Does Backlinks Language matter ?

steveduster · Jun 20, 2021

Hi Everyone,

i'm actually working on a woocommerce website and i'm planning to by some backlinks to boost its ranking. the problem is that my website is in a foreign language and as a pure newbie in BH SEO, i have some few questions if you dont mind.

1/ can backlinks from an english website or in english written articles have any effect ?
2/ if yes, should this backlinks be from pages related to my website topic even if its in different language ?

Thank you very much

BassTrackerBoats · Jun 20, 2021

I've never been a fan of backlinks on a site that is not the same language as your site as that {is|has been|or will be} caught by Google at some point.

It's not natural and a clear signal that it is not natural and Google is not a fan of unnatural links.

bartosimpsonio · Jun 20, 2021

steveduster said:
Hi Everyone,

i'm actually working on a woocommerce website and i'm planning to by some backlinks to boost its ranking. the problem is that my website is in a foreign language and as a pure newbie in BH SEO, i have some few questions if you dont mind.

1/ can backlinks from an english website or in english written articles have any effect ?
2/ if yes, should this backlinks be from pages related to my website topic even if its in different language ?

Thank you very much

1) Yes they do have an effect but it depends on the overall theme and if being in English makes sense. Lots of things make sense in English even in non-English sites.

2) Yes but Google is run on AI now, it interprets stuff, meanings, not just being in non-English place. If it makes sense to be there and the link gets clicks, it probably works.

steveduster · Jun 20, 2021

BassTrackerBoats said:
I've never been a fan of backlinks on a site that is not the same language as your site as that {is|has been|or will be} caught by Google at some point.

It's not natural and a clear signal that it is not natural and Google is not a fan of unnatural links.

so even branded links will look non natural ?

anyway to do any kind of BH SEO in my case ?

bartosimpsonio said:
1) Yes they do have an effect but it depends on the overall theme and if being in English makes sense. Lots of things make sense in English even in non-English sites.

2) Yes but Google is run on AI now, it interprets stuff, meanings, not just being in non-English place. If it makes sense to be there and the link gets clicks, it probably works.

so i should at least make sure the backlinks are related to the website topic ? and supposing i buy some english backlinks and they did not have any positive effect, can they have a negative one

hideath · Jun 20, 2021

yes they do work and been working for a decade without any problem by using the foreign language, branded & naked anchors,
you should aim for relevancy the same way,
you can always add some links from the same language for diversity by making some web 2.0s, guest posts, crowd links, etc...

BassTrackerBoats · Jun 20, 2021

steveduster said:
so even branded links will look non natural ?

anyway to do any kind of BH SEO in my case ?

I used to do it and even sell that to clients but I no longer will do that as it is just not natural and at some point Google will devalue them I am sure.

I would also never buy from someone that offers that, and discount their SEO knowledge if that is part of their product line.

k2h2 · Jun 20, 2021

Of course it matters. Not same will cause suspicion.

bartosimpsonio · Jun 20, 2021

steveduster said:
can they have a negative one

Yes. They dilute the value of the good links.

tiiberius · Jun 20, 2021

What you described is working as of this moment.

It has been working for a while and probably still will be but who knows for how long.

Both English links to non-English site and non-English links to English site.

steveduster said:
1/ can backlinks from an english website or in english written articles have any effect ?

Yes, they will have an effect.

steveduster said:
2/ if yes, should this backlinks be from pages related to my website topic even if its in different language ?

It's a nice compromise and it will be easier to blend it in.

What you can do is cite the source in brackets using the foreign anchor like: They have the best rollers blades on the market (source: meilleurs rolerblades).

Dreams411 · Jun 20, 2021

In my experience, no! What matters is the anchor.

BassTrackerBoats · Jun 20, 2021

tiiberius said:
What you described is working as of this moment.

You I respect, as I hope you know, but do you think G is going to catch that at some point?

tiiberius · Jun 20, 2021

BassTrackerBoats said:
You I respect, as I hope you know, but do you think G is going to catch that at some point?

Thank you. Same here.

Yes, I think it will get more strict. Especially non-English to English.

The biggest issue I see is blending the anchor text in. If we force exact match anchor in the middle of different language text for example, we are asking for it.

Local language anchor text + foreign link will work just fine in my opinion.

If two quality sites in different languages link to each other and link is nicely blended in, I don't see why it shouldn't work.

Here is one recent French example. Local anchor "plus d’un milliard d’utilisateurs" + English link. There are multiple links like that in the article.

We can mimic this but can't overdo it for it to stay effective. (like most things in our profession : ))

steveduster · Jun 21, 2021

hideath said:
yes they do work and been working for a decade without any problem by using the foreign language, branded & naked anchors,
you should aim for relevancy the same way,
you can always add some links from the same language for diversity by making some web 2.0s, guest posts, crowd links, etc...

by naked anchor, you mean keyword anchor ?

tiiberius said:
Thank you. Same here.

Yes, I think it will get more strict. Especially non-English to English.

The biggest issue I see is blending the anchor text in. If we force exact match anchor in the middle of different language text for example, we are asking for it.

Local language anchor text + foreign link will work just fine in my opinion.

If two quality sites in different languages link to each other and link is nicely blended in, I don't see why it shouldn't work.

Here is https://www.lemonde.fr/pixels/article/2021/05/26/le-stockage-de-google-photos-devient-payant-comment-faire-le-menage-avant-le-1er-juin_6081460_4408996.html. Local anchor "plus d’un milliard d’utilisateurs" + English link. There are multiple links like that in the article.

We can mimic this but can't overdo it for it to stay effective. (like most things in our profession : ))

the exemple above is about a french anchor to english website.

but for exemple if my french website is about cars ( in french : voiture ). can i use a "good cars" anchor in a english website with no issues ? i mean will google understand the translation ang give value to the backlink as contextual or it must be exact match ?

thanks.

hideath · Jun 21, 2021

steveduster said:
by naked anchor, you mean keyword anchor ?

I mean naked url as anchor, like <a href="https://example.com">https://example.com</a>

steveduster said:
but for exemple if my french website is about cars ( in french : voiture ). can i use a "good cars" anchor in a english website with no issues ? i mean will google understand the translation ang give value to the backlink as contextual or it must be exact match ?

you'll get a better effect using french anchor in your example,
if you can't get it this way, go for branded or naked

bartosimpsonio · Jun 22, 2021

steveduster said:
so i should at least make sure the backlinks are related to the website topic ? and supposing i buy some english backlinks and they did not have any positive effect, can they have a negative one

Yes they can have a negative effect. E.g. Penguin update.

tiiberius · Jun 22, 2021

steveduster said:
by naked anchor, you mean keyword anchor ?

URL anchor.

You get it by copy and pasting web address from the browser addrtess bar without modifying it. Starts with http and ends with / .

steveduster said:
the exemple above is about a french anchor to english website.

but for exemple if my french website is about cars ( in french : voiture ). can i use a "good cars" anchor in a english website with no issues ? i mean will google understand the translation ang give value to the backlink as contextual or it must be exact match ?

Good cars anchor going to French page will be a safer option for sure.

As far and rank boost goes... juice will get passed but I'm not sure about relevancy and impact to be honest. Something to test out

notNewB · Jun 22, 2021

BassTrackerBoats said:
I've never been a fan of backlinks on a site that is not the same language as your site as that {is|has been|or will be} caught by Google at some point.

It's not natural and a clear signal that it is not natural and Google is not a fan of unnatural links.

However, I know a social media panel that appeared out of nowhere and ranked in the top 3 in no time by very competitive keyword. Other players in the top 10 have tens of thousands of quality guest posts.

Almost 90% of the backlinks of this new player are from .nl websites: homepage links and guest posts. Around 5k non-English guest posts on .nl websites.

undead6 · Sep 14, 2022

BassTrackerBoats said:
I used to do it and even sell that to clients but I no longer will do that as it is just not natural and at some point Google will devalue them I am sure.

I would also never buy from someone that offers that, and discount their SEO knowledge if that is part of their product line.

I am pretty sure foreign language backlinks are still working without any problem.
Problem can be caused from spammy ways, For example if you have English website and most of your backlinks are from Persian sites. (But I'm sure this can't be caught by AI and only humans can check if links are natural)
If you mix some good foreign language links I am 100% sure that only positive effect can be expected.
If I have review German website and include Chinese link in my source Chinese site can't be affected negatively.
Still depends on : Niche, Links amount, Ratio of link languages etc.

Pirsultan · Sep 14, 2022

undead6 said:
I am pretty sure foreign language backlinks are still working without any problem.
Problem can be caused from spammy ways, For example if you have English website and most of your backlinks are from Persian sites. (But I'm sure this can't be caught by AI and only humans can check if links are natural)
If you mix some good foreign language links I am 100% sure that only positive effect can be expected.
If I have review German website and include Chinese link in my source Chinese site can't be affected negatively.
Still depends on : Niche, Links amount, Ratio of link languages etc.

Yes..I'm using it to, what matter is the context of the page and anchor

Does Backlinks Language matter ?

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