What is Link Velocity?
Link velocity refers to the rate at which a website acquires new backlinks over a period of time. Link velocity can be measured in a number of ways, including the number of new links acquired per day, week, or month, as well as the growth rate of the total number of backlinks.
A sudden increase in link velocity can indicate to search engines that a website is engaging in manipulative tactics to acquire backlinks, which can result in penalties or even a loss of ranking.
On the other hand, a steady, natural increase in link velocity over time can indicate that a website is producing high-quality content that is valuable to users, which can help to improve search engine rankings.
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 includes ideas about how a search engine should evaluate a website based on the growth of its link profile.
While the patent does not explicitly mention the term "link velocity", it does discuss a "spiky rate of growth" in backlinks and how it might cause the search engine to lower a website's score to reduce the effects of spamming.
This suggests that the concept of link velocity may have been a factor in Google's algorithm even back then.
Despite the lack of direct recognition from Google, many SEO professionals believe that link velocity does play a role in SEO and consider it a key part of building a strong link profile.
SEO experts have interpreted this patent to suggest that sudden, unnatural increases in backlinks to a website could indicate the use of manipulative tactics to acquire backlinks.
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 SEOs believe that link velocity is important for SEO because it can affect a website's search engine rankings.
A sudden increase in link velocity can indicate to search engines that a website is engaging in manipulative tactics to acquire backlinks, which can result in penalties or even a loss of ranking.
On the other hand, a steady, natural increase in link velocity over time can indicate that a website is producing high-quality content that is valuable to users, which can help to improve search engine rankings.
Therefore, it's important to have a natural and steady increase in link velocity by creating high-quality content and promoting it through legitimate means such as social media, guest posting, and outreach to other websites in your industry.
However, Google says it uses its own metrics to evaluate the backlinks pointing toward a website.
The rate at which a website acquires a specific number of backlinks over time is not the primary factor in determining its search engine ranking. Instead, the quality of the backlinks is what matters most.
How to check link velocity for a website or page?
To check the link velocity for a website or page, you can use various SEO tools that provide backlink tracking and analysis.
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 is no one-size-fits-all answer to what link velocity is good because it depends on various factors such as the age of the website, the industry, the competition, and the size of the website.
Generally, a natural and steady increase in backlinks over time is good for SEO, but a sudden increase in backlinks can be a red flag for search engines that the website may be engaging in manipulative tactics to acquire backlinks.
To determine a good link velocity, it's important to look at the overall trend of backlinks to your website or page, as well as the quality and relevance of the backlinks.
For a new website, it may take some time to build up backlinks, whereas a more established website may have a higher link velocity.
Is it a ranking factor?
While the term "link velocity" is commonly used in the SEO community to describe the rate at which a website is acquiring new backlinks, Google does not officially recognize it as a ranking factor.
When asked about link velocity, Google representatives have emphasized that a website's backlinks are evaluated based on their own merits, regardless of how many are gained in which length of time.
The quality and nature of the individual backlinks are what really matters to Google, not the rate at which they are acquired.
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, while it's important to monitor your website's backlink growth and ensure that backlinks are acquired naturally and of high quality, the concept of link velocity should not be seen as a direct ranking factor in Google's algorithms.
Takeaway
Link velocity is the rate at which a website gains new backlinks over time. It is important for SEO, but there is no one-size-fits-all answer to what link velocity is good.
While many believe it plays a role in SEO, Google does not officially recognize it as a ranking factor.
The quality and nature of individual backlinks matter more to Google than the rate at which they are acquired.