What Is a Backlink Pyramid? Is It Good for SEO?
Backlinks are the trust signal used by search engines to see if you deserve to appear on the first page of search results. Hence, a weak backlink profile can badly impact your ranking.
To avoid that, you must strengthen your backlink profile through strategies like backlink pyramids.
But what exactly is a backlink pyramid? Does it still work for SEO (Search Engine Optimization)? Let's find out.
What Is a Backlink Pyramid?
A backlink pyramid is a link equity distribution structure you can use to strengthen your website's backlink profile. It helps you logically manage your links.
You can control how link juice gets passed by creating a hierarchical relationship between different backlinks.
In addition, a backlink pyramid has multiple layers or tiers associated. Each tier consists of different backlinks.
Marketers used backlink pyramids after they realized how much value Google gives to backlinks. As a result, backlink pyramids became a strategy that passes high-quality link-juice value to websites and enhances the index rate of those backlinks.
In particular, the link juice gets passed from websites at the lowest tier (tier 3) to those at the highest tier (tier 1). Doing this lets you point as many links as possible to high-quality backlinks and eventually drive traffic to your website.
How To Build a Backlink Pyramid
A backlink pyramid has three tiers: tier 1, tier 2, and tier 3.
These tiers are specifically created to strengthen existing high-quality backlinks and pages on a website.
Here's what you need to start building your backlink pyramid:
The correct anchor text for your backlinks
The page you want to rank on Google
Existing internal links to that page
Knowledge of basic technical SEO and advanced off-page and on-page SEO
Tier 1
You have to generate the best, niche-relevant backlinks for this tier. The said backlinks must point toward your target page.
Usually, tier 1 links are the hardest to get. You must also be patient since generating these links takes time.
Examples of tier 1 backlinks include the following:
Powerful backlinks from top publications
Editorial links from industry-relevant websites
Backlinks from high-DR (Domain Rating) blogs
And remember, your tier 1 backlinks must be natural, relevant, and authoritative.
Tier 2
The second tier contains links with lower quality than tier 1 backlinks. Although these backlinks are easier to get than the tier 1 links, they take time to build.
Plus, the necessary backlinks will increase as you go down each tier. In tier 2, you'll likely need dozens of backlinks that point toward every backlink in tier 1.
Examples of tier 2 backlinks include the following:
Link roundups from sites with medium DR
Backlinks from HubPages, Medium, and other official blogs
Press release links
With enough patience, anyone can create these backlinks after signing up for content hubs.
However, keep in mind that building links for tier 2 is time-consuming because you have to publish content on each site before redirecting the links to your tier 1 backlinks.
Some people also publish duplicate content and stuff keywords to score links and publish them as quickly as possible, which are huge no-nos.
Tier 3
Tier 3 backlinks are the easiest yet riskiest links in a backlink pyramid. Back then, these backlinks played a huge role in off-page SEO.
But today, many people use tier 3 backlinks to manipulate Google and rank faster. For this reason, you have to strategically and carefully generate them so your site won't get penalized. Plus, make sure your tier 3 backlinks point to your tier 2 backlinks, not your pages.
Examples of tier 3 backlinks include the following:
Blog comments
Directory submissions
Profile links
Forum links
To make these links work, you must create hundreds of them and point them toward tier 2 backlinks.
Do Backlink Pyramids Work?
Just like any white hat link building technique, backlink pyramids work if you use them properly.
Notice the key term here: white hat.
You see, some marketers use black hat practices to build backlink pyramids. As a result, they get penalized by Google.
So, if you want to use this strategy, make sure you do things right. Plus, if you have barely built links for your brands, you should skip this strategy and focus on getting high-quality links instead. Additionally, don't use this strategy if you have just started your SEO efforts.
In short, backlink pyramids only work for backlink experts who know how to weigh the pros and cons of this strategy. But if you're a backlink expert or have one in your marketing team, a backlink pyramid can help:
Index your pages faster
Rank your website
Increase brand awareness
Raise engagement
Acquire more backlinks
Increase traffic
Increase your site's domain rating
Provide referral traffic
So, weigh the pros and cons of backlink pyramids and see which route will work best for your brand. Remember, you don't have to create backlink pyramids to rank on Google.
As long as you're making stellar content, observing competitor backlinks, and consistently doing manual outreach link building, you'll eventually see your pages reach that coveted SERP (Search Engine Results Page) spot.
Conclusion
Creating a hierarchy of backlinks that distributes link equity and points towards high-quality, niche-relevant content can increase your website's authority and improve your search engine rankings.
However, you must use backlink pyramids with caution. Using them the wrong way can get you penalized and put your SEO efforts to waste.
At the end of the day, only you can decide if backlink pyramids are worthy of being part of your marketing arsenal. And if you need help getting high-quality backlinks, we're here to help.
Tribu LinkBuilding focuses on building high-quality tier 1 and 2 links. We’re an experienced link building outsourcing agency that’ll help you get backlinks through white-hat strategies that Google won't penalize. Plus, you only have to pay after we get live links. Contact us to jumpstart your link building success now!