Tiered link building can improve the off-page SEO strategy of your website, elevating its rank in the search engine results page. But what exactly is tiered link building, and how is it different from the traditional method? Let us take a deeper look.
Tiered link building refers to building links in layers. It starts with trying to get backlinks that point to the website. However, it also involves building links to the pages that point back to your website, which means you get links for these pages as well. In other words, tiered link building refers to getting links for external pages, which are linking to your website. This is how it is different from the traditional method.
The Tiered Link Building Approach
In this approach, link building work is done in layers, which, in effect, reinforces the external pages, which are linking to your page or website. It looks like a pyramid, with each level enhancing and supporting the level above it. This strategy aims to improve the effectiveness and authority of those primary links that point to your website, thus leading to better search engine ranks.
The tier 1 backlink points to your website. This is followed by a few tier 2 links that point to the tier 1 backlink. Finally, some tier 3 backlinks point to each backlink in tier 2.
As a result, there are links in multiple levels or tiers.
- At the highest level, the links are pointing to your website.
- In the second level, links point to the referring websites.
- The next tier points to the secondary referring websites.
According to wmlinks SEO backlink agency, the three-tier approach is an effective way of improving both the backlink profile and website authority.
It Is Like a Pyramid
- Your website is at the top
- Followed by the first-tier links, which point to your website.
- In this level, the second-tier links point to the first-tier links
- Finally, in the lowest tier, the links point to the websites in the second level.
The 3 Tiers – Explained
The 1st Tier – These are the primary or the most important links, which point directly to your website. In the top tier, the SEO team will focus on getting the best quality backlinks from authoritative websites. Considerations for high-quality links –
- The incoming links should be from pages that are relevant to your website, preferably in the same niche
- Improves and supports the content
- The anchor text is relevant to your content
2nd Tier links – They link to the websites in the list of your first-tier links. They are of good quality, but not as high quality as in the first tier. You can get these links from less authoritative websites, but it would still help if they are from relevant websites. An example would be a guest post on a trade association website in your niche. Many SEO professionals try to get 8 to 12 second-tier backlinks for each tier-one link. In other words, if you have 3 top-tier links, you will need about 30 second-tier links.
3rd Tier links – This is the lowest level, where the quality of the links and the authority of the linking websites are not as important. The approach should be to focus on quantity rather than quality. To strengthen the top two tiers, you must have many links in this stage. Tier 3 is the widest level, meaning it contains many more backlinks compared to the other tiers. To support 30 second-tier links, you will need about 300 tier-three links.
By linking from the top level to the lowest one, the “link equity” from the lower-tier links gets passed up to your website. Also, remember, a primary goal of the lower levels is to work as a protective layer and receive penalties for applying risky link-building strategies, and protect your website from damage.
Is There A 4th Level?
You will find some link builders who take their link-building strategy even further by having a fourth tier. But remember, this is not likely to be as effective because the further a link is from your website, the less impact it is going to have on your ranking.
Remember, for each later tier, you must multiply the number of required links, which means you will need plenty of more links for all subsequent layers.
Does Google Penalize Tiered Link Building?
Google’s algorithm is planned to preserve the quality of its search result. So they penalize any effort that seems artificial or manipulative. Tiered link building can be risky, especially when the lower-level or tier 2 and 3 links are of low quality.
Risk indicators ¬–
- Link farms and low-quality directories – They provide little to no SEO value.
- AI-generated or spun content – Content that isn’t written manually is a signal of low-trust, mass-produced content.
- Blog post comments – They are often irrelevant as the comments are full of keyword-rich anchors, while the copy doesn’t mean much.
- Unnatural link velocity – There can be a red flag if too many tier 2 links are generated too quickly.
- Non-diverse link profiles – It may be an indication of manipulation if the same formats and sources are repeated often.
How to Avoid a Penalty
- Vary your anchor text – Apply generic terms and partial matches.
- Always be relevant – Make sure that the tier 2 links are embedded in niche-specific, relevant content.
- Link velocity – Links improve to the page gradually and don’t look suspicious.
Google does not punish link-building itself. However, it can punish manipulation. Tiered link building should work if you focus on legitimacy and keep it clean.
