The Role of Link Graphs in SEO Rankings

Link graphs are maps that search engines create to help determine if a website is high-quality or relevant, as well as its place on the Internet. Link graphs can significantly impact one’s SEO ranking; therefore, it’s critical to understand their importance and how SEO strategies should be made with link graphs in mind.

What are Link Graphs for?

Google maps the Internet with the link connections between websites called link graphs. They reveal several qualities about websites on the Internet. Here are some of the things that link graphs can do:

• they help identify spammy websites
• they help identify the website’s topics
• they show how websites are linked to one another

Websites Link to Relevant Websites

Websites usually link to other sites that discuss the same topics. For instance, recipe websites would normally link to other cooking sites. A link graph can tell Google a website’s context or its relevance.

Link graphs may also reveal spam websites. Although spam sites can link to quality sites, the latter do not typically link to the former. As a result, spam websites are isolated into a specific place in the link graph.

Link Distance Ranking Algorithms

There are certain link-ranking algorithms in use. It’s unclear whether or not Google employs these sorts of algorithms. But the SEO community knows they are real and are quite effective at distinguishing spam sites from normal ones and learning about their topics.

A map of the Internet has numerous starting points called “seed sites”, representing expert, authoritative, and trustworthy websites within their respective niches.

Seed sites directly link to expert and trustworthy websites. According to this kind of algorithm, the further away a link is from the original seed site, the less expert, authoritative, and trustworthy it becomes.

Outbound Links and Relevance

Outbound links and inbound links can affect a website’s rankings. When a website links to another, they will be connected in the link graph. All of these connections create groups, also known as neighbourhoods.

Solar System Analogy

One can think of the solar system as an analogy to explain how websites connect to create link graphs, starting with how a website is linked with itself.

A website, for example, can be compared to the Solar System. The site’s homepage could be likened to the sun, while the pages can be compared to Earth, Mars, Jupiter, and so on. As a result, the entire solar system can be regarded as a website.

Milky Way Galaxy

The Solar System is located within the Milky Way, including other planets and suns. In the example, the Milky Way galaxy represents all similar websites with the same topics.

So, if a website sells auto parts on their website, all other e-commerce sites that sell auto parts are linked to it through product sites, blogs, forums, review sites, manufacturer websites, and so on.

The Milky Way galaxy symbolises all websites exclusively about auto parts e-commerce. However, it might also represent other topics.

A map of the Internet is created when one site links to another. So, to Google, all the websites in a specific niche appear to be part of a huge galaxy.

The Greater Internet

Going back to the example, the website of an auto parts e-commerce online shop (solar system) is found in the overall topic of all the auto parts e-commerce shops on the web (Milky Way galaxy).

Auto parts e-commerce sites are in a greater entity, which is bigger and has a more general topic of e-commerce. The milky way is a part of a cluster of other galaxies called the Virgo Cluster, which can be compared to all websites about e-commerce.

Topic Clusters

When search engines map the linkages between websites, these different topics create clusters in the same way that solar systems and planets do, with some overlaps. Sites about the same topic are connected by comparable websites that link to sites covering similar topics. For example, websites focused on human resources frequently link to similarly-themed sites.

The Milky Way is located within the Virgo Galaxy Cluster, representing all ecommerce-related websites. In this cluster, there are groups of related websites about fishing e-commerce, makeup e-commerce, toy e-commerce, and so on across all the topics that e-commerce covers.

Super Clusters

Of course, the Internet is bigger than just e-commerce. It includes topics about travel, news, entertainment, politics, social media; basically, just about everything.

Google sees the Internet as a supercluster of galaxy clusters as a link-based map of the entire web. All the websites on the Internet arrange themselves into structures using links, representing other websites containing the same topics. Such galaxies exist within clusters of related topics, like all sites about travel, news, commerce, etc. This means that the whole Internet looks like a huge supercluster of clusters to Google.

Six Degrees of Website Separation

There is a saying that all people are about six or fewer social connections away from each other, and the same is more or less true for links. The only difference is that a link has an endpoint; the further the website positions itself from a starting point, the bigger the gap from the starting website becomes.

Many SEO experts believe that if a website is far from being an authoritative and expert site, it is likelier to be a spammy site. This idea is known as Link Distance Ranking.

Several scientific researchers found that it is easier to remove spam sites if they make a seed set of websites as starting points. It also helps them be more precise in mapping topics on the Internet.

Beyond the natural order that links provide, they may also classify websites into more specific categories based on their link distance ranks.

Positive Link Building with Position1SEO

There’s little you can do to influence the development of links to your site, but you can control where you link your site. It’s critical to link to pages that are useful to readers in the context of your material.

When it comes to link building, it’s best to work with a reputable SEO company that employs the latest SEO keyword ranking tools and strategies in order to maximise your chances of success.

If you want to take your link building to the next level, look no further than position1seo.co.uk. We use only white-hat techniques and a no-stone-unturned approach to boost SEO rankings and site traffic.

Position1SEO’s affordable SEO packages will ensure better conversions and higher profits for your business – without breaking the bank. So, what are you waiting for? Contact us today to see how we can help!