SEO: the "ranked link", the weapon of top SEO specialists.

Historically, link building relied on creating new articles in which links were inserted. Then buying links on already ranked pages appeared: using an already well-ranked page to add a link. But does it work? And above all, does it work better than a new link?

We questioned Damien Oulagnon (Head of SEO at SEMJuice) and Sylvain Delaporte (SEO Consultant) to help you see more clearly!

Why buy a link on a page that’s already ranked?

Guaranteed indexing

Whether it's for a classic link or a positioned link, a link is only useful if it is indexed. That's actually the minimum expected when buying a link. With a positioned link, you don't have to wonder about its proper indexing at the time the link is placed: the page is already present in Google's index — that's the principle of the positioned link. You can easily check this with the "site:" function.

This advantage is far from negligible since publisher sites have been facing significant indexing problems for several months. Choosing a positioned link helps protect against indexing issues. Be careful, this does not guarantee that the link will hold up over time! And you must remain vigilant after the purchase as well: recent Google updates have been quite severe, and they do not hesitate to deindex pages, whether the article is new (a few days old) or positioned (a few weeks, months, or years old).

Rapid recognition of the link

Being already indexed allows you to skip the link indexing step, which can allow the link to be taken into account more quickly. But beyond that, we consider that the link is taken into account faster because Google already trusts the page for a specific topic. If Google already trusts that page it will crawl it more often. Regular crawling of a page means the link will be seen quickly.

Damien:

"To go further, I would say that the higher a page is ranked for high-volume keywords, the faster the link will be taken into account."

To speed up this recognition even more, you can focus on pages that rank for many keywords in the top 10. You would then have pages that on one hand have Google's trust but on which the link can be clicked and send good user signals to the client's final page.

Sylvain:

“I largely agree with Damien about how quickly a ranked link can take effect, and that's often one of the reasons I choose this type of link in my strategies. However, it mainly makes sense when a campaign is taken on late. A client contacts us one or two months before their season. We have to act fast.”

Yet this logic has its limits. Indeed, not all ranked links are equal. To select a link that will “push” quickly, you need links that rank for a large number of high-volume keywords. Except that: 

• The inventory of this type of link is not infinite.
• The prices for this type of link are often excessive.

You therefore need to match power, price, and topical relevance.

The page's topic and how it holds up over time

Whatever linking strategy you implement, the link must be topicalThis is visible by checking the editorial line of the target site but this must also be checked through the keywords on which Google ranks the page. The goal is to verify, even before placing the link, that Google validates this content for keywords in my topic area. You are then guaranteed to have an article that links to us and is validated within our topic.

The notion of “position” matters: an article that ranks for few keywords, low-volume keywords, or keywords positioned too far down the search results could have a smaller impact. With a ranked link, you can check all these aspects before placing a link.

Damien:

“Whether the article meets all these criteria or not won't stop me from placing my link, but they can help me anticipate what my link will become. Indeed, I can see whether the page's trust has been stable for a long time, if it fluctuates, or whether the page is currently supporting all those keywords. A loss of keywords tells me that Google is losing confidence in it, or that it is receiving less internal authority, which could eventually lead to deindexing.”

Sylvain:

“Everything is said here and summarizes the main issue with ranked links. In an ideal world, I would want links from the other nine results in the top 10 for my keyword. That ideal is unattainable, so compromises must be made. Damien and I know that the strength of a ranked link comes from strong positions, and you can reach those positions by slightly deviating from the topic as long as you maintain thematic coherence. In short, a favorable environment that legitimizes the link. Yet the importance of positions increases the farther you stray from the topic. This is where a large part of the ranked-link problem lies.”

Ranked link or brand-new link?

The main argument for ranked links is time savings (a link on an already indexed page). The objective of any campaign is to quickly gain visibility and, therefore, ranked links could be used continuously.

Nevertheless, Many players prefer a mixed approach (positioned link + new link) and vary their link types to stay under the radar. If we think “mixed strategy” then we will decide based on seasonality: when does he most need to be visible?

Damien:

“For example, a wood stove seller needs to be most visible as winter approaches but can carry out chimney-sweeping jobs all year round. For this type of client, I would do regular linking throughout the year (direct or indirect links) but as their peak season approaches, I would use positioned links.”

Examples where using ranked links truly makes a difference:

Damien:

“The last example that comes to mind takes us to the Christmas period. We were on an e-commerce SERP for which we did regular linking up until the holiday season. I should note that various onsite actions were implemented as well, but after regular linking we launched a three-month positioned-link campaign.”

“The client moved up to second place for their main query. What was interesting was being able to push linking more strongly thanks to the positioned links as the end of the year approached.”

How do you respond to criticism that ranked links are artificial or risky for SEO?

Damien:

“I explain to these people that it’s ultimately a logical approach: For example, I’m a web marketing fan, I wrote an article three months ago about marketing monitoring, but two days ago I discovered the site Abondance. Once I discovered Abondance, I update my page (a page that already exists and ranks). That’s when I update my content and add a link in that content… nothing more natural.”

Sylvain:

“Nothing to add. The positioned link is coherent and relevant. Google recommends updating your content regularly. Adding a link is an update to the content—provided you offer added value (additional content).”

What best practices should be followed to use ranked links effectively and avoid mistakes or abuse?

The first thing would be to be particularly vigilant about the overall health of the site as well as the health of the URL. In other words, be careful that my link doesn’t lose its strength too quickly. It’s essential to ensure, even before placing the link, that the site and the page are at least stable or ideally gaining positions and keywords.

Then, when purchasing positioned links, ensure the data is fresh. Indeed, rankings in search results move continuously; when buying a positioned article, you must check the freshness of the positions. Verifying this information is important because the page could have been ranking a week ago and be much less so at the time of purchase.

Finally, Targeting keywords that are already ranking fairly high in search results can help protect against a URL being removed from the index or falling out of the top 100. Indeed, as mentioned above, rankings shift — they can move to the point of falling out of the top 100. It’s rare for positions to drop directly from the top 20 to disappearing from the SERP.

Sylvain:

"Regarding a ranked link, I always ask myself whether the ranked link is worth its price. The URL's history and health are important."