Links and site authority: what works and what harms
Links are the most mythologised part of promotion. Some believe nothing works without buying them, others that links stopped mattering long ago. The truth is in between and depends heavily on what kind of links these are.
A link works when it sits on a live site in your field and people actually follow it. Buying hundreds of links on exchanges now does more harm than good: search engines have learned to tell them apart. What works are industry directories, partners, publications in local media, and mentions without a link, which also count.
In this article6 sections
Why search engines care about links at all
The original logic was simple: if other sites write about you, you exist and you are of interest. A link was a vote, and a site with many votes was considered more authoritative.
People quickly learned to game that logic, so algorithms started looking at the source rather than the count. One link from an industry publication now outweighs a hundred from sites built to sell links.
Links stopped being the main factor but did not stop being a factor. In competitive niches, all else being equal, the company people talk about wins.
Which links help
| Source | Value | How to get it |
|---|---|---|
| Industry media and portals | High | An expert comment, an interview, a useful piece |
| Directories and catalogues | Medium but essential | Registration with full details |
| Maps and geo services | High for local business | A verified listing |
| Partners and suppliers | Medium | A «where to buy» section, joint projects |
| Review platforms | Medium | Reputation work |
| Social networks and messengers | Indirect | Your own accounts and mentions |
The common sign of a useful link: it sits where a real person might click it and where that would make sense. If it sits in a block of thirty unrelated links in the footer of a site about everything, it is useless and dangerous.
Which links harm
- Bulk buying on link exchanges. Hundreds of links a month from sites whose only function is selling links. Algorithms have detected this reliably for years.
- Link networks. A group of sites linking to each other in a circle.
- Spam in comments and forums. A link in a comment under someone else's article brings nothing except risk.
- Link exchanges at scale. «You link to us, we link to you» done industrially.
- Links from off-topic sites. A construction portal linking to a dental clinic looks exactly like what it is.
The danger is not that such links do not work. The danger is that they can earn you a demotion that is hard and slow to lift.
How to earn links honestly
- Cover the obviousDirectories, maps, industry catalogues, social profiles. This is a one-off base.
- Collect what already existsOften the company is already mentioned but without a link. Writing and asking for one added is the cheapest route.
- Give people a reason to write about youA useful study, a breakdown of a common problem, an expert comment for a journalist. It works slowly, but such links are not removed.
- Use partnersSuppliers, franchises, adjacent businesses. Mutual mention in a relevant context is normal practice.
- Watch for mentionsSometimes people write about you and you never know. Monitoring your company name closes that gap.
How many links you need
The right answer is: enough not to stand out against those in the top. Look at the competitors in the first five: if they have 50–100 sources and you have three, the gap will have to close. If they have ten and you build two hundred in a month, that looks suspicious.
Speed matters more than volume. Natural growth means a few new mentions a month. A sharp spike is the clearest sign of buying.
What to do if links were already bought
- Pull the full list of inbound links from webmaster tools.
- Separate the sound ones from the junk: topic, site quality, the link's surroundings.
- Try to remove the worst — write to the site owners.
- Disavow what cannot be removed through the search engines' tools.
- From then on, grow only natural mentions and wait: recovery takes months.
If a contractor offers to «raise positions quickly with links», ask exactly where those links come from. A refusal to answer is itself the answer.
Frequent questions
Do links still work?
Yes, but differently than before. Quantity barely matters; the quality and relevance of the source do. In simple local niches you can reach the top with almost no links; in competitive ones you cannot.
Can links be bought safely?
Formally any purchase breaks search engine rules. In practice the risk depends on site quality and volume. Cheap bulk buying is dangerous almost by default.
What matters more — links or content?
Content. Without it a link leads to a page that does not answer the query and the person leaves. Links amplify what is already good; they do not create quality from nothing.
Do links from social networks help?
As a direct factor, weakly — most such links technically pass no weight. Indirectly yes: they bring people, mentions and recognition, and that does have an effect.
How long before a link starts working?
Usually from a few weeks to a couple of months: the robot has to find it and re-evaluate the site. There is no instant effect, and promising one is a sign of buying.
Is it dangerous if suspicious sites link to us?
Isolated random links are simply ignored by search engines. A mass pattern is dangerous. If you see a spike of junk links, disavow them through webmaster tools.
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