Case Study: 1 authoritative link or 10 blog links? The Answer!

PartyNeon

Regular Member
Joined
Feb 27, 2012
Messages
209
Reaction score
602
The age old SEO question... would you rather one link from an authoritative site or 10 links from lesser authoritative blog style sites. Well, I never sit back and wonder, i just build sites and get a solid answer.

Notes:

  • I registered 8 new sites (2 sites in each of 4 niches)
  • I also used 6 additional pre-existing sites for this research (2 sites in each of 3 niches)
  • On the new sites, I added 10 pages of content, unique content, and did basic on-site SEO

My Method:

  • I waited till all 8 of my new sites were fully indexed.
  • Once their rankings were steady, 4 of the sites each got one PR 6 link to the homepage, the other 4 got 10 Blog Post Links.
  • As for the pre-existing sites... three of them got a PR 6 to the homepage, the other three got 10 referring domains from blogs.
  • All of the links I added had the websites domain as the anchor text.
  • No other links were added during the case study

The Result:

The newer sites benefited more from the 10 additional referring domains, while the older sites saw a larger increase from the single PR 6 link. Link velocity and link acquisition rate is very important for new sites. It is quantity over quality when you are trying to get google to recognize your site. That being said, quality links are still important, obviously. Don't scrapebox a new site or be careless with buying links. I believe that it is best to safety boost with more links in the beginning AND THEN work on building authority. So to answer the question. 10 lesser links is better than 1 authoritative link for new sites, and vice-versa for established sites.

Note: Yes, this is not a fool proof case study. Their are definitely other influencing factors. But the fact that ALL OF THE NEW SITES saw a larger benefit from the 10 blog links makes it fairly convincing that new sites need links over authority.
 
I agree with this. It is like launching some new product. You need someone (10 people) to spread a word, it doesn't have to be a great quality word about your product, but more something which will live a "so-so" impact on people and get them to realize there is a new stuff in town.
Once you have done that, you need someone authoritative to give a great review on your product. Glad you confirmed this. Thank you!
 
Back
Top