Not all backlinks are created equal. Some are pretty weak, while others are really strong. Interestingly, there’s an SEO strategy that suggests there’s more to it than just that. In this post, we’ll dive into tiered link building and see if it’s a good way to boost the strength of your backlink profile.
What is tiered link building
Let’s begin with the basics before we dive into how to build links. The idea behind tiered link building is to create backlinks for your backlinks. The main goal is to boost the amount of link juice that flows from your backlinks to your main website.
Here’s how it works: each tier 2 backlink gets links from a few tier 3 backlinks, and each tier 1 backlink gets links from a tier 1 backlink. Basically, you’re stacking backlinks to strengthen your link profile.
What are the benefits of tiered link building
At first, tiered link building might sound a bit odd. Why not just have all your backlinks pointing straight to your website? Adding second- and third-tier backlinks does make things more complicated. But if those backlinks are high-quality, there are some real benefits to having a tiered link profile. Here are a few of the top advantages, and we’ll also show you how to make it work:
Cheap link juice
Good backlinks can be pricey and time-consuming to build. For example, contributing as a guest writer to a reputable trade blog might cost anywhere from a few hundred to a few thousand dollars, not to mention the time needed to write and update the content. Because of this, you usually have a limit on how many high-quality backlinks you can afford to build.
One way to work around this is by creating lower-quality backlinks for your primary links. These are cheaper and quicker to make, and you can build them in large quantities. While they’re not as strong as high-quality backlinks, they can help boost the impact of your main backlinks at a lower cost.
Easy risk management
Having a few layers between your main website and your lower-quality backlinks can be really useful. For example, if you think a bunch of second or third-tier backlinks are hurting your site, you can simply remove the backlink that leads to your main site. By doing this, you clean up hundreds or even thousands of backlinks all at once with just one move.
More room for error
Your main backlinks have a bigger impact than second- and third-tier ones. Because these lower-tier backlinks don’t link directly to your website, they won’t affect it immediately, even if they don’t follow Google’s guidelines.
This means you can be a bit bolder with your tiered backlinks. Feel free to experiment with different backlink tools, try out various platforms for creating profiles and commenting, and test different strategies. See what works and what doesn’t, and quickly remove any backlinks that could harm your site.
Also Read: How to Leverage Link Reclamation
Hidden self-promotion
Most online communities frown upon self-promotion. Even if you’re writing a paid guest post, there’s often a limit on how many times you can link back to your own site. Instead, why not link to one of your tier 1 pages? This way, you avoid the risk of being seen as self-promotional and still get some link juice pointing in your direction.
Believable backlink profile
When creating backlinks, making them look natural can be tricky. You need to get links from different types of sites like blogs, forums, and social media. It’s also important to have a mix of dofollow and nofollow links, and both high- and low-quality links. Plus, as Google gets better at spotting link schemes, your backlink profiles need to be more complex.
Using a tiered backlink profile helps with this. It adds some organized chaos to your linking strategy, which might make it harder for Google to figure out what’s going on.
What are the risks of tiered link building
Tiered link building is considered a gray-hat SEO tactic at best, so there are some risks involved.
Opportunity cost
Using tiered link building can take a lot of time and money. However, second- and third-tier backlinks don’t have much impact on your rankings. The biggest risk is that you might be wasting your resources. If you’re ready to stop investing in tiered link building, there are plenty of other SEO strategies that would be a better use of your time and money.
Penalty risk
Building a strong backlink profile takes more skill than just knowing the rules. If you go overboard, you might break Google’s guidelines, especially those against link schemes, auto-generated content, and scraped content. In the best case, Google might just ignore some of your backlinks. In the worst case, your site could be removed from Google’s index or hit with a manual penalty.
Future losses
Most link schemes and shady SEO tricks are just quick fixes that don’t last. Eventually, Google will catch on, or you’ll get tired of managing fake backlinks, and everything will fall apart. You might end up having to start from scratch, depending on what other strategies you’re using. So, if you decide to try tiered links, make sure it’s just a small part of your overall plan. Ideally, keep it minimal.
How to build first, second, and third-tier links
In general, the further away you get from your website, the lower the quality and cost of your links tend to be.
First-tier links
First-tier links are your main backlinks that point directly to your website. These links should be strong and high-quality, ideally placed in original content by editors.
To get the best first-tier links, try reaching out to well-known websites in your niche and ask if you can write guest posts for them. If you’re using SEO SpyGlass, it’s easy to find top-tier opportunities. Just go to Domain Comparison > Link Intersection and add a few of your competitors. The tool will show you which sites link to your competitors but not to you yet.
The great thing about this approach is it helps you find potential partners who are open to collaborating, don’t have exclusive deals with your competitors, and are interested in your field. These are the people who’ll be more likely to consider your guest post idea.
Next, use filters to remove websites with low authority and those without dofollow links. This will give you a list of top-notch backlink opportunities.
Another solid method for building first-tier links is to start your own blog on a site that accepts dofollow links. The best part is there are no barriers to entry—you don’t have to go through an editorial process or pay anyone to publish your work. The downside is that it’s quite a bit of work. You’ll need to create and manage multiple websites and keep them updated with fresh content.
Black hat SEO experts suggest building just a few first-tier links—usually no more than five. They recommend writing a few unique pieces of content and then carefully rewriting them for each of your dummy sites. To avoid raising any red flags, make sure your articles link to other industry websites as well, not just your own.
Second-tier links
Second-tier links have a bit more flexibility. Ideally, these should be added to your guest posts on high-authority sites. However, as long as it’s not blatant spam, you have some leeway. Good sources for second-tier backlinks include Web 2.0 posts, profile links, article directories, high-quality PBNs, and social bookmarks. Just make sure you manually add the links and provide clear context.
For every first-tier backlink, it is advised to build a few second-tier backlinks. Ensure that the anchor texts, settings, and sources remain diverse.
Third-tier links
When it comes to third-tier links, you can take it a bit easier. It’s fine to use tools like GSA or RankerX to automatically create a lot of backlinks. At this level, you can use blog comments, lower-quality directories, Web 2.0 sites, and bookmark sites. Just remember that third-tier links should only point to your second-tier links, not directly to your main site or first-tier links.
You’ll likely end up with a lot of third-tier links, but keep in mind that many of these automated links will disappear over time and only a few will be indexed by Google. Also, these links pass on very little authority. So, if you want them to have any real impact, you’ll need to build hundreds of them.
When to consider tiered link building
Creating links in tiers is a classic gray-hat SEO tactic. Nowadays, it’s getting harder to trick Google’s algorithm with link-building methods. Some black-hat SEO experts even suggest making five to ten levels of backlinks using top-tier PBNs and strict automation. In other words, crafting a convincing fake backlink profile is almost as tough as building a genuine one. But, there are still some cases where using tiered links can be useful:
When you have no other choice
Building a strong presence in a tough market can make it hard to get reputable backlinks. In these cases, tiered link building might help you get started. Just remember, this approach is short-term and risky, so be sure to weigh the pros and cons before diving in.
When you have organic opportunities
If you get the chance to link to one of your other guest posts while writing a new one, definitely take it! Or, if a partner just published your guest article, help them promote it through your own channels. You might end up getting a few natural second-tier backlinks from your audience. Basically, look for natural ways to build backlinks, both for your own content and for your backlink partners.
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