In the SEO and backlink worlds, we hear all sorts of neverending talk about how many backlinks you need to have, the quality of those backlinks, where they’re coming from, and everything in between.
But in order to build a winning backlink profile, you have to get the backlinks in the first place. And it turns out, the backlink profile you end up with isn’t all that matters—how you get there matters as well.
Link velocity is the often forgotten metric that tells the story of how a website acquired—and is acquiring—its backlinks. Among other things, it often reveals whether a website built its backlinks the hard way—or the unethical way. This is why maintaining a healthy link velocity metric is (or at least should be) of paramount importance to every website currently in existence.
In this article, we’ll define exactly what link velocity is, explain why it matters so much, and list out some practical steps you can take to maximize this metric for your website.
Link velocity measures how fast your website acquires backlinks over a given period, in the context of your historical growth patterns.
Google boosts websites with healthy, gradual link velocity metrics, and penalizes those with sudden spikes reminiscent of manipulation.
Link velocity can be influenced by whether or not you’re paying for your backlinks, as well as algorithm updates from your search engine.
To maintain a healthy link velocity, don’t think about it too much. Build links organically through guest posts, niche edits, and broken link building.
Link velocity is the rate at which your website acquires backlinks over time and how this rate of acquisition compares to your site’s historical patterns of link growth.
There are a few important things to understand right off the bat about link velocity.
First, don’t confuse link velocity with total amount of backlinks earned. Link velocity is a measure of how fast you earn backlinks, not how many you have in total. Acquiring five links in a day indicates a higher link velocity than acquiring 100 in a month, since the acquisition rate is higher.
Second, link velocity differs very slightly (and in a very technical way) from a similar metric known as link acquisition rate. It’s best to think of link acquisition rate as a narrower subset of link velocity. Link acquisition rate is concerned only with how fast your site earns links over a given timeframe. Link velocity is concerned with this as well, but it’s also concerned with your site’s historical link profile and the relative pacing and sustainability of your current backlink growth rate.
Finally, link velocity isn’t always measured in terms of individual links acquired—sometimes it’s measured in terms of referring domains required. This means that if you get 10 new backlinks, but they’re all coming from the same website (or domain), that still only counts as one earned.
Maybe we’re going a bit overboard here, given that this was supposed to be a simple section titled “What Is Link Velocity?” But when you’re analyzing link velocity—whether it’s your own, or a competitor’s—you need to keep these three points in mind to get an accurate measure.
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The ability to accurately measure your website’s link velocity is essential because it’s one of many metrics Google uses to determine your site’s search rankings.
Generally speaking, when it comes to link-building, Google always prioritizes websites that appear to be doing things the right way.
Even in other areas of link building, like the broader breakdown of where your links are coming from or your linking domains’ levels of authority, Google’s algorithms prefer those link profiles that seem to be the result of natural business growth and popularity.
The same is true in this case: Google boosts site rankings and visibility for websites that display gradual, organic link velocity metrics.
On the flipside, unnatural link velocity patterns like sudden spikes or drops tend to indicate black-hat link-building methods like link farming. In these cases, Google loves doling out ranking penalties and decreases.
Now, there are two caveats here that are worth mentioning.
Link velocity should increase over time. As your website gains popularity, you should expect link velocity to increase over time. If you think about it, this is obvious. A website like Amazon should expect to receive hundreds, if not thousands, of new backlinks on a daily basis. But if you were to receive the same on your startup’s website which just went live on Squarespace, there’s cause for concern.
So, there’s not a single “ideal” link velocity measure—it all depends on your website’s current popularity and how you stack up compared to your competitors’ link velocities.
Sometimes, spikes in link velocity are okay. For example, if one of your product videos goes viral on TikTok, your link velocity is going to be much higher for the next week or month than it normally is. So long as this doesn’t happen overly often and the linking websites are all legitimate, you shouldn’t be worried about penalties.
And besides, Google views link velocity in conjunction with tons of other link-building metrics—so even if it did flag a sudden link velocity spike, that alone usually won’t be enough to cause any devastating effects.
Let’s put everything in the same place and quickly run through some common factors that can affect your link velocity, for better or for worse.
Organic vs. paid links: This is exactly what we just discussed. Organic links that you earn as your business actually grows usually cause a healthy, gradual link velocity. Paid links often cause unnatural spikes, keying in search engines to potential manipulation.
High-quality content: Putting in the time to create and release good content drives organic backlinks over time, which in turn results in a natural link velocity. It also helps to create a content strategy and release new content both frequently and consistently.
Content virality: Exceptionally popular videos or blog posts can temporarily spike your link velocity. Like we mentioned earlier, this is typically viewed positively by Google and other search engines if the growth appears to be organic and not manipulative.
Industry-specific trends: It’s just a fact that some industries experience faster link velocity because they naturally come with higher online activity and engagement. Industries dealing with emerging trends or news events are especially prone to this. This is why…
Comparison with competitors: One of the best ways to gauge whether your website has a healthy link velocity is to compare directly with your industry-specific competitors.
Algorithm updates: Google occasionally releases updates changing its SEO standards—the Link Spam update of 2022 is one of the latest examples of this. Staying on top of these changes is extremely important for optimizing your link velocity over time.
Because link velocity tells the story of how you’re getting your backlinks, it’s especially important to be continually measuring and monitoring it. If things go wrong, you’ll be able to course-correct quickly and effectively.
There are two main ways to stay on top of your link velocity and other key metrics.
The first method is to use a backlink checker like Ahrefs or Semrush. These solutions are easy-to-use platforms that can crawl your website and report to you every single bit of information that can possibly be gleaned from the URL—and yes, that includes link velocity. You can even set up things like custom alerts, which can queue you in when your link velocity starts spiking or flattening out beyond ordinary levels.
The second method (the one we recommend) is to work with a link-building agency that can track all your metrics for you, and even manage your entire backlink profile on your behalf. At Profit Engine, we’ve helped hundreds of businesses optimize their link profiles, often improving drastically upon their link velocity metrics, bringing the numbers up for stagnating websites and reducing them down to more healthy levels for websites that have been taken in by link farms and other sketchy services.
So now you know what link velocity is, why it’s so important for SEO, which factors can influence it, and how to measure and monitor it. Let’s wrap up by going over a few best practices—both long-term and short-term—which you can use to drive a healthy link velocity, and healthy backlink profile in general.
The best way to maintain a healthy link velocity is to not think about it too much. What do we mean?
Instead of obsessively monitoring your link-building metrics and artificially trying to game the system, just invest in high-quality, engaging content that naturally attracts backlinks over time. This will benefit your link profile in more ways than simply optimizing link velocity.
In your quest to publish high-quality content, we recommend strategies like guest posts, niche edits, and broken link building on authoritative websites in your industry. This will transfer link juice from their websites to yours, as well as naturally drive traffic, boost popularity, and result in a natural link velocity metric as people organically discover your content and link to it.
We also recommend using social media to drive traffic back to your website. Like we mentioned earlier, social media posts in particular can result in viral content that causes helpful link velocity spikes.
In general, aim to establish your website as a go-to resource in your specific niche. This will lead to a healthy link velocity, and even steady increases in link velocity as your site gets ever more popular over time.
There are three main ways to steer clear of penalties for less-than-ideal link velocity.
If you’re going to buy backlinks, buy them from an established link-building service that emphasizes organic link building. Don’t participate in link exchange programs, which are often under-the-table and tend to cause unnatural spikes in link velocity.
In general, make an effort to acquire a broad mix of backlinks from different domains and types of websites, as this is usually indicative of a natural link profile. Although this isn’t directly related to link velocity, Google will be much less likely to penalize your site for unnatural link velocity if all the other areas of your link profile are perfectly kosher.
Like we advised earlier, regularly conduct reviews of your link velocity and other key metrics. Make changes as needed to conform with your industry’s link-building norms and growth patterns.
Disaster strikes. You get an email from Google saying your site has been demoted in the search rankings due to a recent surge in link velocity that seems manipulative. Whether or not it was manipulative is besides the point. Here’s how you can get your website back to normal.
First off, identify and use your backlink checker’s “disavow” function to disassociate your website from any toxic or unnatural backlinks that may have been part of the recent surge in link velocity. The disavow feature essentially tells Google and other search engines not to take certain backlinks into account when crawling your website.
At the risk of sounding like we’re beating a dead horse, you should also shift your focus towards more organic, content-driven link-building practices (if you’re not already doing that). It will take time, but this will eventually bring your site back into Google’s good graces.
Finally, actively work on improving your site's content and user experience to continue gaining credibility among your actual website visitors. This will also take time, but as these visitors find your content or products genuinely helpful, they’ll start naturally linking to your site and boosting your backlink profile.
Link velocity is the rate at which your website acquires backlinks over time compared to your existing historical patterns, and it’s a crucial piece of your SEO pie.
A natural link velocity shows authenticity and usually improves search rankings, while sudden spikes usually indicate black-hat tactics and manipulative behavior—and yeah, that means penalties.
To maintain a healthy link velocity, build backlinks not by artificial means, but by producing high-quality content through things like guest posts and niche edits, and drive organic traffic via social media.
Of course, we’d encourage you to work with us at Profit Engine for a more complete link-building solution. We’ll monitor and optimize your link velocity, sure—but that’s just a small piece of what we can bring to the table.
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