Tier 2 links pointing at a tier 1 page that is not indexed yet, does it help or not

Mr.Dollar

Mr.Dollar

Registered Member
Joined
Jul 31, 2026
Messages
92
Reaction score
29
I keep seeing two opinions on this. One side says tier 2 passes nothing until the tier 1 page is in the index, so pointing links at a page Google has not crawled is wasted. The other side says the extra links give Googlebot another path to find the page and speed up the first crawl.

Has anyone tested it properly, same type of site and similar tier 2 links, one batch at a non indexed page and one batch at a page that was already indexed? I am interested in crawl time and whether the GSC status moved from discovered to crawled. And if you saw no difference, what actually got the page into the index.
 
Advertise on BHW
Yes, hitting an unindexed tier 1 page with indexed tier 2s creates a crawl path that forces googlebot to visit and shifts GSC from 'Discovered' to 'Crawled'. But if the content on your tier 1 page is thin or flagged as low quality, google still won't index it-it will just stay stuck on 'Crawled - currently not indexed'. Fix the content first, then send tier 2s to push it through.
 
Two different GSC statuses get mixed up here. Discovered not indexed means Google has the URL but has not fetched it, so a link from a page it already crawls can help as an extra path. Crawled not indexed means it fetched the page and passed, and no tier 2 batch changes that, it is about the page and the site around it.

Also the tier 2 source must be crawled itself, or the link leads nowhere. For indexing I would add an internal link from an indexed page on the same domain first, it is cheaper and more reliable.
 
It seems like a good possibility that the tier 2 link could help in getting discovered by Google however this does not mean that the page is likely to be indexed sooner or any link equity is passed through it it seems to me that one should check crawl statistics and indexing from GSC first.
 
    • Spot on! Tier 2 links help Google bots find the URL, but without indexing, they won't pass much link juice down to Tier 1.
    • Checking GSC crawl stats is definitely a crucial step here
 
I would try to get the page indexed first using internal links, good content, and sitemap submission. Tier 2 links might help Google discover it, but I wouldn’t rely on them to speed things up without seeing some real results.
 
Honestly . skip the complex talks..

when we make tier 1 links set. and we further make tier2 link set.
then we made tier 2 just because we want to index/extra push to our tier 1 link sets.
So it does not matter whether majority of tier 2 is index or not. OR why tier2 is more indexed and tier 1 is less index.

What matters most - Majority of Tier 1 must be indexed otherwise we will keep on making tier2 for our tier1 link set. ( if you face issues to index majority of tier1 then its time to fix tier1 links quality.)

PS : Focus on Tier1 link juice . ( why bother to focus on tier2 links juice set unless it is the end of world :-) )
 
Mr.Dollar said:
I keep seeing two opinions on this. One side says tier 2 passes nothing until the tier 1 page is in the index, so pointing links at a page Google has not crawled is wasted. The other side says the extra links give Googlebot another path to find the page and speed up the first crawl.

Has anyone tested it properly, same type of site and similar tier 2 links, one batch at a non indexed page and one batch at a page that was already indexed? I am interested in crawl time and whether the GSC status moved from discovered to crawled. And if you saw no difference, what actually got the page into the index.
Click to expand...
I believe that links might help Google find the page before its indexing, but this does not necessarily mean that they will make any difference to the indexing process or rankings.

I would pay attention to internal linking, sitemap submission, high-quality content, and crawlability first.
 
Mr.Dollar said:
I keep seeing two opinions on this. One side says tier 2 passes nothing until the tier 1 page is in the index, so pointing links at a page Google has not crawled is wasted. The other side says the extra links give Googlebot another path to find the page and speed up the first crawl.

Has anyone tested it properly, same type of site and similar tier 2 links, one batch at a non indexed page and one batch at a page that was already indexed? I am interested in crawl time and whether the GSC status moved from discovered to crawled. And if you saw no difference, what actually got the page into the index.
Click to expand...
i will focus on crawlable internal links and content quality. Tier 2 backlinks may help google to discover a page but they dont guarantee faster indexing or crawling.
 
building tier 2 links to tier 1 always help to get indexed if they are not already indexed if they already indexed then it passes more signals to that tier and gain more authority and ranking that's the whole point of building links i am heavily dependent on tiered link building and speaking from 15+ years experience so yes it helps
 
I think tier 2 links can help google discover the page but they do not guarantee indexing content quality and crawlability matter too.
 
Mr.Dollar said:
I keep seeing two opinions on this. One side says tier 2 passes nothing until the tier 1 page is in the index, so pointing links at a page Google has not crawled is wasted. The other side says the extra links give Googlebot another path to find the page and speed up the first crawl.

Has anyone tested it properly, same type of site and similar tier 2 links, one batch at a non indexed page and one batch at a page that was already indexed? I am interested in crawl time and whether the GSC status moved from discovered to crawled. And if you saw no difference, what actually got the page into the index.
Click to expand...
If your tier 1 is not indexed, then you should get links from already indexed pages as tier 2 to make them crawl, and even indexed. This works faster in many cases.
 
Mr.Dollar said:
I keep seeing two opinions on this. One side says tier 2 passes nothing until the tier 1 page is in the index, so pointing links at a page Google has not crawled is wasted. The other side says the extra links give Googlebot another path to find the page and speed up the first crawl.

Has anyone tested it properly, same type of site and similar tier 2 links, one batch at a non indexed page and one batch at a page that was already indexed? I am interested in crawl time and whether the GSC status moved from discovered to crawled. And if you saw no difference, what actually got the page into the index.
Click to expand...
i would first test whether these Tier 2 links generate referral traffic sending more links to the page that google continues to ignore will only wastes my budget.
 
it won’t guarantee indexing or ranking value but can help google discover or recrawl the tier 1 page
but you should fix the tier 1 page issues first
 
Mr.Dollar said:
I keep seeing two opinions on this. One side says tier 2 passes nothing until the tier 1 page is in the index, so pointing links at a page Google has not crawled is wasted. The other side says the extra links give Googlebot another path to find the page and speed up the first crawl.

Has anyone tested it properly, same type of site and similar tier 2 links, one batch at a non indexed page and one batch at a page that was already indexed? I am interested in crawl time and whether the GSC status moved from discovered to crawled. And if you saw no difference, what actually got the page into the index.
Click to expand...
Run tests on this one recently. t2s only boosts indexing when taken from frequent crawlers like news sites or live pbn front pages. junk t2s would not make any difference to an unindexed page might as well use gsc api itself.
 
Mr.Dollar said:
I keep seeing two opinions on this. One side says tier 2 passes nothing until the tier 1 page is in the index, so pointing links at a page Google has not crawled is wasted. The other side says the extra links give Googlebot another path to find the page and speed up the first crawl.

Has anyone tested it properly, same type of site and similar tier 2 links, one batch at a non indexed page and one batch at a page that was already indexed? I am interested in crawl time and whether the GSC status moved from discovered to crawled. And if you saw no difference, what actually got the page into the index.
Click to expand...
i would concentrate on trying to understand y this tier 1 page is not indexed rather than adding more links to it. adding tier 2 links might be useful for this purpose but if google is still ignoring the page i would look into the other possiblle reasons first.
 
Advertise on BHW
You must log in or register to reply here.
Sign up now!

Main Menu

Home Main Forum List Black Hat SEO White Hat SEO BHW Newbie Guide Blogging Black Hat Tools Social Media Downloads

Marketplace

Account Selling Content / Copywriting EBooks / Methods Hosting Misc Proxies For Sale SEO - Link building SEO - Packages Social Media Social Media - Panels Web Design More

Making Money

Affiliate Programs Hire a Freelancer IM Journeys Making Money Pay Per Click Site Flipping Want to Buy

BlackHat World

Dispute Resolution Forum Suggestions & Feedback Introductions Lounge
Back
Top