
A high-quality first tier backlink links to your site from a site that is authoritative and relevant. It's one of the most important ranking criteria that Google’s algorithm looks for. A website with a high domain authority will automatically be a good choice for a tier 1 backlink.
By adding high-quality second-tier links that point to that page, you boost its page authority, as well. Organic second tier backlinks also improve search engine results, visibility, and web traffic.
When Less is More – Avoiding Low-Quality Links
A low-quality backlink links to your site from a new or less reputable website, or one that is not relevant to your industry.
Low-quality backlinks from irrelevant or poorly performing websites do you no favors and can hurt your attempts to improve your rankings. Avoid low-quality links at all costs.
Search engines like Google are not overly concerned with the quantity of links in your link profile. Rather, they focus on the quality. All your tiered link building work will be in vain if you don’t pay attention to the quality.
Stick to Relevant Sites
As mentioned above, relevance to reputable websites is essential for a quality backlink. To establish whether or not the target sites you’re eyeing for a guest post are relevant, check which industry they are in.
Does their website promote the same types of products or services as your website? Do you share the same industry, or better yet, a niche within that industry? This helps to create links from their site to yours that seem more natural and less forced. High-quality backlinks are always the most natural links.
Creating backlinks can be made a lot simpler with automation tools that can help you find numerous websites that already link to your competitors. This may point you in the right direction when looking for relevant sites to build legitimate backlinks.
Get the Balance Right – Include a Mix of Dofollow and Nofollow Links
Tier 1 backlinks should always be dofollow links, but aim for a mix of dofollow and nofollow links for your tier 2 backlinks. Dofollow links pass the authority of the origin site to the destination site, which automatically lends your site that authority.
Nofollow links don’t pass on link juice. However, although a second-tier link doesn’t affect ranking directly, it can still drive website traffic.
All links are considered dofollow unless they are modified to be nofollow links. Social media links are a good choice for nofollow backlinks.
A mix of the two looks the most natural, and will more easily pass Google's scrutiny of link-building schemes.
Conclusion
Is building tiered backlinks worth it? Absolutely! There are many benefits of tiered link building. Quality backlinks improve your search engine indexing and search page results. They establish authority and relevance and boost your keyword rankings. But you need to use proven tiered link building tactics.
The risks of tier link building through automation are that you may inadvertently break some of Google’s guidelines through irrelevant or unnatural links.
Tiered link building, like other SEO strategies, is best left to the experts. They build backlinks that strengthen your website’s relevance and performance.
How do you realize the benefits and negate the risks in your backlink profile? Get the expert help you need for your tier link building through Legiit. Check out some of the link-building services available on Legiit to start building your backlink profile to boost your ranking in the SERPs.
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