Getting tons of links from other sites quickly sounds like a good thing for any website.
But does it really hurt rather than help your rankings?
Or is link speed not important to Google at all? In fact, is it just some fictitious SEO term?
Read on as we investigate the origins of link speed and whether it’s something you really need to focus on in SEO.
Disclaimer: Link Speed ​​as a Ranking Factor
Link speed refers to the theory that the speed at which a website obtains links has the potential to positively or negatively affect rankings.
link speed = good
A few years ago, having a high link speed for a short period of time was seen by some as a good thing in the SEO industry, which could have a positive effect on your Google rankings.
Link speed was mentioned in articles and during conferences – because in those days link building It’s more about quantity than quality.
Want to rank your web pages quickly? Quickly build a whole bunch of links to it.
but launched at Google Penguin Algorithm.
link speed = bad
The belief here is that getting links too quickly can result in a website being penalized or demoted in search results.
It’s based on the idea that Google interprets a rapid increase in inbound links as a sign that the site is trying to manipulate its search rankings.
Understandably, the idea of ​​link speed may concern everyone who is unwilling to inadvertently be penalized for acquiring links.
The growth of the website link profile is largely beyond its control.
For example, if one site publishes a lot of content, many other sites may be referencing it in a short period of time, resulting in many simultaneous links.
If link speed works as SEO experts claim, the site in the example above could be penalized because it gets a lot of inbound links through no fault of its own.
Evidence: Link Speed ​​as a Ranking Factor
The origins of link speed in the SEO community can be traced back to the discovery of a Google patent filed in 2003.
patent, Information retrieval based on historical data, including ideas about how search engines should treat a site based on the growth of its link profile.
Specifically, the concept of link speed can be traced back to this passage:
“Although a Growing rapidly The number of backlinks may be a factor used by search engines 125 to score documents, and it may also indicate trying to send spam Search engine 125. Therefore, in this case, the search engine 125 may actually lower the score of the document to reduce the impact of spam.
Roger Monty of Search Engine Magazine Interpretation from a discerning SEO expert the patent, noting how they ignored the part of the patent that refuted their own theory.
For example, the patent goes on to define what a “spike growth rate” is and how it can be a defining characteristic of unnatural link building.
The patent is not intended to penalize sites with a rapid increase in inbound links.
It’s about demoting sites that show a pattern of unusual spikes in inbound and outbound links over an extended period of time.
According to Monty:
“What the patent is really talking about is a flat natural rate of growth versus a spike and an unnatural rate of growth.
Over the course of a few months, a sharp growth rate is likely. This is very different from the idea of ​​link speed, which believes that getting a lot of links in a short period of time will result in penalties. “
The evidence doesn’t match what experts say about link speeds.
Link Speed ​​as a Ranking Factor: Our Verdict
There is no evidence that Google uses a signal called link speed, which negatively affects rankings.
Link speed is not an officially recognized term by Google.
When asked about it, Google Search reps said that a site’s links are evaluated on its own merits, not how many are earned over time.
This is an Examples of such responses From Google’s John Mueller:
“It’s not about how many links you get in what time period. It’s really just…if those links are unnatural, or problematic from our point of view, then they are problematic. It’s like how many or in It doesn’t matter what time.”
Google’s Gary Illyes is more blunt Reddit AMA, calling link speed a fictitious term.
Whether links are acquired quickly or slowly, what really matters is the quality of the individual links and how they are acquired (natural or unnatural).
Featured image: Paolo Bobita/Search Engine Magazine
