What Is Link Velocity?
Link velocity means how fast a website gets new links from other websites over time. It is measured by counting the new links a website gets per day, week, or month. It can also be measured by the growth rate of the total links.
If a website suddenly gets way more links, search engines might think they are doing sketchy things to get links. This can make the website get lower ranks or penalties.
But if a website gets more links steadily over time in a normal way, it usually means they are making good content that people want to link to. This can help the website get better ranks in search engines.
From where does the idea of link velocity come?
The idea of link velocity in the SEO community can be traced back to a Google patent filed in 2003 called "Information Retrieval Based on Historical Data".
The patent was about how search engines should rank websites based on how fast their backlink profile grows over time.
The patent doesn't actually say "link velocity" but talks about websites getting new backlinks really fast in spammy ways. This suggests Google's ranking algorithm may have looked at link velocity even back then.
Even though Google hasn't said directly they use link velocity, many SEO experts think it matters for good SEO. They believe websites that suddenly get way more backlinks too fast might be using shady link-building tactics.
So SEO pros think it's important to keep an eye on how fast you're getting new quality backlinks the right way. This can help avoid penalties and get better Google rankings.
By monitoring the rate at which a website acquires new backlinks and ensuring that they are of high quality and acquired naturally, webmasters believe that they can improve their website's search engine rankings and avoid penalties from search engines.
Is link velocity important for SEO?
Many SEO experts think link velocity matters for doing well in search engine results.
If a website suddenly gets way more backlinks, search engines might see that as shady link-building tactics. This can cause the website to get penalties and lower rankings.
But if a website gets more backlinks at a normal, steady pace over time, it usually signals they are making good content that people want to link to. This can help the website rank better in search engines.
So it's good to focus on slowly building quality backlinks by making great content and promoting it the right way, like on social media.
However, Google has said it uses its own metrics to judge websites' backlinks. How fast a website gets new backlinks isn't the main thing - the quality of those backlinks matters more.
How to check link velocity for a website or page?
There are SEO tools you can use to see how fast a website or page is getting new backlinks. These tools keep track of backlinks and analyze them.
Here are the two most commonly used tools that can be used to analyze the backlink profiles and the link velocity of the websites:
Use Ahrefs to Find Link Velocity
Here are the steps to use Ahrefs to find your link velocity:
Log in to your Ahrefs account and enter the domain or URL of the website you want to analyze in the search bar.
Click on the "Backlinks" tab in the left sidebar, and then click on "New".
Set the date range to the time period you want to analyze. For example, you can set it to the past 30 days, 60 days, or 90 days.
Ahrefs will show you the number of new backlinks acquired during that time period. This number represents your link velocity.
You can also analyze the quality of the new backlinks by clicking on the "Referring domains" tab. This will show you the number of new referring domains that have linked to your website, as well as the domain rating (DR) and URL rating (UR) of each referring domain.
You can further analyze the quality of the new backlinks by clicking on the "Anchors" tab, which will show you the anchor text used in the new backlinks.
To track your link velocity over time, you can use Ahrefs' "Backlink History" tool. This tool allows you to track your backlink growth and monitor any sudden spikes or drops in your link velocity.
Use SEMRush to Find Link Velocity
Here are the steps to use SEMRush to find your link velocity:
Log in to your SEMRush account and enter the domain or URL of the website you want to analyze in the search bar.
Click on the "Backlinks" tab in the left sidebar, and then click on "New".
Set the date range to the time period you want to analyze. For example, you can set it to the past 30 days, 60 days, or 90 days.
SEMRush will show you the number of new backlinks acquired during that time period. This number represents your link velocity.
You can also analyze the quality of the new backlinks by clicking on the "Backlinks" tab, which will show you the authority score (AS) of each backlink.
To track your link velocity over time, you can use SEMRush's "Backlink Analytics" tool. This tool allows you to track your backlink growth and monitor any sudden spikes or drops in your link velocity.
You can further analyze your backlink profile by using SEMRush's "Backlink Audit" tool, which will identify any toxic or low-quality backlinks that could be harming your search engine rankings.
Using these tools to find link velocity can help you understand how quickly your or another website is acquiring new backlinks and whether a link-building strategy is effective.
What link velocity is good?
There's no one "good" link velocity that works for every website. A good link velocity depends on several things:
How old the website is - New sites will build links more slowly than older, established sites
The industry - Some industries like news sites tend to get more links faster
Competitors - You can compare your growth to competitors' growth
Website size - Larger sites with more pages can acquire links faster
In general, a steady, natural increase in new quality backlinks over time is good. But getting way more backlinks suddenly could look suspicious to search engines.
To know if your link growth is good, look at the pattern of new backlinks:
Is there an upward trend over time?
Are the new links from relevant, quality websites?
The best growth combines gradual increase with strong, relevant new links.
Is it a ranking factor?
Even though SEO professionals talk about link velocity a lot, Google has not said it's an official ranking factor.
When asked, Google has said they don't judge websites based on how fast or slow they get new backlinks. The number of backlinks in a certain time period doesn't matter to them.
Instead, Google cares about the quality of each individual backlink pointing to a website. They analyze what website is linking and things like if the content is relevant.
So while getting lots of links really fast might make some SEO pros suspicious, Google has hinted they just look at all backlinks case-by-case.
The speed of getting links does not directly change rankings by itself. Building high-quality, relevant backlinks is what Google recommends focusing on.
For example, in response to a question about link velocity, Google's John Mueller stated:
“It’s not so much a matter of how many links you get in which time period. It’s really just, if these are links that are unnatural or from our point of view problematic then they would be problematic. It’s like it doesn’t really matter how many or in which time.
Similarly, Google's Gary Illyes has referred to link velocity as a made-up term.
In other words, you should keep an eye on how fast you're getting new backlinks to your website. You want to make sure those links seem natural and are of good quality.
But even if your backlinks spike up or down, don't think of link velocity as something that will directly change your Google ranking by itself.
Google cares more about what each backlink is about, not just the speed you get them.
Takeaway
Link velocity refers to how rapidly a website obtains new backlinks over time. It is considered important for SEO, but there is no definitive "good" link velocity that applies to all websites. The appropriate rate depends on various factors.
Many in the SEO industry believe link velocity plays a role in search engine rankings. However, Google has not officially stated that it is a ranking factor.
According to Google, the quality and relevance of individual backlinks carry more weight than the speed at which they are acquired when evaluating a website.