In-text links are a new type of link on Automatic Backlinks that we will gradually be rolling out and eventually entirely switching to. The main reason for this is to improve the effect of each link and to reduce the risk of being detected by the Google web spam team.
What is an in-text link?
An in-text link is a link that is surrounded by text before and/or after the actual clickable link. Currently Automatic Backlinks only supports “bare” links with no peripheral text around it.
Example
Consider for example a travel agent based in Bali. Currently they might have the following link variations:
Using in-text links they can create the following backlinks:
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Company x can give you a perfect guided tour in bali
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If you ever need an English tour guide in bali you should try our partner Company X
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We recommend that you always use a bali tour guide to get the most out of your holiday
This added text gives the link context and also makes it look more natural on the site. We believe these kinds of links are better for everyone and will result in even better ranking improvements.
In-text links and link credit
We realise that these new in-text links will take up more room on each page so we are limiting each page to hold only two in-text links. To compensate for this we are going to price in-text links at twice the current amount of link credit. At the same time we have limited the number of links we allow each page to host to 4 standard links or 2 in-text links.
Phasing out standard links
We believe so much in the in-text link that we will eventually and gradually be phasing out the standard links that we currently offer. Here is how we plan to roll everything out (subject to change).
Today
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All site owners are limited to accepting up to 4 links per page. This will not affect any existing links already placed, but should over time reduce the links per page as links beyond the 4th will not be replaced when removed
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All new sites added to the system will only be able to accept in-text links
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All existing sites can opt-in to accept the new in-text links
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In-text link campaigns can be created and placed on participating sites
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All existing backlinks can be edited on a page by page basis
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If a site accepts in-text links, only that type of link is placed
Around November 15th
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All existing sites will automatically start accepting in-text links
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All link credit amounts will start being calculated half by PageRank and half by MozRank
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We will start accepting pages with PageRank 0 but will continue to require MozRank 1 or above
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All pages with more than 4 standard links will be reduced to 4
Around December 1st
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All remaining standard links are converted to in-text links (with no surrounding text) and will thus start costing/earning the double amount of Link Credit
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All sites will be reduced to showing a maximum of two in-text links
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All link credit amounts will start being calculated solely by MozRank (rounded down)
What will it mean for me?
The above changes will affect all users in the system. We are confident that the changes will be better for everyone in the long run but are also aware that all change can be worrying so we are trying to ease any worries by being as transparent as possible and by detailing what you can expect below.
The effects for links on your site
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You will eventually have fewer links on your pages and may earn slightly less link credit.
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You will earn more link credit per link
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You have a much lower risk of getting any penalty or warning from Google
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New pages from your site will probably be added. Google has not updated PageRank for 6 months which means no new pages has been added to the system. By relying solely on mozRank we can now add those new pages.
The effect on backlinks
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The overall SEO effect of each of your backlinks will increase tremendously
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You will have fewer but better backlinks
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Each backlink will have text before and after it which will help give it context even on unrelated web sites
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You will run a much lowered risk of getting punished by Google for unnatural link building
11 Comments
Congratulations guys! I thought that your backlink system would die after google althgorithms updates but i realize you run your business very profesionally.
🙂
Hi, if in the new system pages with pagerank 0 but with mozrank will be accepted… How many credits will win those pages?
Thanks
Thanks for your compliments, Raúl, we do our best to keep the quality of our backlinks.
Ignacio: “All link credit amounts will start being calculated solely by MozRank (rounded down)” 🙂
You new interface look better but in the previous version I was able to see how many links are placed for a particular anchor text. Now all links are shown in order of date of placement and there is now way to sort them by any other parameter, i.e. mozRank, Topic, anchor text, etc. It is confusing because if I want to know how many links I have already placed for a particular anchor text, the only way is to go through all the links and count manually. May be you can get back this feature, I’m sure it will be useful for many webmasters.
Hello Bangalore
We will take your opinion into account. We aim to provide a better experience with the new interface.
Would yo spend a couple of minutes to post it on our feedback forum? http://automaticbacklinks.uservoice.com/forums/28483-feedback?lang=en
[…] « In-text links on Automatic Backlinks […]
Very nice job on the upgrade guys! Being able to edit links is HUGE. I’d like to also suggest being able to transfer a link from one campaign to another. So for example, if a link about SEO was placed on a gaming site, it would be great to be able to change the link text AND transfer to a different or new campaign for a gaming site (assuming one would have another site in that category). This would improve the relative content for both sites.
Hi!
I’m glad you appreciated the last upgrade. Swapping links between campaigns sounds like an interesting feature, why don’t you post it on our support forum so all users can argue about it?
[…] you may want to read the previous article about in-text links. In a nutshell: “An in-text link is a link that is surrounded by text before and/or after the […]
I’m slightly confused by the dates mentioned …
In the blog post, you say November 15th as the date when sites automatically start accepting in-text links (amongst other things), but in the AB dashboard it says 25th November.
Which is correct? I guess I’ll find out tomorrow, but it might be good to know ahead of time.
Good work by the way. I’ve been hoping for these changes for a long time now 🙂
Hi Steve!
Thanks for your praise and for noticing the incoherences. The present status is that all new sites are automatically accepting in-text links and everybody is able to move their sites to in-text links.
We won’t make those changes tomorrow as we are still considering some feedback from other good users that took the time to make some good suggestions.
We will get in contact with all of you via this blog, a newsletter, a dashboard message, and twitter (@autobacklinks).
Regards,
Andrés.