Chapter 3: Important Link Building Metrics
Domain Authority
Developed by MOZ, one of the leading authorities on Search Engines, domain authority determines the overall strength of a domain. Measured on a scale of 0-100, domain authority is considered by many SEO Experts as the most comprehensive measure to estimate how a domain will rank in search results. Domain authority involves two key metrics: MozTrust and MozRank.
MozTrust
MozTrust is a metric that determines the trustworthiness of a domain by looking at the types of backlinks pointing to a domain. MozTrust is measured on a scale of 0-10, with 10 being the highest. For example, backlinks from highly credible websites such as Forbes.Com or washingtonpost.com carry a high domain trust. Hence, getting backlinks from a website that has a higher domain trust will carry a lot of weight compared to those with low domain trust.
MozRank
Mozrank is a metric that determines the link popularity of a domain. Unlike the trust factor, MozRank mainly relies on the number of backlinks from other similar or relevant websites. It is also measured on a scale of 0-10, with 10 being the highest.
Page Authority
Unlike Domain Authority, Page authority is a Moz metric that applies only to an individual page rather than an entire domain. Measured on a scale of 1 to 100, Page Authority also uses MozRank, TrustRank, and several other factors to determine the likelihood of how well an individual page might rank in organic search results.
Anchor Text
Anchor text helps Google determine the core subject matter of the page you are establishing a link with and should be relevant to that page. Google then uses this information as part of its ranking algorithm, potentially ranking your site higher for that particular keyword/s. However, excessive use of anchor text, especially, with money keywords, can have a negative impact on organic SEO rankings. Hence, use of anchor text should be done with a lot of diligence and care. For example, if the majority of the inbound links pointing to our own website has the main keyword such as “San Diego SEO”, Google might consider this as spammy and downgrade our website. Because of the Penguin update, not only is it important to get high quality and relevant backlinks but also diversify your anchor text.
Number of Outbound Links (OBLs)
Number of Outbound links from a website or a web page is also considered an important factor in determining the value of an inbound link. Getting a backlink from a website or a web page that has a large number of outbound links versus getting a backlink from a website or a web page that has fewer outbound links might not be as effective, granted everything else is equal. On the other hand, many SEO experts believe that giving out links to other relevant websites from your own website or blog improves the chances of ranking higher in Search Engine Result Pages.
Relevance
While there is some debate as to the weight relevance carries when calculating the value of a link, your link targets should still be other websites that are related to your own expertise. Google’s algorithm is now particularly efficient at matching link relevance.
Country-Specific Links
To help establish a diverse link profile, take backlinks from different types of extensions like .com, .net, and .info because it will make your backlink profile look natural. Country-specific domains should be your prime link targets. So if in the US, the “.us” domain should be your key link target.
