In the world of SEO and boosting your website’s search rankings, authority links have become the holy grail. But what exactly constitutes an authority link?
Simply put, authority links are backlinks from websites that have high domain authority or credibility in the eyes of search engines like Google. This includes well-known media publications, reputable websites with high traffic volumes, universities, government websites, and more.
The reason authority links are so coveted for SEO is that they allow some of the backlinked site’s credibility to flow into yours. In Google’s view, if an authoritative, reputable, high-quality site finds your content valuable enough to link to, your own site will gain authority in terms of search rankings and position as a trusted resource.
The more authority links pointing to your website from these trusted external domains, the bigger boost it can provide to climb SERPs and build authority over time.
So where many general backlinks will still provide SEO value, authority backlinks pack more punch and are weighted more heavily by Google’s ranking algorithm. Let’s explore the specifics of what gives links authority status.
What Factors Define an Authority Link?
There are a few key factors Google evaluates to determine if a backlink deserves to pass authority value:
Domain Authority/Trust Metrics – Authority sites have high DA or trust flow scores according to metrics like Moz and Majestic. The higher the score, the more authority gets passed. 50+ DA is strong.
Relevancy – Links from Authority sites closely aligned with your niche or content will be weighted more than general, unrelated sites. Even high DA sites may lend less authority if totally irrelevant.
Link Velocity – Authority sites that rarely link out lend more value versus sites that linkout excessively. Unique links stand out.
Page Authority – Links on particularly credible pages, like an authority site’s About or Contact page, are rated higher than links from less important pages.
Anchor Text – Descriptive, topic-relevant anchor text links indicate greater authority than generic text like “click here”.
In essence, Google aims to pass the most authority weight from trusted sources highly relevant to the site they’re linking to. This system incentivizes websites to earn credible authority links, not simply any links.
How Do Authority Links Impact SEO Rankings?
Earning authority backlinks can profoundly shape your pages’ rankings and visibility in SERPs.
By indexing authority links pointing to your site, Google interprets signals like:
- Your information is accurate and high-quality if trusted by authority domains
- Your content offers unique value if authority sites linkout to it
- You are an authority in your space if endorsed by other authority figures
This kickstarts a positive feedback loop where authority links signal you become more of an authority yourself. Some of the tangible SEO impacts include:
Higher Rankings – Authority links are strong ranking signals, influencing both link velocity/domain authority metrics as well as Google’s perceived relevance and trust.
Improved CTR – Higher visibility improves click-through rates, which boosts search rankings.
More Organic Traffic – Climbing in the SERPs translates to exponential traffic growth from non-paid search over time.
Higher Conversions – More qualified visitors from high-rank organic landing pages convert better.
Reduced Cost Per Click – Achieving higher ranks without paid ads slashes advertising costs over time.
In essence, authority backlinks trigger an ascending cycle where credibility and rankings lift each other higher perpetually. The ultimate goal is to reach a point where a steady stream of authority links sustains itself organically by virtue of your site becoming an industry authority itself.
Best Practices for Securing Authority Links
Manually building authority links takes effort and strategy compared to more easily acquired general links. Follow these best practices to lock down authoritative backlinks:
Strengthen Your Own Authority First – It’s easiest to attract authority links when you actually publish high-quality, authority content on topics related to influencers in your space. Don’t expect to earn authoritative links without doing the work to create link-worthy assets.
Identify Domains You Want Links From – Research competitors, resources you cite often, or websites commonly topping searches for your keywords. These domains likely already have strong authority and relevance to provide impactful links.
Target Pages Specifically – Look beyond a site’s home page. Editor contact pages, writer bios, current articles related to your content, and “Community”, “Partners”, or “Resources” pages make promising targets hosting contextual link opportunities.
Create Link-Worthy Assets – Develop resources chosen influencer sites may naturally benefit from linking to – like data reports, visual guides, investigations, product comparisons or curated industry statistic pages. Produce assets that solve problems or add value.
Promote Assets to Link Prospects – Don’t expect sites to link out to you unprompted. Reach out respectfully to website owners or editors pitching your content as a valuable potential link they may find beneficial for readers too. Make it easy for them to say yes.
Build Relationships – Link building requires gradually nurturing relationships, establishing value, and building goodwill with publishers over an extended timeframe. Stay persistent yet patient in keeping your assets top of mind.
Leverage Existing Relationships – Start by getting links from any contacts in your network. Reach out to past partners, brands you support or vendors you work with. Links from sites you have an existing relationship carry even more influence due to implied endorsement.
Securing that first authoritative link often proves the most difficult. As you accumulate credibility indicators like media features, testimonials, other branded links and social proof signals, making the initial connection gets significantly easier over time.
Authority Link Building Services
Landing manual authority links can be enormously challenging without established site authority and influencer relationships. Many brands outsource authority link building completely to specialized agencies like Outreach Neo.
Their Authority Links service takes care of:
- Identifying Authority Domain Targets
- Creating Strategic Linkworthy Assets
- Conducting Manual Authority Link Outreach
- Building Long-Term Publisher Relationships
This lifts the burden of labor intensive authority link building by leveraging trained outreach professionals to secure impactful authoritative backlinks at scale, completely manually.
Depending on your resources, outsourcing authority link building may warrant consideration to recognize tangible SEO gains from authoritative domains exponentially faster.
Evaluating Authority Link SEO Value
Not all authority links bring the same SEO value to the table. Once secured, it’s important to assess the estimated value new authority backlinks may confer based on key metrics:
Domain Authority – The higher the DA, the stronger the authority boost. MozBar or OpenSiteExplorer provide up to date DA scores. 50+ is ideal, 70+ even better.
Trust Flow/Citation Flow – Majestic metrics also indicate authority strength. Higher is better, with 20+ minimums for each.
Ranking Improvements – Links from authority sites can drive up rankings fast if secured from closely relevant pages. Monitor impacts.
Traffic Potential – Consider the authority site’s organic search visibility and traffic to estimate how much exposure your link could funnel.
Link Velocity – Links are worth more from sites with overall lower link volumes. Check Majestic.
Anchor Text Links – Descriptive anchor text indicates more contextual relevance versus generic links.
By regularly evaluating new authority links added against these metrics, you can better understand exactly how authority links secured by particular websites tangibly influence your own site’s growing domain authority over time.
Tracking Links & Measuring Results
Like any other SEO initiative, authority link building should be tracked for performance. Use tools like:
- Google Analytics – monitor organic traffic and rankings growth over time.
- Search Console – inspect links indexed, anchor text themes.
- Ahrefs/Majestic – catalog backlinks added, evaluate metrics.
- Rank Trackers – monitor keyword positions improvement.
- Bitly – if using shortened URLs in outreach for vanity metrics.
Proving the ROI of link building comes down to showcasing measurable optimizations across all critical SEO KPIs in tandem. When nurtured properly, authority backlinks manifest in tangible improvements across rankings, traffic, domain authority and visibility. But you need the tracking data to showcase exactly how authority links acquired influence each KPI over months and years.
Patience is key, as it takes time for Google to digest metrics updates and pattern shifts before algorithmically adapting rankings accordingly. But with an effective tracking plan in place, expect authority links’ climbing impact to reveal itself in website performance.
Conclusion
Getting authoritative backlinks should be a pivotal pillar of any effective SEO strategy. While influenced by various link metrics, search visibility ultimately comes down to quality over quantity when it comes to influencer links.
Even a small handful of authoritative site endorsements can overpower volumes of non-authority links in shaping how Google views your own domain’s industry credibility and content quality.
But earning those coveted authoritative links is far easier said than done without pre-existing site authority. This is where outsourcing manual authority link building from trusted agency partners can shortcut the path to securing influential authority backlinks.
Have you explored leveraging authority links yet to amplify your SEO success? What key takeaways or insights around securing more authoritative backlinks resonated most with you from this guide? Feel free to share your thoughts in the comments!
